A heart-felt, gear-grinding situation
 

Hey y'all,

so I am not new to this site, but I am new to voicing myself/posting on here. Bear with me cuz I'm a talker. I have very recently started to hypermile and eco-mod my 98 Ford Escort ZX2 for greater FE. And it's been going great! Started in the low 30's for FE, and today I had a personal best trip of 44.9 mpg over the 32.8 miles from my college to home :thumbup:

But I'm considering giving up being dedicated to eco-driving :(

Hear me out y'all.

I'm scared that my driving technique is going to cost someone their life. Over the past couple weeks, I have had several instances of other people using nothing but complete stupidity with me, such as passing me and the other 2-3 cars behind me with a double line heading into a curve! The scariest one was today when a young woman passed the 18-wheeler behind me and me going downhill with vehicles approaching her head-on. The big rig slammed on brakes and I nearly hit the ditch while N-coasting to give her room. She was able to get behind me in time... but dag gone! Has shook me up. I seriously do not want anyone to get hurt because of me... even if they don't use their best judgement trying to save 45 seconds of off a trip.

It might be beneficial to tell my driving habits... I accelerate with the SG LOAD reading ~60% and then cruise 48-52 mph where the speed limit is 55. Coasting down hills is something I do when someone is behind if I know I won't lose more than 2-3 mph. I'm not doing very drastic stuff... and I live out in the country for all it is worth! These are moderately used country roads (Route 50/55, 701 in North Carolina). You'd think people around here would not be in a hurry... but oh are they ever.

I know that these people are just ignorant and don't realize what I'm doing... nor what they're doing. I do not want anyone hurt or killed... they have people who need and love them, and I have compassion on them. It irritates me and hurts my heart at the same time to see this. Trying to be different and save gas with my vehicle is tougher than it appeared... I could use some encouragement and some wisdom from fellow EcoModders.

Thank y'all in advance. Look foward to hearing what others did as EcoNoobs in regards to overly aggressive drivers.

JP

P.S. - I cannot not give a crap... it is against my nature

Just pull over and let them pass, or when it is safe for them to pass start to coast and put on the flashers and go into the shoulder. My dad taught me this trick when someone would be on his ass on the road. It is not your fault that people are stupid :)

I've had people pass me on the shoulder and almost run into a disabled car that was parked there. I've had people who were tailing me cut into the left lane and almost get run over by a semi truck. I've had people pass on double yellow lines...

This was all BEFORE I was driving like this (Slow).

My point is, that people will be stupid regardless of what you do or how you drive. Just focus on you and not hitting anything.

Let nature run its course with those people.

Well said dirty Dave, I have personally seen 3 people get pulled over because they passed me on a double yellow because they found they needed to go 5-10mph over the speed limit (I always go at least the speed limit when Hypermiling). OP, just go the speed limit, if people can't handle you obeying the law, to bad? It's their life, their car and their choice to act stupid.

Think of it like this, if they lose their license as a result of acting stupid because you obeying the law, 1 less stupid person to deal with!

[Edit]: It took me about 3 weeks to get emotionally used to getting cussed at, flipped off, brights flashed at me and all the other road rage symptoms that come with going the actual speed limit. Once I saw my first asshole get pulled over for passing me on a double yellow, all the feelings went away.

(1) On a single lane road CA law requires you pullover if you have 5 or more cars behind you, unless you are doing the speed limit. (2) It also requires you use the left lane for passing only. (3) It's very likely NC has the same laws.

Yesterday a guy gave me the finger because I left 3 car spaces between me & the guy in front. I'm not sure what he thought I was supposed to do? Speed-up to 80 and then slam the brakes when I almost rear-ended the line of cars? That's just a waste of energy (and intelligence).

So I fingered him back.

In a nonhomosexual way? :D

I dont see what the big deal is. There is always someone going slower than the speed limit where I travel in VA. I just go with the flow til I meet one of these people, then match their pace. :turtle:

I pride myself in my situational awareness and my techniques do change depending on the traffic situation. Dead or injured aren't options in my book and it makes no difference whether the person who killed you is stupid, inattentive, or just wrong, you're still dead or spend the rest of your life in pain, or permanently disabled.

Just because you can drive a certain way legally does not mean you should impose your will on other drivers. Sooner or later you will aggravate the wrong person. Pop (still a good driver at 93) always told me "I would rather have an idiot in front of me instead of behind me". I will adjust my average speed to try to "play nicely" with others, but on occasion I will let them know that I just ain't interested in their little world of obnoxious tailgaters and red light racers.

