Anyone Notice The Bad Driving Around You?

Because they haven't yet become cognizant of that fact! Each, in turn, will and then think, "Geez, what a dolt I've been!"

 

Dave,

I am sure there is a lot of Pysological reasons. Our day is comprised of thousands of accomplishments. Getting to work, to the store, having lunch, etc. Getting to the next stop light is a sub-concious goal. Little things that interfer, cause stress.

Most people own cars to get from point A to point B. (period) There main goal is not to get a few more miles per gallon out of their tanks. We live in a society where goals and objectives are our method of accomplishments and success.

How many times when you are in Wal-mart or your favoriate or least favoriate department store, do you look for the quickest line when checking out? Perhaps there is one person in line with 50 items, and a line with 3 people with 2 items each? Which are you going to get in? Then tell me, how do you feel when the 3 people ahead of you decide to pay for everything with a check or it gets a price check, and the other line with the 3 people behind them check out all before you!?

Our cars have a visiual feed back where most vehicles do not. When others appear to be making little or no progress crawling at a light, or going at a posted speed, or coasting to a light. WE have a nice display saying that we USING battery power, or MAKING 100MPG, or regenerating. These things help us FEEL like we are accomplishing more than one thing at a time! They redirect our brains to think in a positive way. Imagine your Prius without your display. How would you feel rolling up to a light without knowing if you are "gaining something"?

I am sure there is a room full of people somewhere at toyota thinking of ways to make us feel better in our cars. They do studys on just about everything. I am also sure there are reasons for the colors on the displays, and the color options. I would bet that the colors are found to have calming effects on people, or easy on the eyes, etc.

 

Medved:

very good points you brought up...

so i guess my planned bumper sticker might not be a good idea...

it goes

I go to the gas station once a month, every month!

 

Hmm, I just got tailgated at about 70 mph by a US Government vehicle, of all things. Anyone happen to know somewhere I can report this?

 

I once got a speeding ticket while going with the flow of traffic (40 in a 25 MPH zone). Now with my Prius I always go the speed limit. NO more tickets plus better mileage.

 

You know, I seem to remember an Executive Order from the Carter administration that required Government vehicles not exceed 55mph....I don't think it was e v e r recinded.

 

Don't know if it ever was but do know just 20 minutes west of me approaching the Oregon border the posted speed limit goes up to 75 MPH and that there are areas in Montana where the is no posted limit. In those sections, apparently, it is only required that you don't drive like an idiot. (See my earlier post in this thread Jun 15, 6:08pm)

 

Dion,

Yes I'm not surprised that you got a ticket. I know a lot of people think that the law says you can go over the speed limit if the flow of traffic is doing that. But it's just not the case. Going with the flow of traffic wiill not get you out of a speeding ticket, at least according to the CHP here in California. On some of our freeways the flow is 85+ and many at that speed are just flat out unsafe. Tailgating, swerving in and out of traffic to cut minutes out of their commute, oblivious to the increased danger they present to the rest of us. I'm content to stay within a few mph of the speed limit, always accelerate briskly, and I try to stay over to the right as much as possible. I don't have to always be worried that I might get picked off by a CHP with a quota to make. And it's generally safer. There is always the reaction of others to your obeying the law, but that's their problem. Just look at the numbers. Speed does tend to increase your odds of getting hurt exponentially with increases in speed.

And 65 mph VS 75 mph will yield about a 7 mpg difference on level ground. Run Wayne's simulator if you don't have the time to do a controlled experiment to prove this to yourself. Yes a headwind or hills will subtract from the net results, but that's regardless of the speed. It's the square of the velocity that kills you in the aerodynamic drag department. If you think it's only about 2 mpg you're just kidding yourself. The science of this all pretty simple and well understood.

I would agree with others that the Prius has made me calmer driver in many ways. I used to always push 80+, uptight when cut off, in a hurry all the time and totally stressed out when driving. Now somehow that's not as important and I keep the limit pretty much and in spite of employing brisk acceleration, find that some drivers expect you to continue to accelerate 15-30 mph beyond the limit. What's the rush?

 

Dion,
I can see in a simulation, "all things being equal", that you will burn more fuel going faster, but . . . 7 MPG seems a bit high for a 10 MPH difference.

We just don't drive in simulation conditions, this is one reason why there is such an uproar with the EPA milage postings vs. real world experience.

There ARE other factors as you mentioned. Since she was going with the flow of traffic, (in a draft line), during the Day with heavier traffic, I am sure she gained efficieny there. On the way home in the evening when I drove, there was less traffic, and I was punching the hole in the air all by myself in the right hand lane. The trip from Cleveland to Columbus is NOT flat, there are hills, and I don't know which way the wind was blowing, but generaly, the wind blows West to East, and we were driving North and South.

