Lowest Safe & Legal Speed on the Freeway for Maximum MPG

Minimum legal freeway speed here is 45, and even in my gas guzzler during the highest gas prices in 2008, my time was still worth more than the fuel savings of that speed.

Does he feel the same for trucks and combination vehicles? They have a statewide cap of 55 mph in your state.

In most conditions, optimal mpg speed will be the slowest speed that you tolerate for both safety and the value of your time.

Very rarely.

This varies from county to county. I'm not sure the minimum safe speed in the southern part of your state is even under the go-directly-to-jail-for-speeding limit in the northern part of my state.

 

V C Section 22400 Minimum Speed Law

 

That was an expletive cop who if really needed to get passed for police purposes could have just flashed the lights and siren. The tailgating and the stunt afterwards were just pathetic.

45 mph min on the OH and Pa Turnpikes I76 I80

 

I typically drive the limit-5MPH. I'll usually get a lot of folks that follow and pass me too closely even in the slow lane when I'm there by myself. Even driving at the limit doesn't always limit the aggressive behavior. However if I can find a slower truck to follow people will typically leave me alone and pass normally with lots of room.

Cheers,
Ian

 

I use cruise control (Speed-o-stat thanks to the nearby Hagerstown blind inventor Ralph Teetor – Inventor of Cruise Control ) about 90+% of the time.

On roads posted from 55 to 70+, I will run 55 to 63 usually (but not exceeding limit), rarely above 67 or so.

I keep to the right, signal all my intents, have lights on for safety, don't make any sudden changes, both hands on wheel (High enough up to be seen by other drivers) so as to communicate to others that I am not texting or tired (takes stamina to keep arms up high), mirrors adjusted to properly see and reduce the blind spots, etc.

Agree with Burke below.

 

If you are dead, you will save the most gas of all. :madgrin:

I cannot answer your poll because I drive with the flow of traffic. If I can drive safely at 65 mph, then I do so. But if the majority is traveling 75 mph, then I go 75 mph.

 

On two lane roads, I drive speed limit + 10% I pass about as many as pass me.
Same rule on freeways under 70, above 70, I use speed limit + 1 MPH Always in right lane.
I use cruise a lot, as my normal drive is dead flat (60 foot elevation change in 150 miles)

This does not yield the best MPG, but perhaps the fewest deaths per million miles.

 

The legal minimum in Michigan is 45 mph on divided highways. As for me, I always drive the speed limit unless conditions force me to slow down. I don't want to impede traffic, but I won't speed either.

If for some reason you want to drive more slowly, find a slow truck and tuck in behind.

Tom

 

Agreed that without context it seems like the cop's actions were not terribly professional - perhaps there is more to the story that we do not get from the video. For all we know the cop was radioed about an emergency as he was pulling the car over. I hope that the drive of the car in front of the cop got the message - his or her driving was pretty piss poor.

OP - while you can legally drive slowly on the highway please do not take it to extremes - go with the flow of traffic or at least pretty close to the speed limit. Driving way too slowly can cause traffic backups behind you and can lead to dangerous situations when people try and get past. Lastly think of the rest of us here at Prius Chat - there is enough Prius scorn already - we do not really need more hate based on a car creeping along the highway.

 

When I took my written test (Many Years Ago) that was one of the questions. The answer was 20 MPH Below the speed limit. So 65 MPH would Equal 45 MPH Minimum Speed Limit.

 

I drive how fast the flow of traffic is driving. Speed limit signs are more of a decoration than anything else.

The speed limit used to be 55mph on the interstate through town. People went 80mph normally. They upped the speed limit to 65mph. People still go 80mph, myself included.

We have sections of 75mph highway with a 55mph minimum speed, where it has been a crawl and the speedo is in single digit numbers because of some obstruction ahead. Nobody was ticketed.

Drive 30mph if you want to, just stay out of the flow of traffic or you will be making lots of people very very angry behind you. Whether or not it is justified is not the point. People get angry at me just because I am in a Prius. I don't care, I just let them pass. I don't try and "tame" them by slowing down and aggravating them more. When people are angry (even through no fault of your own) they will do desperate and/or stupid things like passing on the shoulder or taking very close calls to weave in and out of traffic. I don't want that on my head.

Many interstates in semi-urban areas or connecting urban areas have the little following roads on the sides where the speed limit is much lower and the traffic is less. If you want to drive slowly, drive there.

 

Every state is different and although you can make a case in some states that you were driving safely for the conditions yadda yadda, you will almost assuredly lose. Speed limits are not for public safety but for public funding.

 

Arkansas has a "Speeder Impeder" law which states in part: “vehicles shall not be operated continuously in the left lane of a multilane roadway whenever it impedes the flow of other traffic.â€

Copy of the law here ---> http://www.nhtsa.gov/people/injury/enforce/speedlaws501/toc/arspeed.pdf​

 

It varies by state. In Michigan the speed limit is the actual upper limit: it is never legal to drive faster, even when passing. Because of this you cannot be obstructing traffic when driving the speed limit.

Tom

 

From my post at http://priuschat.com/forums/gen-iii...187-whats-deal-prius-hate-7.html#post1273494:

Extreme differentials are far more likely to cause accidents vs. everyone going w/the flow of traffic.

I most certainly would NOT do 20 mph on the freeway. That would almost certainly land you a ticket since from the CA minimum speed law, it's not "necessary for safe operation, because of a grade, or in compliance with law." I'd saw the same goes true for even 40 or 50 mph.

I had to do 50 mph on I-5 (speed limit 70 mph) for over 50 miles coming back from Vegas because I was on the donut spare after having a flat tire. I had my hazard lights on the whole time and everyone was passing me, including big rigs. For me, that was for safety reasons since the manual says to not go over 50 mph on the compact spare.

Whatever you do, keep in the right most lane and at least keep w/the flow of traffic there.

 

My advice would be to drive in the right lane at the flow of traffic up to the speed limit.
Safe and legal.
If traffic stacks up behind you in the right lane, and you're at the posted limit, there is no obstruction of traffic, but rather there's just too much traffic.
Obviously, things change a little bit in the other lane(s), but IMHO the leftmost lane should be avoided unless you're passing.

All pretty simple----right?

And yet, there are threads upon threads of people who argue this point and that point about laws, common sense (which isn't), and Prius Hate.
Opinions and actions run the gambit from wanna-be armature speed enforcement police, to idiot Formula-1 racing devotees.

And so it goes.

Me?
I drive with the flow of traffic, usually in the right lane, unless I'm passing someone who is PSL-5. Usually, I'll take my PSL+5.
Almost always, I'm neither tailgated nor obstructed. When I am….I keep the giveacrap switch in the “Don’t” position.
My days of punching holes in the North Atlantic have taught me not to sweat the small stuff.
Traffic?

Pretty small stuff, if you ask me.

 

If you want to drive slower then find smaller roads. Get off the Interstate & on to a US or state highway or a county road. Sometimes the speed limits aren't that far apart but there is much less traffic.

IMO the tailgating is more dangerous than the speeding but that is enforced less than the speeding.