As the situation in the Middle East continues to deteriorate more and more people are getting concerned about the price of petrol. The region is a massive source of oil needed for, amongst other things, fuel.
In response some countries, such as Croatia and South Korea, have put price caps to help consumers as the price of a barrel of oil skyrockets to $100 (£75) a barrel.
As the cost of living is expected to rise in response, especially when it comes to mains gas prices, Britons are looking for ways to save as much when they are driving.
There are several ways they can do this, including when they change gear and what gear they chose to be in. Some may even be tempted to press some buttons inside their car such as the start stop, but others they may want to avoid.
Cruise control is used to keep a car at a constant speed. You activate it by, you guessed it, pressing a button inside your car. On paper it seems like a good idea, if a car stays at a constant speed rather than constantly accelerating or decelerating it should theoretically use less fuel.
However, whilst this may be the case in some circumstances, in others cruise control might work against the fuel economy minded driver.
The RAC’s automotive content editor Lawrence Allan said that cruise control could work against you on roads that go up and down.
He explained: “This is because your cruise control would be slower to react to gradient changes, meaning when reaching the brow of a hill – at which point you would normally take your foot off the accelerator to maintain more of a constant speed when descending – your cruise control will keep the power on for a little longer as it’s unable to see the gradient change in front of you. Driving in this way regularly would lead to worse fuel consumption.”
However, Lawrence reassured that the most fuel efficient roads were motorways, that are themselves often flat and used by drivers for many journeys.
On those journeys, however, president of the AA Edmund King has encouraged drivers to think very carefully about the types of journeys they undertake in the next few weeks.
Mr King explained: "Our suggestion is that drivers should not change their refuelling habits, but can consider cutting out some non-essential journeys and changing their driving style to conserve fuel."
Meanwhile, head of policy at the RAC Simon Williams added: “We encourage drivers to continue filling up as normal, but to shop around for the best prices using apps like myRAC, as there can be big local differences between forecourts.
“Driving fuel efficiently by avoiding harsh accelerating and braking and ensuring tyres are inflated to the right pressures can help eke out every last mile and save money."
