I must be losing my mind. Some people need to grow up!

[Christ]

I don't screen calls - I hang up. LOL.

I can actually text without looking at my phone, which is what I normally do. I don't like talking on the phone really. It's very impersonal.

PA isn't really strict about phones, but as with every other aspect of my driving, I can't risk a ticket right now (or ever, really). If I get even one ticket, I"ll lose my license for 5 years. I just got it back a little over a year ago from a street racing and wreckless driving charge. (130+ in a 35, leaving town for a 2-lane highway. They clocked us at the verge of the 55 zone, not that it mattered. What mattered was that I was stupid enough to stop.)

So basically, having just got my license back, I have 5 points. All traffic offenses in PA are at least 1 point, most are 2+, and 6 is the limit. I've had my license suspended so many times, that they just decided the next time is 5 years. (That's what the PennDOT judge person said when I got it back.)

A really good reason to learn about hyper-miling: fear of never being able to drive again, if attitude adjustment doesn't occur. Quickly.

[NachtRitter]

Originally Posted by Shawn D.

If you're driving so slowly that you think you need to put your hazard flashers on, you are a hazard -- is that a difficult concept?

Yes, that's my point... I have my hazards on because I believe I am going so slow that I am a hazard... I can't go any faster up the hills, yet I get drivers behind me, with 2 other lanes to choose from, flashing their brights and honking, expecting me to ... what? Pull onto the shoulder? When they can much more easily use one of the other 2 lanes without losing any momentum? I dunno...

[NachtRitter]

Originally Posted by Christ

I can actually text without looking at my phone, which is what I normally do. I don't like talking on the phone really. It's very impersonal.

Ha ha... I actually feel the same as you do, but I found it funny the way you said it... Sounded like you're saying "talking on the phone is very impersonal, so I text instead."

[thinkmoto]

I gave up on driving slow in the slow lane. I saw no improvements in MPG's in my XFI. If i go 55 or do 65-70 I get the same mileage so I just drive normal. I've also had alot of close calls with semis being cut off and not being able to switch lanes. I'd rather do the speed limit or more then be a hazard to society. Its fun passing people in my rust bucket anyways

[Christ]

Originally Posted by NachtRitter

Ha ha... I actually feel the same as you do, but I found it funny the way you said it... Sounded like you're saying "talking on the phone is very impersonal, so I text instead."

I see it! Wow... that seems odd, that I would say something like that, doesn't it? The worst part, is that's how I meant it LOL.

Talking on the phone is very impersonal in that you can't gauge a person's feelings based on their facial expression (since you can't see it.)

Txting is a way to take the impersonal phone call, and make it as briefly uncomfortable as possible. It's also much better that I can send a message which will be there in no time, and be available any time, to read, re-read, etc, then reply to it. Rather than waiting for up to hours on an impersonal phone call for the answer to a simple, yet rather unimportant question.

Way off topic, by the way. :P

[theunchosen]

Yeah I stopped speeding after I got a ticket for "following too closely" when I went to change lanes and didn't know the road was covered with gravel ahead. Back end came up from under me and I ended up hitting them anyway(doing the speed limit, they were building a walmart and I hadn't been in town since they started). Then I got a ticket when I wasn't paying attention to my speed and I crossed a city/county line and it dropped. Officer was very polite and almost dropped my ticket but I was doing 55 in a 35.

[Shawn D.]

Originally Posted by Christ

I don't mean to join the argument or discussion, as it were, but I have only one question, which needs clarification: If speed differential is more dangerous than speed itself, why should we be the ones to sacrifice our modality to others, when part of hypermiling is teaching others the way toward better efficiency?

IOW - Why should I speed up, when you (subjective) could just as easily (or more easily, in terms of energy required to accelerate/decelerate) slow down?

I'm not advocating acting like an ass on the road, but I am saying that I shouldn't have to speed up (I do the speed limit +/- 5 MPH unless circumstances/conditions don't allow for it.) to make someone else feel comfortable at their (higher) speed.

Sorry, I missed this post of yours directed at me earlier.

Starting at your last point, if you're within 5 MPH of the speed limit, you're not the type of hypermiler I'm directing my comments at. I'm not suggesting you sacrifice anything -- it the extreme proponents who run 15 MPH under that are sacrificing safety of multiple folks for their own personal goals.

As to teaching others the way toward better efficiency, I don't see how driving slower is a teaching method -- there have to be more effective methods of outreach, say, a modern-age Mobil Economy Run or news coverage that doesn't focus on the extreme quirkiness of some hypermilers/techniques. When on my daily drive home and come under a particular bridge and see the light 3/4 of a mile ahead and adjust my speed so I don't have to stop (or only have to stop for a few seconds), I don't think the other drivers who flow around me and rush past to get to the red light sooner are learning anything by my actions.

[theunchosen]

Originally Posted by Shawn D.

Sorry, I missed this post of yours directed at me earlier.

Starting at your last point, if you're within 5 MPH of the speed limit, you're not the type of hypermiler I'm directing my comments at. I'm not suggesting you sacrifice anything -- it the extreme proponents who run 15 MPH under that are sacrificing safety of multiple folks for their own personal goals.

As to teaching others the way toward better efficiency, I don't see how driving slower is a teaching method -- there have to be more effective methods of outreach, say, a modern-age Mobil Economy Run or news coverage that doesn't focus on the extreme quirkiness of some hypermilers/techniques. When on my daily drive home and come under a particular bridge and see the light 3/4 of a mile ahead and adjust my speed so I don't have to stop (or only have to stop for a few seconds), I don't think the other drivers who flow around me and rush past to get to the red light sooner are learning anything by my actions.

A wise man can learn from a fool but a fool can learn from no one.

[diamondlarry]

Originally Posted by theunchosen

A wise man can learn from a fool but a fool can learn from no one.

+1 AMEN! My position is, if speeders are going to pass me at WHATEVER speed I go (and they will whether it's at the speed limit or under), I'm going to go as close to the minimum speed as I can.

[wagonman76]

Christ has a point. Its the side that the law takes. Whichever party is breaking the law automatically loses. If you are speeding and I turn out too soon for you to avoid me, its your fault. People abuse this idea. I've seen it happen. A friend of mine got hit by someone who was speeding when she turned out. Otherwise she would have had time to get to speed. She didn't. Thank God I was there and ratted the guy out on speeding(his skid marks were pretty damning evidence) otherwise I don't think the cop would have checked.
However I have another friend who goes unnamed who intentionally pulled out in front of a speeder just outside the normal range, to get his car repaired. Stupid I know, but he did it. Officer came ticketed the other guy insurance fixed his car.
If the people around you are breaking the law whatever happens as a result is there fault.
You can't cheat an honest man and if you don't do anything wrong you can't get in trouble.
Just because other people are driving aggressively doesn't mean you won't get a ticket and does mean you have a 50-50 shot of being responsible for any accidents. Otherwise you have a 0% chance for a ticket or higher insurance premiums.

I've only seen this happen once in Michigan, and due to public outcry there was an actual investigation. A guy in an SUV going 70+ (according to the black box in the SUV) in a 45 zone t-boned a carload of teens pulling out of the mall. They had no chance to even see him coming first, that's why it's 45 through there. He got 2 years for it.

Every other time I've heard about, it's always the other person's fault for failure to yield, no matter what. It's easier to just give the ticket to the person hit rather than investigate the speed and behavior of the other person.

As far as hypermiling getting a bad name, I never thought it was for driving slower than others. It was because of the few who go to all extremes to gain FE, doing unsafe/illegal things like running stop signs, very close drafting, going way over the speed limit so they can coast up the next hill, etc.