Driving with an empty tank.

 

With fuel costs at their curent levels many motorists claim to be considering giving up motoring for good, whilst others are driving around with an empty tank. Green Flag say that a recent poll revealed that 13% of motorists drive with their tank empty or virtually empty and 4% of motorists have completely run out of fuel in the past year.

So is this all as a result of increased fuel costs? Probably not, it is mainly the young who are driving around on empty, which should not come as too much of a surprise, after all when did a teenager ever get up earlier than ten minutes before they have to leave the house; everything is a rush in order to leave more time for what’s “important” and putting petrol in the car is very low on the list of priorities.

This is nothing new; motorists have been running out of fuel ever since the car was invented. There are many motorists who absolutely refuse to put fuel in their car until it is running on fumes. It is often more to do with laziness than anything else but of course having to put their hand in their pocket, is also a discouraging factor. Ironically these motorists generally end up paying more than necessary for their fuel, because when it reaches the point where they are about to run out, they are happy to pull onto any forecourt regardless of the cost. 

So what about these motorists, who are threating to give up motoring for good, will they? Well if they do, they will probably restart again, when motoring costs come down, as they inevitably will. One of the benefits of higher motoring costs is that it cuts out a lot of unnecessary journeys, which conserves fuel and helps the environment. Interestingly those who cut out or cut down on journeys when fuel costs rise are not those who drive the large and powerful cars that burn a lot of fuel but motorists who drive cars that are already economical.

Certainly running out fuel is not a good idea, some vehicles are difficult to get re-started after they have run out of fuel and many require more than five litres to re start. Apart from this it can be extremely dangerous; many motorists have been killed whilst on foot, after running out of fuel.

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