highway driving strategies

[thomason2wheels]

I do a fair amount of highway driving. What kind of approach to that scenario do folks find that works the best?

[SentraSE-R]

Go slow - slower than you ever thought you'd travel on a highway. 60 mph should be your maximum. Stay in the right lane, use merging traffic as an excuse to slow down even more. Glide on all downhills.

[Diesel_Dave]

Originally Posted by thomason2wheels

I do a fair amount of highway driving. What kind of approach to that scenario do folks find that works the best?

It all depends on what you mean by "highway". Interstate? Heavy traffic? Light traffic? Flat? Hilly? Two-lane? Four-lane? What's the max speed limit? What speed does the traffic normally flow at? Any red lights? Stop signs?

[user removed]

+1 to what Sentra posted.

The only difference for me is to try to keep right and go with the flow of traffic. Find a larger truck or bus to follow that is going a little slower than the rest of the traffic in the right lane and get 3 stripes behind them (minimum separation to be safe about 130 feet). I prefer to not be an "influence" to traffic behind my car, meaning I will not stand out as the obstruction to traffic flow, because here that can lead to "agressive incidents" that can escalate into a dangerous situation.

regards
Mech

[Quezacotl]

Foresee the traffic. Start gliding as soon as you realize there's no point to accelerate.

[Mustang Dave]

Try to find a tractor-trailer rig traveling in your intended direction, and follow him at a 2-3 second interval. Ignore other traffic. They're just trying to get around the truck in front of you.

[LeanBurn]

On my commute (double lane divided highway) 110km/hr (~70mph) it is pretty sparsely travelled at times.

I drive 90km/hr, most of the bends in the road are banked, I change lanes to aim for the bottom of the bank, makes a huge difference compared to the upper lane. I also drift from lane to lane to pick the shortest route (think racing lines) using my signal of course.

[ecomodded]

On my Highways i like to drive 95-100kmh,if i am being approached from behind by a pack of cars I'll adjust my speed, briefly, to approximately the speed limit.
The cars pass me doing their unnecessary fuel sucking 10 k over and i resume my customary fuel saving 10 k under.

[brucepick]

Coasting on interstates you likely wil lose speed faster than practical, but try it to see.

Less speed is your friend because drag or air resistance goes up dramatically as speed increases - I think drag increase is the square of the speed increase. So 2x your speed gives 4x drag increase. 1.5x speed is 2.25x drag increase, not your friend.

For mods, consider higher tire air pressure. Then, anything that helps aerodynamics. Grill block (less air banging around under hood), belly pan, flat wheel covers, Kamm back or roof extension. With several of these done you will coast much better.

I commute 55 mi. each way so I've been working those issues.

[theycallmeebryan]

Don't necessarily focus on the car directly in front of you, but focus a few cars ahead to see what the traffic is doing. More often then not, i can begin my engine off coasting well before the person directly in front of me starts using their brakes.

In heavy traffic, the right lane is usually the fastest overall because all the drivers in the left lane have 0 patience and just ride the slinky wave (stop-go-stop-go-stop-go). Try to leave a good amount of distance ahead of you to "soak up" the slower moving traffic in front of you.