How to handle very heavy traffic (stop & crawl)

[MetroMPG]

Some great replies in this thread. I like hondaworkshop's line: "be predictive, be patient".

My mantra when I'm in this situation: "BE the accordion..."

This topic came up in this thread as well: Traffic experiments: a cure for waves and jams

A side benefit of contracting & expanding the space ahead of you and idling along at a low constant speed while the guy in front stops & starts is that you're also improving the fuel efficiency of a considerable number of cars behind you by smoothing out the flow.

[NoCO2]

unless of course they are pissed off that there is a huge gap in front of you and they think the extra 100ft will get them there faster so they either zoom around you or constantly run you your back side and then slow down and do it again...I've gotten that around here many times. I actually had someone today pass me in the "no drive" yellow dash lines between merging traffic and the highway today because apparently I wasn't accelerating fast enough for her and her BMW. I just kept telling myself the joke: "What's the difference between a porcupine and BMW".

[MetroMPG]

That's when you need to hit your "insta-tint" 100% black rear window darkener, so the airheads behind you can't see ahead through your windows to the gap you're using to smooth things out.

[PaleMelanesian]

Except when their Urban Assault Vehicle is twice as tall as your car. Not much help then, except for blocking out their high-beams in your mirror.

[cfg83]

MetroMPG -

Originally Posted by MetroMPG

Some great replies in this thread. I like hondaworkshop's line: "be predictive, be patient".

My mantra when I'm in this situation: "BE the accordion..."

This topic came up in this thread as well: Traffic experiments: a cure for waves and jams

A side benefit of contracting & expanding the space ahead of you and idling along at a low constant speed while the guy in front stops & starts is that you're also improving the fuel efficiency of a considerable number of cars behind you by smoothing out the flow.

How about this one :

Bide you time, and hold out hope ...

CarloSW2

[bennelson]

I have found that on my electric motorcycle, stop and go traffic is lots of fun.

Instead of idling, the motor just sits there doing nothing when you are stopped, so you aren't wasting gasoling (or electricity).

The motorcycle has great excelleration, so peeling away from a stop isn't a problem either.

Since there is no engine to kill, I can actually ride as slow as I want. It is amazing how slow I can ride and still balance the cycle.

I would imagine that once I am done with the electric Metro, it also should be great in stop n start traffic.

[NoCO2]

Bennelson just brought up an interesting point. With electric cars and hybrids. When you are stopped, nothing is spinning. However, with a regular gasoline engine it continues to idle when you are at a stop...I wonder how hard it would be to mod a car to do this automatically like those gas powered golf carts do....hm....I think I'll start another thread about this somewhere...

[hondaworkshop]

I've seen some very old-school electric 'pushers' people have fabbed up... imagine a small electric motor turning a small rubber wheel that is touching either the ground near the normal rear wheels or touching one of the rear wheels (in a reverse direction). All it does is creep the car along, then a lever disengages it when its time to burn some gas.

It seems like a really fun project, but a lot of to-do for traffic jams.

[MetroMPG]

Where have you seen the electric pushers? Other than Mike D's on his Insight, I haven't seen another.

[bennelson]

That sounds just like a trolling motor, only for a car instead of a boat!

People love that trolling motors are small, simple, and quiet. You use them to slowly move the boat, usually while fishing. The main engine is still used for getting the boat quickly around from one place to another.

Maybe we all should have car trolling motors!