Even in my 4Runner, driving 65 or 75 yeiled only a minor difference on the freeway. I would average, 17-19 Per Gallon regardless of 65 or 75. Usually never more than a 2-3 mph difference. Usually drive to Columbus once a month for work, so I have quite a bit of real world experience in my 4Runner. My milage would NEVER drop below 15 MPG.

Respectfully,
Medved

 

Dion,

Yes I agree these are the calculated but not the real world numbers and there will be differences. But it's pretty common to use this sort of calculation to guide decisions or to make some approximation when solving problems. And these numbers are really realistic. They give you a good starting point and a goal to shoot for. But if you look at the percentages you'll find that your 2-3 mpg is about 11.8 to 17.6% of 17 mpg. The 7 mpg is about 12.8% of the calculated 54.4 mpg from Wayne's program for 65 mph (taking all the defaults). So we're really speaking the same language, just different cars. It's just that 12 or 13% of a car that gets around 50 mpg is much more noticeable.

It's one of the reasons I'm reluctant to put a different tire on my car right now. Without knowing how the rolling resistance compares to the Goodyeard Integrity, I might easily loose 5-10% of my mpg. On a 20 mpg car you might never notice. But on the Prius 10%, or 5 mpg would be hard to ignore!

 

Ah, this brings back memories of old physics problems that started: "Assume a frictionless, spherical cow of uniform density. . ."

 

:lolup:

Along with the warning, "When you stick your fingers in the mains, it's not
the imaginary component which you will feel."

 

So are you comparing our beautiful Prius to a spherical cow?

Anyway, the point is that all things being equal, vehicle speed plays a huge role in your gas mileage. And if you're looking for 1st order effects that you can control, it's one of the big ones. Yes there are many other things like traffic, hills, wind, etc that have a profound effect. But they are usually out of your direct control. And if speed really doesn't matter then try doing 85 mph on your next trip and see what you get.

Waynes' program is suprisingly accurate because it does consider friction, drag, speed, ambient conditions, frontal area, etc. It's only meant as a guideline to show you some (not all) of the things that affect gas milege and why your mileage may vary. It's much more detailed than your spherical cow problem.

 

I live in the suburbs of Houston, TX and I always get the idiots driving past me while I go 65 on the highway (the speed limit). I stay out of the passing lane but there never seems to be a shortage of people in large SUVs or trucks, the trucks are the worst, getting right behind me and riding my tail - if they do it for too long, I hit the windshield wiper fluid and they get squirted a little. I also don't like the people who toss their lit cigarette butts out the window.

Maybe I should move to Berkeley.

 

Berkeley has its fair share of idiot drivers and inconsiderate people. While at school there (hence, my icon), I lived in an apartment just across the street from campus (near Telegraph and Bancroft). It happened to be right behind a Wells Fargo. Just about every time we tried to pull out of our driveway, there was a car parked illegally there, blocking the driveway while the driver was using the Wells Fargo ATM. Of course, it was a different person every time, but it was still infuriating. We even saw a cop do it once. (sigh)

 

I thought the guy that stopped at the red light, checked cross traffic then turned left a few weeks ago was about a bold as one could get, but NOOOO. Yesterday I came to a red light (same intersection of all things) and the white car behind me pulled into the left turn lane then ran the red going straight. When the h@#$ is my grill mounted paintball gun coming in?? :guns: He didn't improve any. The next traffic control is about 3/4 mile further on, a stop sign. As usual for the time, there were about 40 cars ahead going 'our' way. He passed all the cars on the right (only possible because there were no parked cars). I am not certain where he went next because of the distance, but I'm guessing he pulled in front of someone and turned left and took the same route I did because I saw a white car about 1/4 mile ahead weaving in and out of traffic. Instead of his plate "GOT2BYZ", he should have IMAJERK. If only reporting him to the police would do any good.

 

People drive too fast these days. May be we should take a look at how the Danish get people to slow down?

http://speedbandits.dk

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Henry @ Jun 15 2004, 09:45 PM) [snapback]22233[/snapback]</div>

It's a good thing you didn't clean his clock. Question: Do you own a Harley? I have an '05 Sporty 1200C.

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Steve6745 @ Jun 15 2004, 09:23 AM) [snapback]22095[/snapback]</div>

I have not had any one person swear or get nasty with me. I do, however always move into the right lane so they can blow by me. I would get bent if some dummy was going slow in the passing lane. I just set the cruise and keep going. One imp. thing about road rage is never make eye contact with the jerk. It just escalates things. Consider the source & type of vehicle Yahoo or Yuppy is driving. Gives you a clue.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Porridge @ Dec 27 2006, 10:59 AM) [snapback]367256[/snapback]</div>