Most ecodriving-friendly place you've driven?

[MetroMPG]

(Sign for the highway that runs along the province of Nova Scotia's south shore.)

I've been hanging out in a tiny town in Nova Scotia this winter (south of Halifax), and I have to say I've never experienced such laid back drivers as the ones around here.

It seems like hardly anybody speeds -- on either the scenic routes that hug the coves and peninsulas along the coast, or the inland highways. Heck, half the time, it seems traffic is going a little bit under the posted speed limit.

Yet nobody tailgates. Seriously. And in 6 weeks of driving around here, I've only seen a couple of drivers go roaring past a line of traffic in the frequent passing zones.

Oh, and as a pedestrian in town, if you so much as look like you want to cross the street, most drivers stop mid-block and wave you across. It's amazing.

I've always thought the sleepy eastern Ontario city I live in was a very ecodriving-friendly environment (both the routes, and the majority of the drivers), but the people around here make home look like the Indy 500 by comparison.



There is definitely a laid-back east coast vibe here, and I like it.

I was so perplexed and impressed by the apparent lack of haste that I started to suspect had that my (borrowed) car's speedometer was under-reporting real speed. Nope. I actually checked it against GPS readings, and it's pretty much right on.

On the other hand, this is the dead of winter. In summer, the vibe is probably very different, with tourist drivers doubling or tripling local traffic volumes.

But I'm enjoying it while it lasts! I'll be headed back to Ontario soon enough.

[Hersbird]

Technically stopping for pedestrians is anti-ecodriving. As an often pedestrian doing my job as a mailman it baffles me when a single car stops for me as I just approach a crossing on some desolate side street. Just keep moving I can cross a whole 2 seconds later after you have passed. On the other end the kids in front of the school also drive me nuts. They seem to endlessly trickle out into the crosswalk and there is no guard to group them up and cross together.
To answer your question though highway 200 in eastern Montana. Runs east west, parallel with interstate 90 south and Highway 2 north. It's more that you have it all to yourself and you can drive however you want. Combines at 20mph and Vettes at 100mph. Sight lines go on for miles most of the time. Wind is the only wild card.

[MetroMPG]

Originally Posted by Hersbird

Technically stopping for pedestrians is anti-ecodriving. As an often pedestrian doing my job as a mailman it baffles me when a single car stops for me as I just approach a crossing on some desolate side street.

Ha! Yup.

I was going to make a comment along the lines of YKYAEM when... you are careful not to make any moves that suggest you're planning to cross the street until AFTER the solitary approaching car goes past. I've actually done that around here.

[Vman455]

I actually got the worst mileage of the entire 5300-mile trip this summer on 200 and US 87, headed west to Great Falls; 53.88 mpg for that tank, well below the trip average of 57. Winds were out of the WNW that day.

[ThermionicScott]

Originally Posted by MetroMPG

Ha! Yup.

I was going to make a comment along the lines of YKYAEM when... you are careful not to make any moves that suggest you're planning to cross the street until AFTER the solitary approaching car goes past. I've actually done that around here.

If I'm at a crosswalk and in no hurry, I'll give those big arm-windmill signals for approaching cars to keep going. Usually they get the hint.

[Hersbird]

Originally Posted by Vman455

I actually got the worst mileage of the entire 5300-mile trip this summer on 200 and US 87, headed west to Great Falls; 53.88 mpg for that tank, well below the trip average of 57. Winds were out of the WNW that day.

We drove it from Great Falls all the way to Circle and only got 13.5 mpg. We were towing a camper. It just amazed me running 20 mins or more and not having a car come the other direction. Beautiful badlands and cool little towns. My wife's family homesteaded out by Jordan and we were going to a reunion.one of the remaining familys still there had over 17,000 acres now and lived in 2 doublewides. I think it was 4 miles by 7 miles of prairie and badlands.

[Vman455]

Originally Posted by Hersbird

We drove it from Great Falls all the way to Circle and only got 13.5 mpg. We were towing a camper. It just amazed me running 20 mins or more and not having a car come the other direction. Beautiful badlands and cool little towns. My wife's family homesteaded out by Jordan and we were going to a reunion.one of the remaining familys still there had over 17,000 acres now and lived in 2 doublewides. I think it was 4 miles by 7 miles of prairie and badlands.

Not to mention the gorgeous scenery; I've always liked Montana.

Back to the original topic: Chicago freeways, when traffic is moving, is hard to beat for MPG. Wind-protected with walls and whatnot, lots of traffic moving in the same direction, and moderate speeds=great mileage.

[Stubby79]

This town's roads used to be rules by the old and infirm...15 years ago...I thought that was bad at the time...its really gone to sh*t since.

Is there something about the west coast that attracts the unscrupulous types?

[Fat Charlie]

My favorite eco road was also in CND. Driving west from Derby, VT to the Tousand Islands involves mucking about through Montreal, but the actual highway parts (especially the 401) are low stress and flow smoothly. In my pre-hypermiling days, that run was the only time I ever got a 25 mpg (and the not believed by the tuner kidz 400+ mile) tank. Sadly, the Columbo wannabe high school dropouts working our border made that run more annoying than it was worth and I don't use CND as a shortcut any more.

Originally Posted by MetroMPG

I was going to make a comment along the lines of YKYAEM when... you are careful not to make any moves that suggest you're planning to cross the street until AFTER the solitary approaching car goes past. I've actually done that around here.

A pedestrian can come to a dead stop simply by failing to put one foot in front of the other- and it takes negligible time and effort. The pedestrian is back up to top speed the moment he again places one foot in front of the other. Bringing a car to a stop, OTOH, requires planning, effort, expending a little brake life and total loss of all that lovely kinetic enregy.

[gregsfc]

I can't remember the route, but the 2014 mid-Ohio Vetter fuel challenge, starting on a cool July morning; a group ride as real-world as is possible for a group ride from Lexington to Pickerington and back to Lexington, which is in between the greater Mansfield and Columbus MSAs; at or about 150 miles round trip; netted me 96.9 mpg according to my own records on my 2014 Honda CTX700 (101.85 official result).

Up until the time of that event, I had never exceeded 83 mpg on this amazing stock, mid-sized motorcycle. However, at this event, I tucked except during braking and up hills and in in-town riding and my windshield mounts unexpectedly broke the morning of the ride dropping my windshield down to where the air was coming directly in my face when upright. I kept the bike in somewhat higher gears than usual but not all that much different than other group rides I had previously attended. The speed was actually faster than the charity rides I had been on and there was a five or six mile interstate stretch where I reached up to 75 due to the slinky action of the convoy, though we were going north, and there was likely a slight tail wind during that stretch, but it was a calm, warm day once it warmed up. The bike was stock except for the dropped-down Madstad screen and a large tool box strapped to the seat behind me.

I think it was not a measurement anomaly and was legitimate. The tank before, and the tank after the event came in at the normal mid-seventies mark for mixed riding and traveling back home; the latter from the same pump and fuel as filled from prior to the event.

If these events haven't ended, I may try again for 2017 to replicate that feat, but can't find any evidence that the Vetter Fuel Challenges will continue this year. Would love to show up this time with a slightly smaller rear sprocket (maybe; still debating the eco advantage of this mod, if any, on my bike that already runs at low RPM and higher final drive may mean more downshifting than stock). I'd also love to have someone help me build a Sendler-like tail) and maybe take the windshield off leaving only the mount and tuck, tuck, tuck.

2014 Craig Vetter Fuel Economy Challenge, Vintage Days