Slow down. My philosophy for life also applies to the road.
 

This is Ecomodder.com. If you are reading this, you are probably already well aware of the effect that speed has on gas mileage, and you are probably aware of the affect that fuel use has on the environment, national security, and your own wallet. But in my time in the forums it has been clear [...]

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Driving from SF to LA on I-5.... I'll gladly buy the extra 3 gallons and take my chances with everyone else.

Very well written article. Makes all the good points about safety, time, money, and the stupidness that is speeding.

I'd forgotten EcoModder has articles. Thanks! :) I guess I need to get out more.

It's a good, persuasive, article, but could use some editing; there's an affect/effect and one other thing.

I wonder if it would have swayed me in my impressionable youth.

Our nation with the ADD short attention span need it now get there as fast as you can philosophy needs to change. Apparently hope and change has not really brought either of any when it comes to driving.

I get a good laugh when the 4x4 urban assault vehicle next to me stomps on the Go pedal, and with a huff, puff, and a gigantic cloud of smoke, they roar to the next stop light.

Just as I slowly arrive next to them, quietly, efficiently, safely, legally...

Heh, it still amazes me that people can be so clueless. I mean, I used to be a leadfoot, but at least I was never one of those people commuting to work in a massive land-barge – with only one occupant. Such a waste. Oddly enough, seeing drivers like that actually motivates me to work harder to improve my own mpg.

Well as a former fast driver who like others has come to enjoy hypermiling as an alternative lifestyle, I have discovered one thing that can maybe sway a younger driver who feels they must speed, compliment them on their driving!! then point out a few things they can do to improve, like be more aware on blind corners to slow down, prolong the life of their brakes and one thing thats saved me many times and got me compliments fom passenger, unspoken , but noticed when they are not nervous with me when faster driving, it's to always lift my foot off the gas a bit when anything comes up that might be involving braking, this puts my passenger at rest that I'm planning ahead, i can hardly drive with anyone who has their foot on the gas till they have the brake on, my 66 Mustang which I raced regularly everywhere had the original rear brakes for over 18 years! and fronts almost the same, just by planning, if the kids would learn that one trick , saves your life hundreds of times . but complimenting them first makes them want to seem better and they will listen,

"There is no award for driving too fast on the road. There is a reward for driving slower."

As the owner of a Ranger with almost 400 K miles I agree, the trick is to convince others to follow suit. kind of a weird card game wording there. My Dad used to be such a smooth driver it would frustrate me as a teen, i could almost not tell when the car moved or stopped , and I dont ever recall him putting brakes on a car. Course he was a pilot and a boat captain , things you dont usually horse around . His advice was , anybody can drive fast , you've got to be smooth, that's the key. and it's been good advice these 45 years,

Great write up, I enjoyed reading that. I like how you put it all into perspective, size =/= safety and the additional risks associated with speed.

Good read, thank you for posting.

There should be a $100 fine for that. (No i don't care about his exuses)

:turtle:
Some people value time. Doing 55 or 65 vs 75 while on a significant trip equates to dozens of minutes or halves of hours or more. Your welcome to crawl along at your own pace, though. Time is one thing you can never get back in life.

Also "Of course, going even one mile per hour over the posted speed limit is a crime. This is not an opinion, nor is it open to interpretation." -this is false.

California:
Speed Law Violations

22351. (a) The speed of any vehicle upon a highway not in excess of the limits specified in Section 22352 or established as authorized in this code is lawful unless clearly proved to be in violation of the basic speed law.

(b) The speed of any vehicle upon a highway in excess of the prima facie speed limits in Section 22352 or established as authorized in this code is prima facie unlawful unless the defendant establishes by competent evidence that the speed in excess of said limits did not constitute a violation of the basic speed law at the time, place and under the conditions then existing.

You can exceed the posted limit and not be in violation. Per the same, though, you could be driving at the posted limit in rain/fog/blizzard and be in violation of speeding. Common sense is required.


Driving efficiently is fine - taking it to a whole religious style belief system is beyond me. The article is preaching and as such you will find believers and non-believers. I'm in the latter.

Reasonable and Prudent
This is only true for California and other Basic Rule, as opposed to Absolute Rule states. I can't be bothered to find a list, but a scan of Google's first page adds Oregon, Michigan and Nevada.

Speed limits in the United States - Wikipedia adds Texas and Rhode Island, and states:
Maybe some of our non-USofAian posters can expand on the subject.

The Basic Rule cuts both ways, blocking us from saving too much gas.

