Some 85 percent of American drivers don’t check their tire pressure enough, or correctly, according to the Rubber Manufacturers Association. And underinflated tires waste fuel while degrading safety. Americans keep their cars better washed and oiled than they keep them inflated.

Assuming U.S. averages apply to Cascadia, we northwesterners could trim our gasoline consumption by more than 3 percent just by pumping up regularly. And even if that figure overstates by a factor of two, we could still save $1 million on gasoline every 36 hours.

Did you know that the correct tire pressure is NOT printed on the sidewall? I didn’t. Tips are here.

(Thanks to Matt Schoellhamer for this post.)