Don't trust the "miles remaining" gauge on your car

I read the story below about the Dayton area woman who decided to ditch her car on I-75 Wednesday, after reporting to WHIO-TV her car stated it had over 10 miles left to empty, but ran out of gas while she was in the contraflow lane.

It would be way easy to make all kinds of assumptions about this driver--honestly, who ditches their car in heavy traffic? But as someone who’s also been burned by the “miles left” reading, I feel her pain.

Years ago I was driving my car to work and the reading on my dashboard indicated I had ten miles to go to empty. I was running late for work and was only about 4 blocks away, so I figured I’d get gas during lunch or after I left work that day. BUT, in a matter of moments, the car started sputtering and I found myself coasting to a stop on a side street.

To say I was embarrassed to call AAA to bring me gas would be an understatement. But the most humiliating part was calling my boss to explain why I was missing a staff meeting.

For a week, my boss referred to me as “Jackson Browne,” because I was “Running on Empty.” Gotta love radio humor.