It helps to be old and I'm sure many think I'm just a feeble old man who drives slower than most but I will intentionally make it difficult for someone to ride my rear end, just pulse a little higher and glide a little further. One driver wanted to stay two lengths behind me in a 45 zone, on a 4 lane road with no other traffic around. I coasted down to 25MPH before they finally passed me when I usually average just under the speed limit.

Understand that some drivers just tailgate others so they don't have to pay attention to anything else. They need a "bird dog".

My advice is to adjust your techniques to avoid coupounding the circumstances around you and contributing to an accident.

regards
Mech

Driving in such an unsafe way (the other drivers) is stupid, and you cant fix stupid. You could speed up to whatever speed they are going, but they will still want to pass, they will still cut you off, they will still tailgate and text and drive and run lights etc...

This is so well said, I have little else to add. :thumbup:

Yes, you have the "right" to drive under the speed limit - but as Mech said, if it compounds the circumstances around you, you are contributing to an accident.

And now, let us not forget the old rhyme that applies to all driving, both slow and fast:

Y'all are awesome! The feedback is great and I truly appreciate it :thumbup:

DirtyDave - I dig the Pokemon avatar :D I'm going to give the flashers+coast a go if any are encountered tomorrow. It's worth a try! Fyi... I usually block people from passing if it would be dangerous for them.

Whatmaycome14 - I've not had any of that happen YET. I remember when I went 60-70 on these same roads and was getting passed...

Balto - What's up, dawg?! Lol. I see your point and I am taking it into consideration. Though I lose 3-4 mpg going from 50ish to 55 :( Might start speeding up when I see a vehicle approaching. After they're gone ---> :turtle:

Theaveng - Good post regarding the laws! I checked on NC and all I found was that going super slow (15+ below SL) can make you look suspicious to the cops... I'm pretty sure I'll be pulled if I attempt to start a personal parade ;)

Cobb - Lol! I'm happy you have slow people up there... now that I'm hypermiling, I'm that guy :)

Old Mechanic - Great wisdom and personal experience, sir. It does not help matters that I am young and the culture expects me to not care about FE... "you got a small car, go fast, floor it from red lights! It still saves gas over your K5!" Ugh at the mentality :eek: Thank you for the advice :thumbup:

ksa8907 - You're speaking truth. Gotta worry about myself and keep me safe.

XYZ - Right?! And that makes sense... keep on killing my naiveness :o You'll never grow if you don't ask questions to increase your knowledge.

Thank all of y'all for the encouragement and for the explanations :thumb up: hopefully this thread will not only help me, but other ones that are starting to drive smarter and seeing the madness like me.

New personal style of driving - be in :turtle: mode when applicable. P & G when it is safe. Increase speed to at least the speed limit when traffic demands. Make them pass you if possible & safe. And engage your mind while behind the wheel!

As far as I know, the law is the same in Arizona, at least people say it is the case. However, if I am driving fifty-five in a 50 or 55 zone, I do not worry as much about it, especially if I happen to be driving five over! Sometimes, there is not anywhere to pull over, either!

People regularly cross the double-yellow to pass me, of if there is a dotted yellow, you will see one vehicle pass five or ten others, while I always hear the law requires playing leapfrog.

It is strange how people rant and rave about me driving the speed limit. They claim that it is more dangerous to drive slower than faster, and how I am a bad person for not matching traffic.

Which part of traffic?! Everybody drives a different speed!

You also hear about people who have a large vehicle tailgate, so they speed up, again and again, until an unmarked police car pulls you over.

Woof Woof. Just also remember this, some people WILL NOT pass you. Even if you provide an opportunity for them to pass. They expect you to obide by THEIR rules at all times. These are the people you will have to cope with in your own way. I have a 4100 lumen flashlight for such people.

I had this happen a couple weeks ago. I had the cruise set at 55 and some lady in her suv, while talking on the phone, was driving quite close but would not pass. So I invented a new game.

Speed up to 60 at the bottom of hills and then let the cruise pick up at 55. I was laughing my ass off watching this lady speed up then slam on the brakes. Did this for 10 min. Her facial expression was priceless when she realized I was laughing at her.

Look at what Sven7 was planning on putting on his old car.

https://farm7.staticflickr.com/6178/...1aca9b9a_o.jpg

http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6169/...74bd9b10_z.jpg

Let them tailgate you. As long as they don't hit you, why worry?

I'd drop the flashlight strategy if I were you. If you were to do that at night and the car following you is an unmarked police car, you'd surely be pulled over.

I'm perfectly capable of pulling over on the shoulder and stopping - especially when it's night, and the tailgater is one of those a****s with high and low mounted headlights who've never learned to use the dimmer switch.

