One things governments can do is to get serious about public transport. In Sydney at peak times and even on weekends, buses and trains are packed. People do choose to use public transport and more people would if it was more accessible. There have been some initiatives but it is going to take more than a new rail link here and there to get people off the road. I hate driving but there are some instances where I have needed to use a car because the public transport system to those areas is woeful. New rail systems won't instantly unclog the roads but better to start building them now rather than later.

I understand that wind resistance to a vehicle increases to the cube
of the speed. If this is correct then with most later cars having
been wind tunnel tested there must be an optimiom speed for all
modern cars. (This is why they all look alike).
That speed is probably already known and could be the speed limit.

When you see the trucks on Pennant Hills Road you realise that trucks
have to a major user of fuel. They are on the road 12 to 24 hours
a day at maximium speed.
We should have a crash program of getting interstate trucks loads onto rail.
If we wait till the price of diesal forces them off it will be too late
to build the extra rail infrastructure.

Exactly right, Inner-Sydney based transsexual, indigent outcast progeny of merchant family.

It's the speed of your engine, not the speed of your vehicle that counts.

Watch the tacho not the speedo .... but don't lug it.

Power usage is actually nearer to the square of the speed as form drag is equal to the cube of the speed but induced drag is inversely proportional to speed. The optimum speed is therefore much lower than many would think. If we were paying the same amount for fuel as the Poms are we would all be driving small one litre diesels as they are. Try A$2.30 per litre.

However, to really reduce energy consumption, apart from the obvious need to reduce population increase, we also need to compel people to build smaller, more efficient houses, without all the modern gee gaws which consume electricity like it is going out of fashion.

The market will determine when "peak oil" arrives.
In the mean time, all I ask is that the busybodies stay out of my life and mind their own damn business.

"all I ask is that the busybodies stay out of my life and mind their own damn business"

Good luck with that Admiral...they're everywhere at the moment.