Quote:
Originally Posted by Grant-53
The traffic '85% rule' is that flow is best when at least 85% of vehicles travel at the same speed give or take 5 mph. If you are traveling less than 10 mph of the average you are expected to let others pass safely. State law may determine minimum speeds for limited access highways (45 mph in 65 mph zones) or speeds below which slow moving vehicle signs are required. Too often you will see people riding the bumper of someone at speed in the passing lane rather than flashing the high beams from a safe 3 sec. interval. The passing lane is for passing and we are not allowed to exceed the legal limit when doing so. In practice passing usually means going 5 mph faster than the person we pass. They are required to maintain speed. It is amazing how many people do not take the time to read and understand traffic laws.
The question for the hypermiler is what is an appropriate minimum and maximum speed for pulse and glide? Best mileage may be had in the 35 to 45 mph range but traffic conditions may not allow this. The best traffic 'safety' speed is to P&G in the range 5 mph above and below the 85% average. If this not acceptable, then another route might be better. The alternative is to pull over and wave others around when it is safe to do so. If some is really crowding my bumper, I flip on the 4 way flashers until they back off and I can wave them around.
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Excellent post.
Americans fail horribly at using proper lane discipline. We have law enforcement to thank with their obsession with speeds rather than overall driving habits.
In Europe they pull over speed limit (assuming there is one) abiding passing lane road hazards rather than the guy in the M5 driving in the proper lane at 'go directly to jail' triple digit speeds.
This is done for a few reasons, IMO.
First off is the view that driving in this country is some sort of constitutional right and you can't put silly restrictions such as having an f'ing clue on rights!
Second is that it's much easier and quite lucrative to simply set up speed traps and reel in the suckers. Enforcing actual driving rules requires actually driving and looking. That's way too much work and requires burning expensive gas. Not a very efficient means of revenue collection at all.