Likewise, if I'm driving on a mountain road and someone behind me wants to go faster, I've figured out how to pull over into the turnouts - you know, the ones with the signs saying "slow vehicles must use turnouts" - and let them go by. Amazing how few people ever return the favor when it's me wanting to go faster.

For the rest, if people want to kill themselves by doing something stupid, I look at it as nothing more than a little badly-needed gene pool cleaning :-)

Indeed!! This is exactly why I wouldn't worry about what other people are doing... as long as is doesn't hurt or damage my car that is. You gotta protect yourself.

Speed up in traffic, slow down when the road is clear. It maximizes the time you're not having to deal with other drivers.

If everyone did it, traffic would self-optimize.

Last time I allowed someone to tailgate me I got into an accident and they totaled my car. Never again.

Just do some aero mods and least go the speed limit, or even a few over, it's only 55. Life is too short, and this system we live in asks so much of us, that it makes us hurry around.

The ZX2 is pretty aero looking as it is

I'm telling myself that the next time I find myself in a road with nothing ahead, doing the speed limit and still have tailgators I'll get into the first subroad or parking place and let them all by, if possible wait for a big rig or other excuse to go slow to follow it :)

Since making this plan I never came in that situation again, as if by magic.
Apparently you just need to have the plan ;)

Most of the time I'm on a multilane highway and tailgaters are not very common, just the 'phoneys' that need all of their attention for talking and the occasional other fuel saving geek.

Just keep doing what you're doing, but maybe up your speed to the actual limit.

Yea this is the best advice. If they ride your butt at the speed limit do like 5 over, that's what I do. As long as I'm not going uphill.

max speed is 65 on the freeway here. min is 45. i drive between those two. still legal and it's a 3 lane. i get 'gaters, speed demons, drafters. i adjust my speed that is safe to me, not them. if i feel threatened with a 'gater, i slow down. i also have a camera in the front and back because i feel like it can prove my innocence if it needs to be.

You should have gotten paid 100% on the claim. I have been rear ended twice and in each case received payment for 100% of my damages from the insurance of the driver at fault. If you didn't, then you need to learn how auto liability insurance works, and how to receive full compensation for making a claim. In virtually all rear-end collisions it is obvious that the accident was caused by the driver who rear ended another vehicle.

easier said than done. i've been rear ended, by an 18 wheeler. THEY don't want to do ANYTHING. i now have a lawsuit pending.

He didn't have enough coverage to cover all my medical bills. I'm probably going to be in pain for the rest of my life. And before you say it, sueing is pointless. It's 3,000 just to file and the second I win, all he has to do is file for bankruptcy and it all goes away.

Something has changed in the past few years. It seems now insurance companies can simply say they deny liability and refuse to cover. :eek:

In the past it use to be the insurance company did what the law said, ie who is at fault for an accident. Then after that, your rates went up or they simply refused to insure you any more. :thumbup:

No insurance company can simply "deny" liability. If they do it ends up in court (which it sometimes does, if they think they can drag some other party's insurance into paying for some of the claim). Minimum liability insurance is mandatory in virtually all 50 states. It may not be enough to cover your damages if you have a catastrophic injury, however. Usually your own insurance coverage provides for uninsured and under-insured drivers that cause an accident with damages to you.

BULLCRAP!!!!!!!! I had a lady t bone me in the passenger side rear. Took them 2 weeks to decide to accept responsibility. :eek:

But from what you just said, they apparently DID, didn't they? They wanted to hear you state your claim, as if you meant it, to verify that your claim was real.

AKA in legal jargon, "voir dire".

That's not "Bullcrap". That's the way in which insurance operates, how courts operate, and how claims are settled. Welcome to the land of litigation.

Do you know the true purpose of liability insurance? It usually provides for easy settlement of monetary claim damages rather than dragging it through court. That is what liability insurance is all about.

Who me? I doubt anyone really understands insurance and their rights.

Thnigs Ive heard about insurance:

1. If a guy hits you and has no insurance, your insurance is suppose to cover you anyway.

2. If you sue and win against your insurance company they are required to pay court and attorney fees.

3. They must pay you for diminished value of your vehicle if its fixable.

4. Renters or home owners insurance covers possessions inside your vehicle. IE ipad, iphone, laptop, etc.

5 Even if you arent at fault, you can use your insurance to fix your car and they will deal with the other guy and his insurance company.

This is not about what anyone might have "heard". It's about the real world of how insurance works, and settling a claim.

