Traffic experiments: a cure for waves and jams (improves other people's MPG too)

[Undie]

Thanks. I suppose I could wait a say 10 minutes. However if I do, I will still have to go through a succession of 5 stoplights to get to the highway. I do stay once in a while, I'm just in too much of a hurry to get home to wait around. It seems if I get on the road as early as possible I'm not bad off but if I'm in the middle or near the end I might as well just wait. I'd guess that there's 350+ cars at my plant, and there's another plant just up the road thats larger. Sometimes I really hate working in a factory.
I guess I'm doing the best I can at this point in traffic. Not much else I can do.

[newtonsfirstlaw]

Originally Posted by MetroMPG

But I won't gun it to prevent someone from sneaking in front of me either, despite the reptilian part of my brain screaming at me to stand on the go pedal.

Yep, this will happen. On any given run, there will be numerous cars zipping in front of me during the bumper-to-bumper sections, just as there will be numerous cars passing me on the highway.

That's where I'd really love the "Why race to red lights?" bumper sticker. I'll have to get some made up. I know when I used to do this (back before I made the logical connection between heating up brake pads and lack of fuel economy), I'd feel really stupid and guilty when they'd pull up behind me at a red light.

The thing is, in bumper-to-bumper, the gain you get by driving like a 17 year old male is minimal. Literally, every car that passes you is only 15 feet in front of you, max. If they make it through a red light and you don't, you usually end up just behind them while they are waiting at the next red light.

On the highway, going 80kph or so does result in reaching the destination appreciably slower. However, we must remember that we are saving after-tax money, so a comparison with what your wage is will require adjustment. Depending on how much you are earning and what you are driving, driving slower has the very real possibility of approaching your pay rate. Think of it as a form of overtime.

But yes, driving slower than traffic does take some getting used to, but after a while you can get so obsessed with not wasting fuel that your priorities change. Especially after you start pulse and gliding, and seeing how much longer the glides go at lower speeds.

[JerkOfAllTrades]

Originally Posted by MetroMPG

The angriest driver I've ever seen was a guy behind me in a truck while I was coasting up to a red light. He was literally screaming at me and gesticulating through his windshield - yet there was nowhere else he could have gone, except to this red light.

Fortunately that's only happened once to me - oh, and it was in Toronto (I generally don't see road rage around here).

Your lucky! The one I remember best is when I was braking for a light about to go red, the yellow was very stale and I knew it was about to change, when I heard the screeching of tires behind me. This idiot, no kinder way to to put it, changed lanes into the left turn lane and blew through what was then a red light. As this was the morning commute it could hardly be blamed on work stress or rushing home, so could only be some form of lunacy.

[metroschultz]

Many years ago I had to take a drivers re-training course in order to keep my license.
One thing the instructor said that I have carried with me for these 17 odd years.
"Why race to be last in line at the next stoplight, when you can be first in line at this one?"
Just thought I'd throw that in the mix.
S.