A drawback of hypermilling

[Chuck.]

I may have missed something, and apologize if I skimmed too much.

I've seen numerous hypermiling articles with reader's comments and I'm conditioned to lead-footed drivers rant against it....might have been quick to judgement on that.

I encourage anyone hypermiling to do everything possible to let others by - not just the obvious poking in the passing lane.

Originally Posted by jasonm

Not defensive. You're reading more into what I'm saying. I'm also not sure where I criticized "your ride". I don't know you, nor do I know anything about "your ride". Seems you're just looking for an argument.

I acknowledged that speeders are law-breakers, not law-abiders.

If you're driving BELOW the speed limit, as this poster was, and not in the right hand lane, then anyone driving THE SPEED LIMIT in that lane, has to switch over two lanes to legally pass you, or break the law and pass you on the right. As you said, most states have a law to not pass on the right. It appears the original poster is not familiar with this law, or would understand my concern with the sticker on the back of the truck.


I've noticed that people in this area with hypermiling stickers on their car, have a general attitude that they have a "right" to be in the way of other drivers, or just a general lack of concern for others. When I do my hypermiling, I make a point to make sure that I'm not in the way or impeding someone else. It's just not good for the hobby to piss off everyone else.

[JacobAziza]

V.C. Section 21754 - Passing on the Right

A lot of people in this thread seem to assume we are talking about 2 lane undivided highways.

When we are talking about "passing", it generally means pulling into the oncoming lane of traffic on a 2 lane undivided highway.
Impeding traffic, same thing.
On a multi-lane divided freeway, it is not illegal to pass another vehicle in an actual lane on the right side (at least not in CA), and you can not impede traffic, because there are plenty of other lanes for people to use.

Here in the city there are no 2 lane undivided highways. Even major streets have 4 lanes (2 in each direction)

[JacobAziza]

Originally Posted by jasonm

Also, accidents are all about speed differences. Two cars driving at each other at 40mph, will do more damage than two cars who bump into each other, with one traveling 70mph and the other at 65mph in the same direction.

Rear end collisions and side swipes are both relatively rare and cause relatively little damage (even with large speed differences)
Side impact and head on collisions, roll overs, and collisions with objects are all more common and more deadly. Driving slower will reduce the risk of all of these types of accidents as well as reduce the severity if they do occur.

Worse still, since the relation of force and velocity is not linear, a crash at 70 has four times the force as a crash at 35.

I would much rather have several fender benders because of a speed differential than just one accident at high speed. Because at high speed, one accident is all you are gonna get.

[JacobAziza]

Originally Posted by jasonm

If you're driving BELOW the speed limit, as this poster was, and not in the right hand lane, then anyone driving THE SPEED LIMIT in that lane

Legally no one should be going over the speed limit in any lane. Which means people going the maximum legal speed should already be in the fast lane, with each other lane expected to do less than that.

Anyway, it is not illegal to pass on the right in a seperate lane in CA V.C. Section 21754 - Passing on the Right

[joey]

Originally Posted by cfg83

JacobAziza -

I have an analogy when I am cruising in the far right lane. I am a boulder in a river. The rest of the river (of cars) is just flowing around me. as long as I am steady-state in terms of speed, there isn't a problem. It's easy for them to pass on by.

CarloSW2

This is a great metaphor, and very Zen-like. I've thought of it several times while driving along the highway. Before, I used to drive at 65. Now, depending on traffic levels and the speed limit, I keep it between 45 and 55. As long as I'm not going slowly enough so several cars are passing me per minute, it's all right.

[UfoTofU]

Zenmiling

[binarycortex]

Originally Posted by kitaimdao

Zenmiling

My hypermiling started with zendriving. I used to get really upset when I hit a red light. Then I decided that every time I hit a red light it prevented me from being at the wrong place at the wrong time and getting in an accident. I have actually seen where if I had gone through the yellow someone would have pulled out directly in front of where I would have been.

[Chuck.]

The faster you drive, the smaller that green light window is at that intersection.

[JacobAziza]

Zen in two ways.

Driving an automatic, its easy to have one hand on the cell phone, one on the coffee, and think about what you'll be doing at work.
Zenmileing has you totally in the moment, aware of your speed, your gear, all the gauges, the next 4 stop lights up the road, every other car around you, the exact right spot to cut the engine to coast exactly to the next stop.

All this was true too when I used to go literally twice as fast on the freeways than I do now, but the major difference is that now I am slow, calm, patient.
People zip around you. People cut you off. You will still get to where you are going. There is no rush.
A big sign to me that I am getting older is that now I drive for mileage instead of speed.

Long ago in a different life I got the letter from the DMV warning me that I was one point away from a suspended license.
That's why I found it so funny that I actually got pulled over for driving too _slow_.