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Soaring fuel prices are causing drivers to slow down, stay at home or switch to bikes and buses, the RAC said today.

Motorists are responding to the record high costs of petrol and diesel by sticking to speed limits, using park and rides and asking for fuel economy tips, the RAC added.

Reports from the RAC patrol staff have revealed that traffic appears much lighter on some routes.

The patrols have said:

- People are combining journeys and only driving when it is essential

- Companies are asking their drivers to reduce their speed;

- More cars are in the inside lane on motorways behind lorries;

- Drivers have spoken of cars being “just too expensive to run now”;

- Parents are not driving their children to school but walking instead;

- Caravanners are not travelling as far to holiday destinations.

Some roads are so much quieter than usual that it “feels like the school holidays already”, according to one RAC patrol in Essex, while a patrol in Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire, said “the traffic has just dissappeared”.

The RAC said people who call after their vehicle breaks down are asking the patrols to check their tyre pressures - incorrect tyre pressure can significantly increase fuel consumption - and for advice on how to save fuel.

Iain Vale, RAC’s patrolman of the year, said “We have seen more call-outs for people running out of fuel because their £30 simply doesnt buy them as many miles as it did at the begining of the year and considerably less than this time last year.

“The cost of motoring has now taken over from the weather as the main topic of conversation during call-outs.” Friends of the Earth’s transport campaigner, Richard Dyer said: “Avoiding unnecessary car use, using buses and trains and choosing more fuel-efficient cars will help people save money and cut transport’s contribution to golbal climate change.

“Rising fuel prices highlight the urgent need to wean ourselves off our addiction to increasingly expensive and insecure fossil fuels.

“The government must help motorists cut costs and cut emissions by investing extra oil tax revenues in public transport and cycling facilities, encouraging greener motoring and pushing for tough EU laws on fuel efficiency of all new cars.”