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[Hook'em Horns!]

Originally Posted by mjstef

Amazing what a little reduction in speed will do for mileage huh? The funny thing is these idiots running 80-90 mph are burning more fuel than they are saving time. I am only 37 years old but have not had a ticket in over 14 years. I drive AT the speed limit and sometimes a few mph over. I have better things to spend my $$ on than pouring it through the engine to save 5 minutes. Just leave 5 minutes earlier and all is good!!

I have tried to teach this point in the past as an instructor. Trying to show the math was always a hit or miss. Most destination driving is for an hour or less from one’s home base and an even larger portion of these trips are less than 30 minutes in most cases.

The difference between driving 65mph for an hour versus 80mph with no interruptions and maintaining a constant speed is just 11 minutes. Now, let’s say over the course of that 49 minutes of travel you encounter just 7 vehicles forcing you to reduce to 65mph for only 25 seconds until you return back to speed at 80mph. Now we’re down to 8 minutes gained.

Come off the freeway into urban traffic and catch a few lights and the odds are that 65-er will pull up right behind you, or just ahead in another lane. Mix in a few more vehicles along the highway to slow down for and the 65-er will most likely catch you at the first light.

Equate these facts to a shorter trip of 30-40 minutes mixed with various lane changes and the 65-er could very well end up in front of you at the first light.

At the time, my goal in teaching this was not to encourage saving/conserving fuel, but to the dangers of driving at greater differential speeds than the flow of traffic for little or no time gain achieved.

As for tickets, most enforcement observation is for highly differential speed to the average flow of traffic. Drive to the right. If you’re in the left lane you should at least be gradually passing vehicles to your right, even if you must exceed the posted limits to do so. Complete your pass, move over, and carry on.

On a different note, while traveling longer distances, the two most annoying types of drivers are what we call the “I think I cans” and the “Lonely Souls”.

The ‘I think I can’ will refuse to move right and just keep upping their speed to try to satisfy you on their rear. “Wait, wait, I can do better, see?”

The ‘Lonely Soul’ is one that you passed 20 miles back and they latched on to you for company along the way. They’ll usually stay 1 car length behind or just behind and in the next lane. Speed up, and they speed up…slow down, and they slow down. Head up 30mph over the limit, they're right there…Slam on the brakes and drop 30mph below the limit and there they are.

The only way to get rid of this Suckerfish is to wait for some unsuspecting soul to pass you and let ‘em leech on to them for awhile!