Area Gas Prices Stabilizing, for Now

After months of rising prices, the cost of gas in the Plymouth-Whitemarsh area has plateaued in the last few weeks. Not the drop many frustrated drivers had been hoping for, but it’s a start.

But while consumers, unfortunately, can't do much to drive the cost of a gallon down, they can do quite a bit to wring more miles out of the gas they do buy. Courtesy of CBS News, here’s a list of things you can do get the most bang out of each of the many bucks you spend at the pump.

• Don't tailgate. You already know that shadowing the bumper of the car in front of you is dangerous. But constant braking and then accelerating again hurts gas mileage.
• Don't change lanes aggressively. If you are caught in a traffic jam, the speed of different lanes in getting past the obstacle ahead will eventually even out.
• Use cruise control. Out on the interstate, drive at a steady speed instead of oscillating. Setting cruise control to match the highway traffic flow instead of constantly speeding up as much as possible gained 15 percent in fuel economy, the Edmumds test drivers found.
• Keep luggage off the top of the car. On a road trip your first instinct is to load the family's gear atop the roof rack. Don't do it if you can possibly stuff it inside the vehicle. Rooftop luggage and its increased air resistance cut mileage by 21 percent in this test.
• Avoid idling. If you must sit outside a store or mall, turn the engine off. Otherwise, you are in effect getting zero miles per gallon.
• Check your tires. Under-inflated tires are unsafe, and they dent fuel economy. Tires inflated one-fourth below the recommended level result in using three percent to five percent more gas.

Below is a list of station-by-station prices in Plymouth and Whitemarsh townships as of March 15: