Why do Americans drive so fast?
 

I recently did a 600 mile round trip from Vancouver Canada, to Portland Oregon in my 2009 I4 Accord.

To make the solo trip less boring, I decided to try to get the best mileage possible, which of course include drafting big tour bus and semi.

Oh my do Americans drive fast... Those semis.... all going 65+, and all other cars must be doing 75-80.

USA is sure a nation on wheels, it is so freaking busy that I end up getting stuck in traffic half the time doing 20-40.

Needless to say, my plan to minimize fuel comsumption is a wash. But nevertheless, the car did pretty well with 42MPG over the 600 mile trip (EPA is 27MPG).

I find that going at 65mph, drafting a semi will net 10-15% fuel save (1 semi length in between, I felt pretty safe).

Going lower than 55mph, there is virtually no difference.

And the best strech of highway I had, is the section within Canada on a flat, newly paved empty highway and I was tired so I was doing 52mph, and the car managed 55MPG.

Why can't we all drive at 55mph? I am starting to like the highway in Canada where the speed limits are usually 56-65MPH, so I never felt pressured going at 56.

Cheap gas, long travel distances, little enforcement of psl and many people seem to think it's their "god given right".

You think we drive fast in the US?
I take it you have never been to germany.

Let me see Toronto highway 401 driving at the posted speed limit 110km/h [70mph] in the rain, at night, I was being passed like I was parked. Or highway 2 from Calgary to Edmonton Alberta, you need to be going 120km/h [75mph] before only cars and pickup trucks are passing you...

Stepping right along at the posted speed limit of 110kmh on TCH 17, about a half-hour east of Marathon ON, I got passed by a couple of trucks and a stack of cars all moving at around 150kmh. It was like getting passed up by the Starship Enterprise and a fleet of shuttlecraft all at Warp Factor Three. Whoosh.

So when you say Americans drive fast, you mean North Americans, right? Because it ain't just a States thing.

They were probably being chased by The Borge...
"resistance is futile" follow the heard...

Why do some Americans drive so fast? I have no idea. Want to ask some people? I can say that the faster they go, The more it costs them in fuel and safety and more - Pity the man who has a blowout at 75 MPH!

People really don't need to go over the speed limit. If they slow down they'll be less likely to hit a deer, For example and it'll cost a lot less in gas money.

I was once going the speed limit of 45 MPH or so at a place I guesstimate is about five or six miles away and some people in a corvette passed me, Speeding. About 2.3 miles later I caught up to them at a red light; I was in the second car behind them so speeding saved them no time at all but cost them more in gas money and potential safety hazards.

We drive so fast for the same reason we eat too much, invade too many countries, clog the airwaves with too much Taylor Swift and fill the TV listings with too many "reality" shows: We don't always think things through.

If you want to see real Uhmericans list the reasons why they do the stupid things they do, check out the forums over at GasBuddy. I've never seen such a collection of stupid all in one place. :mad:

Put it this way, I was driving the PSL and a Cop comes up and rides my A$$ till I pull over to let him by and he was in a hurry to go nowhere BTW.

What, driving 20 minutes across town (each way) to pay three cents less a gallon?

Speed has been originally designed for it. The Federal-Aid Highway Act 1956 set a uniform standard that depending type of terrain that the minimum two-way, 12ft width, 10ft right shoulder & left 4ft paved shoulder travel lanes in each direction are constructed to have safe max banking and speed dynamics at 50-70 mph. With modern suspensions, tire tech and standard ASC, we could easily travel even faster.

I think your answer is in your question. People feel the need to "catch up" to the "ghost car" ahead that would have been them had they been doing "normal" speed for their entire trip, even if that means hitting every light red and endangering themselves and others.

Short answer: Fuel is cheap. Or else we (collectively) would try to conserve.

I've considered this sort of question and come to the same conclusion as others. Gas is cheap.

Actually I think you could make fuel $30 a gallon and they would still drive the same and complain about the gas price but would see no possible way of reducing their fuel consumption.

Those that couldn't afford to drive 85mph would not drive at all,

I guess that would be a little progress, though not much.

I would have to find my source, but I have been under the impression for years that the speed limits were based for primarily emissions, and then safety standards.

I do agree, if people can't afford to drive 100 miles to nowhere at 85 in a 60, they will just drive the 10 miles to the store. At 48 in a 35.

It seems many people do not place a value on their true expenses, rather, they would sooner drive at 20%+ over the speed limit to save 2 minutes. Why not just leave two minutes earlier?

I think you are right, there would be much gnashing of teeth and plenty of blame, but no behavioral insight.

Since I have been conscious of how I use my fuel, and have changed my habits somewhat, the more I see how oblivious others are about most other aspects of driving well with others too. The prevailing driving mindset seems unconsciously selfish and narcissistic.

It's a microcosm. We have lots of growing up I think.

Speed limit - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

2/3 of the people (there are articles about this) don't budget and their notions of what they make and spend are vague at best. They simply don't know AND don't care to know.

Additionally, these same sort of people- in probably similar numbers- don't consider and/or are not intellectually capable of considering the (usually miniscule) effect of speed on trip time.

I think that as long as people buy gas on credit, the price will have minimal impact on gas usage and it won't effect change unless/until the credit card expense becomes great enough to displace something essential- say, eating or housing- out of affordability.

P.S. Upon further reflection, I wonder how many actually would change their fuel consumption habits regardless of buying it on credit or being able to afford fuel, food, and housing all at the same time? I imagine some percentage would; that said, how many Uhmericans that lost their homes to foreclosure recently made any effort to economize? In my (prejudiced) view, probably not many at all. They opted to live out of their shiny new GM Subdivisions instead. You can tell from posters on other forums like GasBuddy that there is a significant population that feels resigned/helpless/unconcerned about getting pathetic fuel economy.

it was rhetorical- I couldn't agree with you more.

I assume your whole drive was up and down the i5 through WA state which is ridiculously slow compared to almost anywhere else in the country I've driven. I'm glad I don't have to drive up there anymore, the low speeds and fast lane campers are really irritating. I just did LA to SF in 5 hour flat and still got 41mpg. I'm not going to waste an extra hour of my life just so I can get 44 or 45mpg. Its not worth it.

I bet you filled up in Bellingham or Blaine on that cheap American gasoline before crossing the border back into Canada :D

I had a blow out, well a tire valve stem failure going about 80 on the down hill side of some mountian picking up speed to get over the next one. I was in the suburban, loaded down with tools pulling my trailer.
That tire is still in use, the suburban and trailer are still in one peice.
As long as you are not driving a ford explorer and don't panic you will be fine.

Years before that I had 3 firestone tires tread seperate on me at varrious speeds at different times.

Hm, Thanks. There's a lot that I don't know, Though I still think I'd feel better about having a blowout at or under a speed limit than over it.

Quoted for truth! :thumbup:

You can get killed getting out of bed in the morning. Turn off the hysterical "news" channel of your choice, relax a bit and get over yourself.

How many blowouts have you had? Per 100,000 miles traveled? How many blowouts have people you know had... per 100,000 miles traveled?

I've never had a blowout, but I have had flats. Been okay. I've had other mechanical failures. I'm more likely to pick up a winning powerball ticket from the gutter than I am to have a blowout in a situation that I can't recover from. I'm taking more of a risk putting money in my 401k than I am when I'm driving.

...Because we can. Let's face it, the modern highway system was designed for high speed and modern cars have evolved to the point that most everyone feels safe driving seventy or eighty miles per hour. That's the reason for speed climbing and when all the traffic is ignoring the posted speed limits, enforcement is futile and arbitrary - and mostly to collect revenue, anyway.

Enforcing an artificial limit just would create bottlenecks and even more traffic jams. So the future will bring extremely aerodynamic cars capable of cruising all day at a hundred with excellent fuel economy. I see ecomodding as a means to a performance end, not just a lifestyle choice. I could see having a brutally fast hypercar in the stable and next to it an ultra-lightweight aero 100mpg car. Both have their place and reason for being. Just don't expect everyone to go along with computer driven jelly beans speed limited to 55.

Wouldn't 80mph top end speed suffice though? I mean theoretically we are talking about Diesel engines with HP in the teens able to accomplish this already. It seems sensible that allot of people would want to trade excessive speed capabilities for efficiency if given the option.

Then explain pickup sales.

I'm not saying the majority of drivers won't be interested in bigger, faster, stronger. But there are people that value efficiency quite highly and even in the "pickups" sector might make their decision based on the efficiency of options available.

Yes, there are people... you, me, the EMers, and maybe another handful.

Ford Ecoboost F150, for example.

