Driving 55 mph: I'm lazy, I'm not going to do it unless somebody makes me do it.

[Codyroo]

Another article on driving 55 mph (or discussing the possibilities of it) and fuel savings by doing so.


http://www.insidebayarea.com/ci_9639383?source=rv

"I have considered it, but I don't know whether it's legal to go that far below the speed limit," said Margie Williams of Richmond. Informed that it is indeed legal, Williams said, "I'm lazy. I'm not going to do it unless somebody makes me do it."

My thoughts: Nice.....Again, we are greeted with "everyday" people who pay some lip service to the problem, but refuse to do anything about it themselves.

I did like the withering effect on one's pysche depending where the "macho meter" is set. This really is true, and is the hardest part of driving 55 mph.

[Malkavian]

maddening sense of slowness and the ego issues you may have with being passed aside, there's the very real fact that going significantly slower than traffic, even in the right lane, makes you something of a hazard. Witness traffic piling up behind school buses (which at least in my state are limited to 55mph) on the freeway.

Causing traffic congestion is a ticketable offense in many places too...

Doing this on country roads or other places where the default behavior is to speed seems like a great idea though

[judymcfarland]

Drive 55, but stay in the right lane. Don't impede those who want to go faster, but don't enable the gas guzzlers either. We know going 55 saves fuel, so be the first or join the pack. If lots of us do it, the "flow of traffic" will be slower in the right lane as it should be.
I find a lot of trucks driving slower these days, so you're less likely to be intimidated by the semi trying to crawl into your hatch. It's more like the minivan, the performance car, or the SUV. Let 'em go - you can wave at them when you see them stopped at the gas pump just down the road.

[pdhenry]

A few weeks back we drove to a wedding 100 miles away on the PA turnpike, at a steady 55-60 mph. We achieved about 10% better mpg on that car than I had ever achieved (30 mpg on a Lincoln LS V8) and never really felt threatened by the overtaking traffic. We also had the AC off at the time, but this was really because we needed a recharge (the Lincoln has automatic climate control so the AC is on by default)

[kcpistol]

I don't know about other states, but in Missouri this is the law (304.011 RSMo). So it appears that in Missouri you would at least be due a warning before a ticket could be written, and you could only be written a ticket in the event of "apparent willful disobedience to this provision and refusal to comply with direction of an officer in accordance herewith". The only reason I know anything about this is because "impeding traffic" is often used as a trumped-up charge against people riding bicycles on the road. Why is everyone always in such a hurry, anyway?

[orracle]

Originally Posted by judymcfarland

Drive 55, but stay in the right lane. Don't impede those who want to go faster, but don't enable the gas guzzlers either. We know going 55 saves fuel, so be the first or join the pack. If lots of us do it, the "flow of traffic" will be slower in the right lane as it should be.
I find a lot of trucks driving slower these days, so you're less likely to be intimidated by the semi trying to crawl into your hatch. It's more like the minivan, the performance car, or the SUV. Let 'em go - you can wave at them when you see them stopped at the gas pump just down the road.

Some of the major trucking companies have recently changed their rules about drivers and cut back on the maximum speeds.

Note--these will be trucks with huge company names on them, and they are not the ones who cause trouble.

[Ian MacDonald]

I just completed an 800 mile round trip from the S.F. Bay Area down to L.A. and back on I-5. We took our family hauling Sienna which normally averages around 22 MPG in mixed driving around home. I managed to average 29 MPG for the trip by keeping in the right lane with the trucks and drove ~60 MPH the whole way. The posted limit on most of I-5 is 70 MPH and plenty drive much faster. I never had a single problem at all with anyone visibly annoyed at my slow driving and I always managed to find a truck to keep me company at that speed. It was a very relaxing way to travel. (I kept imagining all those folks in the big pickups and SUVs driving 80 MPH and tossing $5 bills out the window every 10 miles or so. )

Cheers,

-- Ian

[darelldd]

Originally Posted by Codyroo

"I'm lazy. I'm not going to do it unless somebody makes me do it."

And then will complain that we have too many laws restricting our freedom.

If we're too stupid to do the right thing ourselves, we need to legislate it. Sad. (Yeah, yeah. Who determines what's "right", right? Well, we've mostly agreed that killing people is wrong, yet we still need a law about it, don't we? :sigh

[Devil's Advocate]

Hey, nothing is stopping anyone from driving 55 mph. (in the right hand lane, or left I guess if you're in England)

As for me, the difference between the 42 MPG I get in the Prius when I drive 75-85 and the 45-47 MPG I get (tested this) when I drive 55 is not worth the time of my life that the slower speed adds to my driving. I travel between Las Vegas and SoCal at least once a week!

Heck, why not 50 MPH or 45 MPH at what speed does the MPG increase reverse? So why not that speed? Nice way to control a population by limiting their travel. uh, tinfoil hat time.

[priusincc]

I'll consider it as soon as Hummers are extinct.