Is this the right freeway driving strategy?

Yeah, but please stay out of the left lanes while cruising.

 

I disagree. Freeway congestion and accidents occur when people do not drive with the flow of traffic. Driving an unreasonable distance behind the car in front of you causes two things:

1) Other cars attempting to fill the gap left in front of you: This disrupts the normal traffic patterns in the lanes they moved out of and in your lane. It also increases accidents because of people swing in and out of lanes. For some, it increase their "road rage". I know you are not the person driving in and out of lanes, but you are an enabler at that point.

2) The drivers behind you have a sense of urgency to go around you: I have watched it a thousand times as I tool down the freeway. Once again, the drivers around you take unnecessary actions to get around you increasing the potential for a fender bender.

I'm not saying to drag race to the car in front of you just so you can brake two inches behind them. I'm just saying be aware of the people around you. Smooth acceleration and braking are much better for all of us on the road. Some may argue that their actions is their problem. I say in Rodney King fashion... "can't we all just get along?"

Bottom line, you may save .005 gallons of gasoline but everyone around you is burning much more oil and gas than you save. If your goal is for you to save your gas, you have accomplished your goal.

 

Burritos, don't listen to him. He is taking your actions to the extreme and assuming you are driving "below" the speed limit. I read it that you are driving with the avg. speed of the group but just leaving a large gap. THAT, my friend, is safe driving and if we all did it, life would be grand. Hey Fred, sounds like you have a little driving aggression issues :lol: .

 

have to agree with Schmika,

what the previous poster is describing is irresponsible drivers risking accidents to gain seconds on their commute.

no need for you to change your driving habits in order to perpetuate other drivers bad habits. let them waste their gas. its their money.

 

I certainly agree with the agreers! "enabling" bad driving and wasteful actions of others? Wow. That speed up just to slow down crap is what causes the rear-end accidents that I see on the free way. If everybody attempted to travel at the average speed of the flow instead of staying 2.4 feet behind the car in front of them, lots of things would work better, and we'd all be safer.

If road rage is caused by safe, smart driving, then we need to address THAT issue. But not by driving stupid.

Driving as described above does save 0.0005 gallons - or whatever was mentioned. It allowed me to take a Civic rated at 34mpg all-around, and achieve 40mph all around. That's pretty significant!

Anyway, to answer the original questions: yes. The use of brakes, BTW, is the easiest way to waste gas.

 

I was with you until this point: "I don't care if people pass me and fill up the space in front of me."

Any driving that causes dangerous driving (by you or others) is a bad idea, even if it saves gas. Sure, they SHOULDN'T do it, but the reality is that they WILL. Forcing YOUR ideas of speed on others is dangerous. My safety is worth more than five cents of gasoline.

And if you have to brake after they cut in front of you, you haven't even saved that nickel!

Eliminating fast accel/brake cycles is a good idea (including for safety)-- if not taken too far, as you seem to be doing. A compromise where you are a "smoothing influence" without exceeding their patience limits is probably best.

 

Okay.... I guess I was in a cantankerous mood early this morning. I certainly see your points. I apologize if I offended anyone. That was not my intent. Just pointing out an opposing viewpoint.

 

I *TRY* to leave a safe distance between me and the car ahead - HOWEVER - I find the "gotta get there first(!)" drivers insert themselves into any available space, whether it's adequate or not thus occupying the "safety zone." My motivation includes safety, avoiding tailgating, and realizing the Prius economies. It's not unusual to get angry looks, a horn blast, even a finger salute even though I'm driving the "going pace."

<_< *SIGH* <_<

 

I usually drive many many miles on a highway without touching my brakes. Killing the cruise control then resetting it to a new speed limit is very easy. I worry that someone tailgating me will plan on me speeding, then hit me when they finally wise up to the fact that when the speed limit changed to 45 I actually slowed down. Construction zones seem to be invisible to some people.

My record was 139,000 miles on one set of brakes on a Geo. The way the Prius brakes, I should easily double-up on that if I'm careful...

 

The technique you are describing is fine for the right lane. Doing it in the left lane makes you a misanthropic, sociopathic, sadist.

 

The "rubberband" traffic phenomenon as Burritos calls it - where people speed up only to slow down, is an unfortunate gas waster and probably also a frequent cause of freeway accidents.

An extreme (but great example) is the freeway on-ramp controlled by a signal light that lets 1-2 cars through per green. How many times have you seen the car in front of you hit the gas in order to move forward 10 feet, only to slam on the brakes. What a waste of gas. That's what idle speed is for.

 

I was taught to maintain a safe distance from the car in front of me, but doing so causes unsafe behaviour from others who can't wait to get into that 'wasted' space in front of me. Ironically, it seems safer to tailgate!

 

Don't know about your experiences, but the other day it took me an hour and twenty minutes to drive on the southbound I405 from the US101 to the Howard Hughes Parkway, a distance of about fifteen miles. My nerves were frayed, but the car got well in excess of 80 MPG in that segment (most bars showed 99 MPG). I had about 100 miles on that tank, at the time, and the average MPG climbed more than 10% in those fifteen miles from the low fifties to almost sixty.

 

Google for "traffic waves".
.
ALL arguments against leaving a generous gap are specious. Sure,
a few people might want to fill it, but if they pass you to do so
then they're already going faster, and your speed doesn't need to
change. If they're in a situation where they need to jump into
the gap and immediately slow down, then that means the line of
traffic ahead was already slowing down, and presumably you with it
[while still maintaining a generous gap, but predicting the new
average speed].
.
_H*

 

Back in my army days, we called it an "accordian effect" while marching. If the guy in front didn't maintain an exact pace, the guys 3 platoons back ended up running, then stopping, then running...

I leave 1 car per 10mph in front of me. period. That's what they taught in Driver's Ed back in the eighties, and it still works today. Leaving the space in front of you allows others to FREELY change lanes safely, without causing you to slam on the brakes if they cut in front of you, and allows traffic to open up and proceed more smoothly.

ona side note: Why do people on here always react to posts as if the OP were an extremist? It ALWAYS happens... and it's weird. The OP here is clearly a safe driver, and that method will work FINE in their new Prius.

I personally love setting the cruise control at 70 and hoping not to hit the brakes.

(Now someone will jump in and say I'm dangerous, imply that my foot is off the pedal, that I'm irresposible, that I'm speeding, yada yada yada, and all I said is I like cruise control... go ahead, flame away...)

Jim