I wonder why they even allow cars to be built which can exceed the limit, kind of a false freedom we've all been tricked into believing , speeding isn't freedom , and personally when you think of all the safety features built into cars it's surprising they haven't worked on it more. of course you could argue that it gives you more time , but the average trip of say a few miles it more likely takes it away in terms of cost and danger to yourself and others. The world is full of people who dont manage their time properly and think that a bit more speed will solve it, my trick is to leave early and try to enjoy the ride, hey it's costing me a lot . so why not enjoy it and view the scenery is my idea, save gas and less dangerous to boot. I think some insurance companies are working on this idea already . discounting people whose cars have recorders

I wonder why they even allow cars to be built which can drive off-pavement.

I can do that as passenger. When I'm driver, my attention circulates from the forward horizon to the rear view mirror and (to a lesser extent) the dashboard.

Google is the one working on the real solution——self driving cars. No more stop lights, every intersection will be like a circle eight race. :)

I really wish more people would read this. It's so often that i overhear people complain about gas prices but then continue driving 80 mph down the freeway honking at anybody not following suit. The safety part also gets to me, here in California i constantly see large suv's and full size trucks being driven by soccer moms who claim that a more efficient sedan is too unsafe.

People here seem to share the mentality that a car needs sub-9 second 0-60 times, making small, efficient cars either not enter the market or be phased out because they aren't "zippy" like people seem to expect all small cars to be. Sorry for the rant, this annoys me.

personally I blame the car magazines, every car is too slow to them , if it's got huge power , then it doesn't brake good enough , or a car will be the best one ever, only to become two years later , not so good, same mentality as the regular news always got to be stirring the mud, then overlook the real stuff people want to , or should know. very true about four wheel drive in cars, almost nobody needs it, just buy four studded snows and front or rear wheel drive is so much better, course funny thing is most four wheel drive cars are running around with nearly bald tires, seen lots of em in the shopping center. then crash city , and of course you can afford an I phone, but not tires.

It does not say "in excess of posted speed limit". It says "in excess of the prima facie speed limits in Section 22352"
In order to interpert it, you have to actually read section 22352:
V C Section 22352 Prima Facie Speed Limits

Its referring to times you can exceed 15 or 25 mph in alleys, railroad crossings, school zones, etc. Nothing in what you quoted indicates any circumstance in which you can legally exceed POSTED speed limits in CA, only the prima facie speed limits spelled out in Section 22352 (which, barring proof of complying with the basic speed law of safety) applies whether signs are posted or not.

Pop once flew a AT6 from Alabama to eastern VA with a gal who hitched a ride. She asked him how he flew the plane when he landed and he showed her how the controls worked. "I never saw them move" was her response to his demonstration. His imputs were so slight that they were not recognizable visually.

He hypermiled his B17 on his bombing missions over Europe in 1943-44, using the mixture and turbo settings to arrive home with an average of 100 gallons more fuel than others. Insurance against bullet punctures in the self sealing tanks.

regards
Mech

Ever since I saw this data I've been wondering how compacts can be so crummy.
http://ecomodder.com/blog/wp-content..._car_types.jpg
I wish they did better. I don't really want a mid-size, with the exception of the Prius mid-sizes all have 2.2-3L engines, which are blah for MPG.

Of course it is some comfort that speed is more important and slowing down, even a little, really works.

I like the diet soda with burger and fries analogy. I get really annoyed when folks with trucks and SUVs say they want a heavy vehicle to be safer. It's like they never heard of a rollover / can't believe they themselves could ever be at fault.

Because even if you buy into the weight argument, it's a zero sum arms race. Your safety (due to mass) is in proportion to your threat to others. I never hear anyone blame the parents of the drunk teen who decimated a family of six with the 4 ton nuclear weapon they let him drive.

I also really liked the analysis of speed differentials on accident probability and severity.

This part was is a mistake however; "The affect of mass gets divided by two. A 4000 lb SUV will not absorb twice as much energy as a 2000lb car, it will only absorb 50% more."

Energy is linear with mass, so doubling weight does indeed double energy. The one-half term is a scalar, but the function remains linear (and proportional).

Energy is the not exactly the right parameter for safety WRT mass anyway. The key is whether your momentum will be changed by other the vehicle, or you will change the momentum of other vehicle. This follows your percentage of the share of total mass. In the range where your adversary's weight is close to the same as yours, your ability to inflict vs receive is linear with your own mass. Outside of that range the function saturates, and so a 10 ton semi will inflict similar damage on all passenger vehicles, whether they be 2 ton compacts or 4 ton pickups, and 200lbs cyclist will take damage that depends on the height and angle of a vehicle rather than its mass, in any case the victim's final velocity will roughly equal the dominant vehicle's initial velocity.

I suspect a part of it is that a large percentage of very small cars are sports cars, and by virtue of being sports cars, they are more likely to be driven recklessly, especially (but not limited to) speeding.




