Bikes & Cars...

A curious consortium of corporations has joined Wal-Mart and The Alliance to Save Energy to encourage people take the Drive Smarter Challenge. The brand-spanking-new web site asks for the year, make, and model of your vehicle, then calculates the dollars you could save by accepting their six money-saving tips. These cover familiar ground, including driving less and inflating your tires properly.

If you agree to these simple gas-saving measures and give the site your email address and the email address of at least one other person, you'll get coupons, but I'm not sure for what. I'm wary of giving out my email address, still. Even in the twenty-first century.

This time, though, my paranoia may be excused. The list of partners telling me to drive less includes Exxon-Mobil, the American Petroleum Institute, and the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers. I'm not sure any of these guys, in their heart of hearts, want me to drive less. On the other hand, the EPA's SmartWay and the League of American Bicyclists are part of the group, so maybe it's not all bad.

If you, like me, aren't eager to give Wal-Mart or Exxon-Mobil your email address, the Drive Smarter Challenge site does have a page of gas-saving tips anyone can access. These are pretty basic but worth repeating, like run all your errands in one trip and use cruise control on the highway.