I must be losing my mind. Some people need to grow up!

[winkosmosis]

I don't read this board that often, but from what I have read, I notice that hypermilers don't necessarily consider the big picture.

Here are some things to keep in mind....

Annoying other drivers tends to cause them to drive less efficiency, probably cancelling out any fuel savings on your part.

Driving slow and causing traffic to slow behind you, then have to change lanes, pass, and rejoin in front of you wastes a lot of additional fuel. You're creating a drag on the flow just like an object moving through a fluid.

Taking out your seats so you don't have to give someone a ride and lose mpg ends up in much more fuel use since they'll drive themselves.

[Piwoslaw]

You're right. My drastic slowing down is only for safety reasons. Like you, I go a little faster when I'm not alone and when someone faster than me can't easily pass. I try not to make it harder for others, but I can't exactly help break the law either, can I? Should I go over the limit only because others around me are doing so? If I have an accident while speeding with everyone else, will they pay for my damage? Drivers aren't allowed to go over, but they are allowed to stay under, and others should be prepared for that. If they aren't, they shouldn't be driving. I know this is a discussion about the law vs. real life, but real life shouldn't require me to break the law when I have the option not to.

I don't think the local law enforcement team here would be thrilled if they had to move their arses just because someone was aggresive. In Poland, and especially around Warsaw, most drivers are aggressive. And in other parts of the country, most of the road pirates as we call them have Warsaw plates. Sometimes the police will look into someone going 200 km/h in a 50 zone, but usually they don't stop speeders even if they see them with their own eyes. That's not how it should be, but that's how it is I once called the police to report something illegal and all they wanted to know was my name, my address, my number. It took them 45 minutes to drive there, even though they could have walked in 10. They really didn't like it when I called a second time to tell them that in a few minutes it'll be too late.

[99metro]

Listening to the guys at work, you MUST drive 5 mph over the speed limit or you are driving too slow. The speed limit sign actually posts the minimum speed.

I drive 50-52 mph MAX all while driving in the right lane and hugging the white line. I'll even hit the 4 ways on occasion if the traffic approaching behind me is especially heavy.

To each his own.

[elhigh]

Originally Posted by Piwoslaw

Heard this is true (it is in my case): Boys mature until the age of 6, then they just grow.

Well I won't go so far as to agree with the age of six...but at the age of 35 or so, I asked my grandmother who was about 78 at the time, "when do I actually start to feel like an adult?"

"Oh, I'm still waiting!" Then she went back to hoeing the garden.

Gramma's cool that way.

[brucepick]

Originally Posted by elhigh

Well I won't go so far as to agree with the age of six...but at the age of 35 or so, I asked my grandmother who was about 78 at the time, "when do I actually start to feel like an adult?"

"Oh, I'm still waiting!" Then she went back to hoeing the garden.

Gramma's cool that way.

I'm fifty-six. No matter how old I am, people 20-30 years younger than me generally seem immature in comparison.

One would HOPE that 20-30 years additional life experience would bring about some improvement as long as the person is paying attention.

My opinion, of course.
And way off topic! (Sorry!)

[Piwoslaw]

Originally Posted by 99metro

Listening to the guys at work, you MUST drive 5 mph over the speed limit or you are driving too slow. The speed limit sign actually posts the minimum speed.

I hope this is your work colleagues' opinion and not yours. In the US, a minimum speed sign exists:
(found it on the Web, credits to who they are due.)
But if there is only a speed limit sign, and other laws do not state a minimum, then the posted speed is a maximum. From Wikipedia:

In addition to the legally defined maximum speed, minimum speed limits may be applicable. Occasionally there are default minimum speed limits for certain types of roads, generally freeways.

Comparable to the common basic speed rule, most jurisdictions also have laws prohibiting speeds so low they are dangerous or obstruct the normal flow of traffic.

"Speeds so low they are dangerous or obstruct the normal flow of traffic" is a general statement and can be interpretted in two ways:

• Someone who is driving at or just below the speed limit is driving at the maximum safe speed,

• Someone who is speeding is part of the "normal flow of traffic" and has a hard time sitting behind a slow moving car. This makes him nervous and on top of speeding, often passes in no-passing zones, decreasing safety.

Please correct me if I'm wrong, but from the discussion in this thread I understand that the problem is not with just slow drivers, it's with slow drivers getting in the way of fast and aggressive ones, right? And since law enforcement has a hard time weeding out the fast guys, then the only way to improve safety (and some people's inner peace) is by making the slow pokes speed up.

My personal opinion is that there should be a way of marking your car so others know that the vehicle may/must move slower. This should be for underpowered cars and for slow drivers. The driver on your tail won't know if you don't want to go faster or physically can't, so he shouldn't take it as personal offense. In Europe I've seen speed limit stickers on trucks informing other drivers about the truck's top speed, but they hardly ever have anything to do with real life (I've seen trucks with 2-3 different stickers, eg 70, 80 and 100 km/h, going 110 km/h in a 90 zone, while the law prohibits trucks in Poland from exceeding 80).

[tasdrouille]

I guess I actually care about other drivers, when I feel what I'm doing is not quire right. If I'm on a one lane road driving below the limit and someone pulls behind me, I'll speed to the limit. If they still want to go faster, well then it's their problem and they'll have to wait for a proper time to pass.

The only time I'll go over the limit is when I'm passing someone. Say I'm on the cruise on a flat highway at 60, and there's someone doing 59 in front of me, eventually I'll have to pass him. If there's only us on the highway, everything's fine. But if there's traffic, instead of being a jerk staying on the cruise and passing at 1 mph over the speed of car I'm overtaking, I'll make a quick pass and resume cruise.

[theunchosen]

Originally Posted by tasdrouille

I guess I actually care about other drivers, when I feel what I'm doing is not quire right.

I'm not sure what I said was clear. IF someone gets behind me I'll do what I can to let them pass get around me whatever. IF that person is a "jerk" breaking the law in any fashion speeding driving aggressively I don't move and I call the cops.

I mentioned a buddy of mine that owns several motorcycles and he hates me. In Washington County. . .99% of all young adults that own a cafe bike ought to have their licenses revoked. He was riding with me one day(in my car to get lunch) when I called on a biker I saw behind me weaving wrecklessly(he was speeding too but I didn't know until he got up to and passed me).

Cops had him at the next exit.

All that to say IF you aren't breaking the law I'll pull over and let you by or speed up if thats not an option(to the speed limit). Break that condition and I'll do everything I can to get you ticketed.

[wagonman76]

We have those on the freeway, and last year they raised the minimum speed from 45 to 55. A bit amusing I think. If you're an absolute law-abider, you pretty much have to break it either before or after the sign. It goes from "speed limit 55" to "minimum speed 55", so technically you would have to cross the sign at 55 dead on. Same thing coming back, it goes from "minimum speed 55" to "speed limit 55".

I don't care, if it is winter and the road is bad, I won't even go 55. I certainly wouldn't on any other road in the same weather. The physics of driving on ice don't care what road I am on. They also used to have these signs that said "ice and snow, take it slow", which they also removed when they raised the minimum speed.

Once I was on the freeway and it was bad out, going about 45, and a cop came up behind me. He stayed on my tail for a couple minutes then I watched him do a 180 in the road and go into the ditch, thankfully he didn't get up next to me or in front of me first.

[theunchosen]

I was on the highway going to work one day and it had snowed really heavily and the trucks had not had enough time to get out and clear it. It was a somewhat unexpected snowfall.

A semi passed me and the wind combined with my already low traction sent me sliding towards the ditch. I was expecting it considering they push me significantly when its dry, so I was already braking and ready to finish the fish tail.