You're right, thank you for pointing that out. Its been a long long time since physics class. I'll fix it.

I know, but there isn't any simple formula to describe that, and in order to make complex concepts understandable to the public (and when I write, I'm more writting to the general public than to hardcore modders) its got to be simplified to some extent.

not even just that - relative velocities (not just speed, but direction) - factor in as well. A semi-hitting a car causes fatalities at less than half the rate of cars hitting semis, for example, even though both cases have the same percentage share of total mass.

I see your accurate points. But I can't get onboard with your philosophy. In fact, I'd like to go faster! While doing so efficiently.

Klaus Savier, in his Rutan designed Canard Pusher aircraft, managed to get 45 mpg while traveling 207 mph! It's possible to have both speed and economy!

Getting 45 MPG at 207 MPH | Autopia | Wired.com

And now, Klaus has achieved 57MPG at 225MPH. Incredible!

Airliners often achieve over 70 passenger miles per gallon. All while going over 500 miles per hour!

I owned a late model Jetta TDI. While hypermiling was capable of 65MPG, it cost me 4 hours of time per tank of fuel vs driving fast. Or, put another way, my time was worth about $2 dollars per hour. Slow? NO THANK YOU.

When personal autos have a co-efficient of drag similar to the most efficient aircraft (0.016, vs 0.35 for a typical modern car - 20 times as much!) then we can speed without getting terrible fuel mileage.

It will still increase the chances of dying in a fiery car crash, though. How many dollars an hour does that translate to?

Not as much a factor as many are led to believe.

First, one's chances of a fatal crash are relatively minor to begin with.

If, you are not drunk, not on the phone, not driving late at night, not under 25 or over 65, your chances of dying in a car are less than flying in an airliner.

I'm a non drinker, I don't text or phone while I drive, and I maintain my skills. I'll take my chances with the slightly higher velocity. (however, I generally don't go too fast either)

yeesh... How many fiery crashes do you see?


I would have to say people going way under the posted speed limit in the left lane are far more dangerous than people traveling at or a little above the posted speed limit.

Issue here is that in the area I live, people with Prius are the one stomping off the line and going 80mph everywhere.

As mentioned in an earlier post: Time is valuable. Over a year of driving slow, it's likely 80 additional hours are spent in the car for a typical driver. That's 2 work weeks, lost to the highways. Placing a value on the fuel saved vs. time consumed, it calculates out to be in the neighborhood of $4/hour.

Put another way, my salary is an order of magnitude more than that. Also, my free time is exceedingly valuable to me. It's why I work, to have the funds to spend my time doing what I want.

The performance of an ultra efficient car can be used to save fuel at high speeds. My Jetta TDI returned a solid 42MPG at 80, day in and day out.

Klaus Savier sets all sorts of aviation efficiency records. One that stands out is: 2 people, 45 mpg @ 207 MPH and 60 mpg at 160 MPH. And California to Florida on 26 gallons, in 9 hours.

https://www.wired.com/2009/11/45mpg-at-207mph/

My Cessna 177RG can achieve 25 mpg at 125 mph, if I try. High speed MPG is all about aerodynamics.

Time is money is time. This proves the point.

Also "Speed costs money. How fast do you want to go?"

Time goes as fast in the car as outside of it (Einstein does not agree, but even then the difference is not noticeable without special instrumentation).
It only matters if you need to be at the destination at a certain time.

I like my car and do not mind being inside it. I use my time behind the wheel thinking things over, and I like to drive at moderate speed to aid my thinking. I arrive relaxed.
Also, I like to reduce the noise level; I suffer from tinnitus and the faster I drive, the longer and harder my ears keep ringing afterwards.

I do have less time to spend outside the car but my quality of life is better when driving slow; both during and after driving.

If driving a couple mph faster or slower makes an 80 hour difference, that ought to be an indication to a person that they live farther away from their job and other essentials than they ought to, and that no matter what, they are surrendering far too much of their life to the commute. But people would rather justify speeding in their cars than do that much soul-searching. :)

I periodically mention the girl who drove twenty over and talked about how much time she saved, when I asked what the point was, she played on her phone while she drove, and she played on her phone when she got there.

She said she was a good driver, but was stopped for suspicion of DUI, and rear-ended a truck (different occasions) and that was just during the two years I knew her.

It's the same here. Half my colleagues moan about the price of fuel, and then happily fritter fuel away by driving like idiots in needlessly high performance cars. Fools.

That said, with escalating fuel prices in recent years I judge that more drivers are slowing down a little, and while they may not be driving conscientiously and conservatively more of them at least appear to be observing the speed limit.