1. Modify your speed. Driving 55 instead of 65 can improve your mileage by a whopping 15 percent! Avoid jackrabbit starts – quick starts and stops use more fuel. Use cruise control on the open road to maximize fuel efficiency.



2. Shop around. On average, prices between stations for regular unleaded gasoline can vary by as much as twenty-five cents a gallon! Log on to AAA.com to access the Fuel Finder and the best prices in your neighborhood and workplace.



3. Turn off your car when it idles for more than a few minutes. When you can park and walk in as opposed to using a drive-through, walk. It will make you, your pocketbook, and the environment healthier. Avoid “warming up” your car, too. Doing so for more than a minute or two wastes fuel and is not recommended by vehicle manufacturers.

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AAA Southern New England, which has been teaching Rhode Island teens to drive for more than sixty years, is making driver education available to young people in Massachusetts for the first time.

AAA Driver Training School’s first classes are scheduled for July at the South Attleboro branch location at 405 Washington Street. The program consists of a two-hour parent course, 30 classroom hours, 12 hours behind the wheel, and an additional 6 hours of driving observation time.

Leave your car and worries about gas prices behind once you’ve found a place to park in beautiful, historic Sandwich, Massachusetts—and take a scenic walking tour instead! Start your leisurely morning stroll with a steaming cup of coffee or tea at the Dunbar Tea Shop on Water Street.Then cross the street to the circa 1640 Dexter Grist Mill, where you can feed the ducks by the pond, buy fresh ground corn meal, and pump your own spring water. Read more

Learn about AAA Drive Vacations close to home

Massachusetts children will now be better protected in the event of a collision, thanks to passage of a new child booster seat law in Massachusetts.

The law takes effect July 11, 2008, and requires booster seats for children who have reached four feet, nine inches in height, or through the age of seven—whichever comes first.

Current law requires adult safety belts for children aged five through twelve--but those belts often don’t fit young children properly. Booster seats elevate kids so that the shoulder strap fits snugly across the collarbone and the lap belt fits securely across the hips.

Booster seats are a small price to pay for peace of mind: the average cost is about $15.00.

Greg Parkinson, M.D. demonstrates the effectiveness of child booster seats at the Massachusetts State House at a AAA Southern New England-sponsored news conference March 4.

Click here for more information on Child Passenger Safety.

On a hot summer day the interior temperature of a car can climb to more than 120 degrees in less than 20 minutes. A child's body temperature rises 3 to 5 times faster than that of an adult, and heatstroke and death can occur within minutes. Read more