Today, as I was coasting down my favorite hill after work, a thought suddenly occurred to me. This was inspired by the fact that I was being tailgated by a guy in a mid-90s family sedan. Now, I should start by saying I'm used to this behavior given the car I drive (every late teen to early 20s kid in a Civic tries to race me... well... whenever). This guy was no different, but my only concern was, if I needed to stop quickly, I'd have to hire someone to extract him from my tail pipe.
Now I know that I'm assuming that he was trying to "race" me, but I'm pretty sure I'm right about what was going on in his mind. The thing I'm curious about is whether he was aware of a few things:
First, we were on a 35 mph posted road that is frequented by pedestrians and bicyclists. Again, I was driving within a speed that I could stop if I needed to, but I'm convinced that he could not.
Second, even though they were curvy, windy roads, I only touched my brakes once.
Third, for the entire two-mile stretch, I never once touched the gas pedal.
I just wonder, sometimes, what is going through other drivers' heads.
I'm guessing they are equally puzzled by other hypermiling techniques.