Here's my suggestion, FWIW. First read your insurance policy to find out what is covered, and what isn't. If you or anyone here can't comprehend the 50 or more pages comprising their POLICY that the insurance company sent to you, (although it IS in now written in plain English, just more pages than ever, and enough to make your eyes blur), ask your insurance agent to explain it to you, also in plain English.

"Comprehensive" insurance means you are paying through the nose in being insured for everything imaginable, including your own mishaps. "Basic liability" means you are covered only for your own misdeeds, nothing more than that.

If an accident is not mostly your fault (or not your fault at all), you can file a claim with the insurance company of the party that is at fault, as they are liable for damages done to you, and everyone must carry auto liability insurance, as mandated by law.

That's just the basics, and an understanding of this usually suffices to get paid for a claim to cover your damages. As I said earlier, if the damage done is catastrophic and your damages are also, it might be time to consult a lawyer.

Only two weeks? That's pretty darn quick.

What's the hurry? If you act like you want an immediate settlement you might get one but it will be less compensation than you deserve, or could receive if you are more patient. Take your time and document everything. Persistence pays.

If you act like you don't need the money and will play it to the hilt, no matter how long it takes, your claim will reap maximum benefit.

Example 1.
Youngest stepdaughter is backing out of a parking spot at the apartment complex where she lived. A Ford truck with a camper shell is blocking her view and the parking lot was 54 feet wide, not including the part where cars were parked. A woman with no insurance hits her so hard she totals my daughters $10k Sentra, with 5 of her realtives children in the car. The impact smashes my stepdaughters face into the driver door glass and it leaves an imprint of her face makup in the glass and bends out the door frame. Stepdaughters uninsured motorist coverage pays her $9300 for the car which she keeps. I took a weeks vacation, bought a rear clip for $1200 and welded it on her car. She pocketed the difference, $8100. She also won $2000 in a wet t-shirt contest at Hooters, where she worked at the time. While everyone is supposed to carry insurance by law a significant number here in Va do not, and the last time I was stopped at a roadside license and registration check, the cop refused to even look at my proof of insurance.

Example 2.
Comprehensive insurance, here in Va again pays for "acts of nature". My brother's Cadillac got caught in a hail storm, which did $3000 in damage to the car which he owned free and clear. He kept the car and later sold it with the damage, but basically he got the car for free and the claim they paid was equal to 30 years of comprehensive premiums. He lives in a flood zone and during a hurricane his $34 k truck was in salt water the never got in the passengers floor. No water in the tranny or diff. They totalled the truck which he kept (for $7k) and he did nothing more than pressure wash the undercarriage and bought his wife an Eldorado with the money he recieved, comprehensive again. 340 years of comprehensive premiums in that single claim.

Example 3.
The day I am supposed to sell My 98 230 SLK a rock flies up on the Interstate and breaks the windshield. State Farm informs me that since my car is less than 10 years old they will pay to have an original MB replacement glass installed in the car, which the glass shop picks up 55 miles from my home and installs in the car in my front yard less than 6 hours after the time when it was broken. Cost to replace over $600, or 6 years of comprehensive premiums.

For much less than $100 a year considering what can happen here, I consider comprehensive insurance a bargain.

I don't carry collision. The wife carries $1000 deductible, which we saved in the only collision claim she has made in 25 years by not replacing the ac condenser and repairing instead or replacing the hood. She later traded in the car and got $14.3k for it. We paid $18.1 kfor the car new, 3 years and 31k miles earlier. Half of what a lease would have cost.

But the bottom line is if you think of these two things you might truly understand defensive driving. One of my freinds father was still driving when he was so blind he could not see the traffic lights. The only way he knew to slow down was IF the brake lights on the car in front of him worked! I bought a truck from an individual who had lost his license and been driving for 11 years without insurance or a drivers license.

Just think about those two things the next time you believe any driver around you is even remotely responsible. I would guess 33% of them around here think they are entitled to drive, without a license, or insurance and even with a car that is so rusted out the engine crossmember which also holds the steering rack in place, is hanging two inches below its orignal mounting point, completely detached from the unibody. One car I refused to test drive.

regards
mech

Also, 75% of my bike insurance is uninsured motorists, because the person who just hit you on your bike is more likely to run away than stop, regardless of your injuries.

regards
mech

I think that was the problem with my first accident that was a non fault. I spent too much time on the phone in the middle and since my other car was not that reliable then I was depended on the rental car the guys insurance was paying for and they constantly threatened to take it away.

The second time around I had prepared a compliant to send to the guys insurance and to the BBB. I had given them 2 weeks before I would post it to the BBB and email it to the insurance company. :thumbup: