Crazy drivers breaking your glide?

Ichabod · 09-07-2007, 09:27 AM

Cars pulling in front from a side road is one of my biggest challenges in sustaining a good glide. I find there are two good approaches to dealing with them:

1. If there's enough room, ease off a little and let them in. If they drive slowly, so much the better because then the person riding your bumper doesn't blame you for going slow anymore

2. If there's just enough room for them to pull in, but they're hesitating to judge your speed and distance, give it a little gas and close that gap. Sometimes burning a little extra saves a little down the road. Think of it as an extra pulse

The people who will pull in front when there's not much room will usually also accelerate quickly, but I don't like to put more pressure on other cars to accelerate quickly since a guzzler accelerating heavily will probably burn more gas than my Prius will when I have to recover some lost speed. I only wish that our consumption graph took into account the fuel we help other drivers save by evening out the traffic patterns

judymcfarland · 09-07-2007, 09:33 AM

I had to laugh at qbee42's comment about the lack of traffic lights. When I was taking driver's ed in high school (in a '59 chevy BTW), we had to take turns driving up to the town's one traffic light so we could learn to stop & go correctly. Almost 50 years later, the place (in rural northern NY) has really exploded - there are now 2 traffic lights!

patsparks · 09-07-2007, 09:48 AM

My daily commute of 35km to and from work takes me through 40 sets of traffic lights each way! Maybe I should include that in my fuel consumption posts. Averaging 4.3L/100km (about 55mpg) and 80 sets of traffic lights per day. That's more than a set every kilometre!!!
My 40 sets of traffic lights is not counting about 5 sets of pedestrian activated lights each way as they are rarely red.

miscrms · 09-07-2007, 06:18 PM

These would probably do the trick:

http://www.siegeengine.com/auctions/horn/k...kong2sample.mpg

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAP...em=130150843529

Rob

Or if you feel the need to upgrade:

http://www.siegeengine.com/auctions/horn/s...-bell-final.mpg

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAP...atchlink:top:us

09-07-2007, 09:27 AM	#11
Ichabod Artist In Residence Join Date: Jul 2006 Location: Newton, MA Posts: 1,776 My Car: 2006 Prius Package: #7 Nominated 0 Times in 0 Posts TOTM Awards: 0 Friends: 7	Cars pulling in front from a side road is one of my biggest challenges in sustaining a good glide. I find there are two good approaches to dealing with them: 1. If there's enough room, ease off a little and let them in. If they drive slowly, so much the better because then the person riding your bumper doesn't blame you for going slow anymore 2. If there's just enough room for them to pull in, but they're hesitating to judge your speed and distance, give it a little gas and close that gap. Sometimes burning a little extra saves a little down the road. Think of it as an extra pulse The people who will pull in front when there's not much room will usually also accelerate quickly, but I don't like to put more pressure on other cars to accelerate quickly since a guzzler accelerating heavily will probably burn more gas than my Prius will when I have to recover some lost speed. I only wish that our consumption graph took into account the fuel we help other drivers save by evening out the traffic patterns __________________ 2006 Barcelona Red Metallic - a.k.a. "The Professor" :: Accessories/Mods :: BT Tech Stiffening Plate - Engine Block Heater - OEM EV button - OEM Mud guards - Rear Bumper Protector :: Near-future :: ScangaugeII

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09-07-2007, 09:33 AM	#12
judymcfarland Queen of Moral Indignation Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: Glendale, WI Posts: 395 My Car: 2007 Prius Package: #3 Touring Nominated 0 Times in 0 Posts TOTM Awards: 0 Friends: 7	I had to laugh at qbee42's comment about the lack of traffic lights. When I was taking driver's ed in high school (in a '59 chevy BTW), we had to take turns driving up to the town's one traffic light so we could learn to stop & go correctly. Almost 50 years later, the place (in rural northern NY) has really exploded - there are now 2 traffic lights!

09-07-2007, 09:48 AM	#13
patsparks Uneducated bird-brain Aussie Join Date: Jul 2007 Location: Adelaide South Australia Posts: 4,924 My Car: 2004 Prius Package: Base Nominated 0 Times in 0 Posts TOTM Awards: 0 Friends: 17	My daily commute of 35km to and from work takes me through 40 sets of traffic lights each way! Maybe I should include that in my fuel consumption posts. Averaging 4.3L/100km (about 55mpg) and 80 sets of traffic lights per day. That's more than a set every kilometre!!! My 40 sets of traffic lights is not counting about 5 sets of pedestrian activated lights each way as they are rarely red.

09-07-2007, 06:18 PM	#14
miscrms Plug Envious Member Join Date: Aug 2007 Location: Phoenix, AZ Posts: 1,087 My Car: 2005 Prius Package: #4 Nominated 0 Times in 0 Posts TOTM Awards: 0 Friends: 2	These would probably do the trick: http://www.siegeengine.com/auctions/horn/k...kong2sample.mpg http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAP...em=130150843529 Rob Or if you feel the need to upgrade: http://www.siegeengine.com/auctions/horn/s...-bell-final.mpg http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAP...atchlink:top:us