--- title: Want to Save Money on Gas? Do This, New Study Says description: A new study finds that speeding costs American drivers $22 million in fuel costs every day. authors: - name: Martha C. White role: Writer url: https://money.com/author/martha-c-white/ education: BA, English, Princeton University at_money_since: 2015 articles: 349 covers: - Economy and Politics - Banking - Business - Career Advice - Credit - Credit Cards - Debt - Education - Federal Reserve Rate Cuts - Health and Wellness - Housing - Identity Theft - Insurance - Investing - Lifestyle - Loans - Mortgages - Personal Finance - Professional Services - Retirement - Shopping - Taxes - Technology editors: - name: Katherine Peach role: Associate Editor url: https://money.com/author/katherine-peach/ bio: Katherine Peach is an associate editor with a focus on news and email at Money. She didn’t always intend to write about money. She’s a classically trained pianist who dreamed of becoming an archaeologist. However, in 2007 Katherine began working in financial publishing as an editor for Agora Inc. (Apparently, unearthing ideas about improving your personal finances isn’t such a bad career alternative!) Katherine’s writing and editing work has been featured in Investing Daily, Clever, Investor Junkie, The Palm Beach Letter, Truth & Plenty, Independence Monthly, NICHE, AmericanStyle, AntiqueWeek, Millennial Money, Money Done Right, TheStreet, Sure Dividend and many others. Katherine holds a Bachelor of Arts in Ancient Studies with concentrations in Archaeology and Ancient Languages and a minor in Literature from the University of Maryland, Baltimore County. She is a member of Phi Beta Kappa. education: University of Maryland, Baltimore County at_money_since: 2025 articles: 14 covers: - Economy and Politics - Banking - Career Advice - Credit - Credit Cards - Debt - Education - Federal Reserve Rate Cuts - Health and Wellness - Housing - Identity Theft - Insurance - Investing - Lifestyle - Loans - Mortgages - Personal Finance - Professional Services - Retirement - Shopping - Taxes published: '2026-07-20T19:50:42.000Z' modified: '2026-07-20T19:50:42.000Z' section: Economy and Politics tags: - News word_count: 505 canonical: https://money.com/speeding-wastes-gas-study/ type: NewsArticle source: structured-blocks --- > **Disclosure:** We research all brands listed and may earn a fee from our partners. Research and financial considerations may influence how brands are displayed. Not all brands are included. [Learn more](https://money.com/page/disclaimer/). ![Car and brake pedal](https://img.money.com/2026/07/News-Gas-Speeding-2.jpg) A new study finds that the secret to spending less on gas is in your hands — or, more accurately, under your right foot. Speeding burns more gas, which tanks your gas mileage. What’s more, you don’t even save that much time getting from Point A to Point B, a pair of researchers from the University of Minnesota Twin Cities determined. With gas prices once again [hitting](https://www.cnn.com/2026/07/20/business/gas-four-dollars) $4 a gallon nationwide, it’s understandable that drivers are looking for clever [hacks](https://money.com/how-to-save-money-on-gas/) to avoid [pain](https://money.com/trump-gas-price-probe-gouging/) at the pump. Many of the previous studies about how speeding impacts your mileage were based on laboratory tests or relied on extrapolating from a small amount of real-world data. But this new paper, which was published in the journal *[Communications Sustainability](https://www.nature.com/articles/s44458-026-00100-3)*, goes the distance: Researchers analyzed a data set of over 120 million trips taken by American drivers in 2021 and found that sticking to the speed limit would save $22 million in gas costs every single day. That's a savings of 6.7 million gallons of gas, which has the added benefit of reducing carbon dioxide emissions by 57,000 metric tons. Even speeding slightly can erode your mileage, which costs money in extra fuel costs. While some [vehicles](https://money.com/best-suvs-save-money-on-gas/) get better mileage than others, a good rule of thumb is that the optimum driving speed for fuel economy is between 40 and 55 mph. At highway speeds, going even 10 mph above the speed limit can burn roughly 20% more gas. And sorry, EV drivers — you’re not off the hook, either: The researchers found that speeding burned through the available energy in a car’s battery quicker, which translates to more electricity consumption. ## Frequent speeders wasted the most fuel Researchers looked at three key speeding metrics: How often drivers speed, how fast they go and how much of a particular trip is spent speeding. On average, they found that drivers spend roughly 13% to 14% of a trip driving 10 to 11 mph over the posted limit. Across two different speeding scenarios, the paper found that drivers who didn't speed burned between 2.4% and 3% less gas. For EVs, the difference was even more dramatic; drivers saw an average of 9% energy savings when they slowed down. The driving behavior that had the biggest impact was the prevalence of speeding: In other words, drivers who habitually treat their morning [commute](https://money.com/work-from-home-commute/) like a Formula 1 course would get the most financial benefit out of changing their behavior. And if you think you need to speed because you’re running late, think again: Researchers found that speeding shaved a mere 54 seconds off the average trip time. As it turns out, speeding doesn't really save you all that much time, despite the perception. Other research has also found that driving defensively more broadly saves gas. An earlier [paper](https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1361920921002170) from researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology found that drivers who didn’t drive aggressively — that is, they didn’t speed and avoided both quick accelerations and hard braking — could shave 6% off their fuel consumption. ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "@id": "https://money.com/speeding-wastes-gas-study/#breadcrumb", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://money.com" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Economy and Politics", "item": "https://money.com/economy-and-politics/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Gas Prices", "item": "https://money.com/gas-prices/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "Want to Save Money on Gas? 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She didn’t always intend to write about money. She’s a classically trained pianist who dreamed of becoming an archaeologist. However, in 2007 Katherine began working in financial publishing as an editor for Agora Inc. (Apparently, unearthing ideas about improving your personal finances isn’t such a bad career alternative!)\r\n\r\nKatherine’s writing and editing work has been featured in Investing Daily, Clever, Investor Junkie, The Palm Beach Letter, Truth & Plenty, Independence Monthly, NICHE, AmericanStyle, AntiqueWeek, Millennial Money, Money Done Right, TheStreet, Sure Dividend and many others.\r\n\r\nKatherine holds a Bachelor of Arts in Ancient Studies with concentrations in Archaeology and Ancient Languages and a minor in Literature from the University of Maryland, Baltimore County. 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