Not hearing too many raves about ecoboost fe...

I will say I was shocked when I moved out to Japan. Growing up in the states and learning everything I know about driving in a country where everyone has an addiction to speed I was blown away by how slow everyone drives in Japan. Over here, the highways are 100 km/h and the Japanese are happy to drive 80. Cracks me up.

Even funnier considering Toyota, Honda and Subaru's continued dedication to very small, very fast cars.

Zero (Though I was a passenger when one happened under 20 MPH in a turn) And I don't think I drove as many as 20,000 miles and I haven't had my driving license for three years as of this posting time.

That's why I love teh interwebs so much. There wouldn't be an EM or hypermiling community without it because we're so spread out.

101Volts- And if you look at your tires periodically (monitoring your tire pressure is good for this), replace them when needed and don't overload the vehicle, you're more likely to hit that huge lottery jackpot than have a blowout. Your acquaintance with the 20 mph blowout probably had to go pretty far out of his way to make it happen.

From what I can see, the majority of pickup truck buyers either...

1. Have legitimate uses for a heavy duty chassis and V8 power

2. Like to make themselves think the purchase is justified

or...

3. Take great pleasure in wasting energy while simultaneously annoying us efficiency minded people. Because it's "their right as Americans".

Anyway, the real reason people speed in this country is the old adage,

"Hurry up and wait."

The faster you get to your destination, the more you can complain about how slow the service is. Shave 60 seconds off your 15 minute drive, and wait for three minutes at McDonald's. It makes people feel good that they can get there as soon as humanly possible, so all the 'blame' goes to whoever's on the receiving end of their patronage.

Anyway, that's my over-analyzed take on it. "I GOTTA GET THERE RIGHT NOW!"

Here in the UK, our speed limit is 70.. but the police are known for giving you 10%+2mph so that's 79mph, real world.

Until 2007 people would usually sit at about 80~85 indicated a few doing 90+, and the very occasional one doing a ton+

I know having GPS calibrated my speedo that my Merc is 5% optimistic on speed, so an indicated 80 will be 76 real world.. and Mr plod will not be interested.

What does get scary is when you have people doing 90+ and trucks doing 56 pulling straight out, more than a few accidents have happened that way.

Anyway since 2007 things have changed.. people have slowed down and they are driving less, 70 is now far more common and 80 is the old 90.

Which brings me to another point.. prices in the UK are pretty much at breaking point.. back in 2000 we had fuel price protests (fuel blockades etc.. shops started running out of stock.. in some places there was no fuel to be bought) and the government backed down on fuel prices, so although they haven't gone up much in real terms neither have the fallen much. What has happened is that we now mostly drive diesels, and we drive them a little slower.

What is this threshold price?

In today's money, about £1.50 a litre, or about $9 a gallon.. give or take.

If we had fuel at 75p/litre we'd all be driving much faster and longer.

Derek

My 1989 ecoboosted diesel suburban seems to do better on fuel than a real ecobooster

Then again it seems like my fathers 1930's granny geared pickup also did better tooting around town.

Sorry- "Eco-Boost".

I don't have personal experience with the F150 ecoboost. From reading reviews and stats online, it seems the mileage for the power in the vehicle is great compared to what was available before.

But people expect 30 mpg for their 2.5+ ton truck that they use to haul groceries, or a pile of wood once per year, so on. Again, no personal experience, but it seems the people who buy this truck often buy it for the wrong reasons- go figure- and expect a miracle.

I imagine someone hyper miling it would get decent mpg-for the vehicle.

This is my fathers truck: Fuel Economy of the 2008 Ford F150 Pickup 4WD

I was disappointed when I used it for about a month when I was between the Escort and Mustang, and I averaged 19 mpg. I thought it was disgusting, but now I see I was exceeding highway.

3.7L Ti-VCT 4-Valve V6 FFV has 302 @ 6500/278 @ 4000 w/ 17 city/23 hwy
3.5L Ti-VCT 4-Valve V6 EcoBoost™ has 365 @ 5000/420 @ 2500 w/ 16 city/22 hwy
5.0L Ti-VCT 4-Valve V8 FFV has 360 @ 5500/380 @ 4250 w/ 15 city/21 hwy

I agree, this isn't amazing- but to have a smaller engine (3.5 instead of 5.0) while making more power sooner, and the MPG almost where the 3.7 is, it's a pretty decent in between spot.