Being overweight takes toll at gas pump?

Want to reduce gasoline consumption in the United States? Lose weight.

According to a study released by the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, overweight drivers and passengers are responsible for cars on U.S. roads burning about 1 billion additional gallons of gasoline each year.

Some 1.7 million cars could be filled with gas for an entire year using the 938 million gallons of fuel that could be saved by trimming down the weight of drivers and passengers.

Further details of the study show that heavier Americans are cancelling out some of the vehicle fuel-economy improvements achieved by keeping tires inflated to the proper pressure, tuning up engines and removing unnecessary items from trunks.

Steve - something the average person would never think about. However, this is pretty significant data.