Oh The Irony (continued)...


Well, first off there is nothing really ironic about this post...I know that much (unless posting about gas mileage on a blog about simplicity counts). This is actually a continuation of a previous post. It was prompted by a comment left by a reader from the E.U. Thus, it's more of a response (to myself, mostly) than a continuation.

In the previous post I had mentioned a dream I had where I said I drove my truck 10,000 miles a year, which is a large amount of driving by any standards. Where I got this arbitrary number your guess is as good as mine. But this did prompt a comment from a reader to ask how I consider myself car lite at that mileage. Initially I answered that in reality I only drove 3600-4800 miles a year (another guess). In truth, I have (or at least had) no idea how many miles I drove my truck last year. What I did know is that those numbers--even 3600--is too high for me. Why would I own 5 bikes and still drive that much, I thought (much less write about it all the time)? My first reaction to the comment annoyed me (built in ego self-defense mechanism), but then it made me think (and think)...and I like to think about things. Thank you for prompting this blighty rider.

Anyhow, this is what I came up with. I've owned the truck for about 13 months, and according to the vehicle's title there were 115,456 miles on it when I purchase it. As of today there are 118,117 miles registered, which means in the last 13 months I've driven it 2661 miles. This, to me, is good news and bad.

It's good news because according to the U.S. Department of Transportation the "average American" drives 16,550 miles a year (click here to see statistics). This is nearly seven times the amount I drove last year, but I'm not bragging because in my view it is still too much (I've always been hardest on myself). If, though, I take into consideration a road trip last summer down state (700 miles round trip) and two trips to Toronto (totaling 400 miles) this drops my day-to-day driving down to about 1400 miles for the year (12 months, not 13). Not bad...but I've still got work to do (road trips are still driving). We all do, I suppose.

Urban Simplicity.

Comments

blighty rider said…
Car lite? You, Sir, are the carbon fibre of car lite. ;-)
Joe said…
Thanks for making me think...I believe it's good to question.
Dr C. said…
I have done more miles than that on my bikes since September. I measure September to September mileage (kilometerage?) because I got my first odometer one fateful September. Its a great little motivator. For example it motivated me to do 50 km (~30 mi) of utility cycling today to go and see the grandparents. I used to avoid doing longer utility rides but they have grown on me, especially factoring in the time it would take to walk to the train station, get the train and then walk the remaining few km. I think it probably takes around the same amount of time. Plus I get to be a tightwad too.
Bikejuju said…
You seem like a prime candidate for pay-by-the-mile car (truck) insurance if they offer it in your state.
Joe said…
I'm not aware of pay-by-the-mile insurance...but that would make a lot of sense to me. I'll ask about it. Thanks!