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The gadget that I would most like to have in my car is a video recording system with a camera that mounts somewhere between the front seats. A forward looking camera would have a view out your front window as well as you pedals, speedometer and other controls and indicators. A rearward looking camera would have a view of the grill design of the gashole that is tailgating you. It could be on a 30 minute loop. Copy the footage to a thumb drive or cd and hand it to the cops. Just make sure you're not picking your nose!

Also handy for accidents!

Calm Down, Slow Down and Back Off!
Dont' be a Gashole!

Excellent words........and I really like the, "Don't be a Gashole!

That's a pretty good idea! :thumbs_up:

A couple of times when I popped out a camera in the face of a road rager, they have chilled dramatically :D (of course a few just don't respond to that, so a video to the police comes in handy....)

Dont' know who said it, but "reputation is what people think you are - character is who you are when nobody is looking".

Both the highways and the information highway would become a lot nicer if everyone thought they were not anonoymous but monitored. I'm not suggesting a police state - just make rude and malicious behavior accountable.



I repeat this because it's helped me a lot. I put my emergency flashers on when someone fast appreaching from behind is 50 yards from my rear. They nearly always go ahead and pass me and we are all happy.

New bumper sticker

Hypermiler...please go around!

...or perhaps a universally recognized hypermiler warning light to be mounted on the back of your car.

If there was any hope of "standardization" in signaling
that the gasholes would actually recognize, it should merely
be the fact that the car ahead is *not* crammed up against
the rear end of the one in front of *it*. That's one of the
major things they fail to understand. So I wouldn't have much
hope for signal lights of any sort, either. On the other
hand, the yuppie button has a reasonable success rate; where
it fails is in cases of total cluelessness and/or someone who
resents an attempt to pass a message enough that they cop
more of an attitude and get *closer* and fly all kinds of
fingers when they can finally go around.
.
_H*

I repeat this because it's helped me a lot. I put my emergency flashers on when someone fast appreaching from behind is 50 yards from my rear. They nearly always go ahead and pass me and we are all happy.
Works for me too.

Another thing I've been trying on 2-lane roads is suddenly pulling way to the right when there is a clear passing zone, to induce people to go by, even if they haven't been tailgating me. I actually persuaded an Audi to pass me today!!! There are three short passing zones on the local 40mph highway I take to I-95 but people rarely use them. It amazes me that most drivers are so brain dead that they have to be coaxed to use a passing zone when they clearly want to go faster (i.e., speed). But if that's what it takes to get me some breathing room....

If there was any hope of "standardization" in signaling
that the gasholes would actually recognize, it should merely
be the fact that the car...

Some people will always be that way. You can only compensate for so much stupidity by yourself. The fact that we are here in this forum does not even garauntee that some of us aren't clueless idiots.
I see people every day that are doing what we do. I don't know that they are 'members' of this community or not but they conduct themselves in a fashion that would serve to increase FE. Unfortunately they are doing it in the center and left lanes of a 65mph highway. They are just as clueless. I even flash them a dirty look as I pass them on the right while doing the speed limit.

For what it's worth...I was thinking of a teal colored lens with hypermiler in yellow.

Like DeltaFlyer and lightfoot , the E-flashers work for me ( @99.8 % of the time )

What do you think of this idea:
In large white lettering high across the rear window

EPA TEST VEHICLE

and have the e-flashers on.

Maybe an "official" look will make people pause.

Gary C

For running the challenge course at least, we joked about having one of those big orange triangles like farm vehicles have. That could definitely work. ;)

Two members of our local hybrid club produced back window stickers that read:

"Mobile video unit"

That's it. One of them even bought a fake retail camera and Velcro'd in plain sight of aft drivers.
They claim they get a lot of cooperative driving from other drivers in their daily commutes.:D

In my case, I limit myself to the tried and true raising of the cell phone for a quick ad-hoc shot. It works pretty well even when it is just a pretend shot. So far good results.


Cheers;

MSantos

Wait wait -- So this road rage is a common problem for others, too?

Holy cow, I thought it was just me. Really. In too many years of driving to count I've only had one person fly off the handle and chase me down in my normal vehicles. However, I've only owned my Insight a month or so and I actually had a very serious road rage incident the other day. So serious, in fact, that I renewed my concealed weapons permit and am shopping for a new gun to keep in the Insight. No, I'm not in any way kidding.

Suffice it to say this crazy lunatic in a huge pickup was tailgating me like no tomorrow. I was doing 28 in a 30. I had no intention of speeding up to 30-35 because I was about to take a right in about 100 feet, so why waste more gas just to stop? When I went to take my right, he was so close to me I don't think he saw my blinker or my brake lights. He nearly rear-ended me, then pulled around me, forced me to slam on my brakes, blocked me in between his truck and a curb, then GOT OUT OF THE VEHICLE and came at me on foot!

All I could do was throw it into reverse, drive backwards down a busy street with this crazy guy chasing me and fumble for my cell phone to call 911! He turned around and ran when he saw the phone and it all happened so fast I didn't get a plate #. :( Still, the experience was NOT fun. What the hell is wrong with people?! Ruined my great trip mileage, too and took a lot of charge out of the IMA flooring it in reverse trying to get away from this guy.

I'll be doing 60 in a 70 on a six lane divided freeway, all the way to the right in the slow lane, and people will come up behind me and honk and threaten me with their vehicles. I can't believe it.

I don't know about y'all, but I'm always worried about road rage.

Not the physically threatening part. I can tangle with the best of them :)

I'm worried about my car. A dent in that pickup? He doesn't care. But a dent in my precision intrument of speed & aerodynamics? That we can not have.

If some good ol' boy came at my car with a baseball bat, I'd throw myself in front of the car like a secret service agent.

Wait wait -- So this road rage is a common problem for others, too?

....

I'll be doing 60 in a 70 on a six lane divided freeway, all the way to the right in the slow lane, and people will come up behind me and honk and threaten me with their vehicles. I can't believe it.

You have to accept that somewhere between 1 and 5 % of the population is just bats..t insane and anything outside expected events may set them off. Slow driving is a little different which may upset their already fragile world (oh no, crisis, that guy's gonna make me late). Just shake your head and keep moving, life's too short to worry about that .

Ever since I was the smallest kid in second grade I've hated bullies, but personally I might've talked to the crazy pickup guy, maybe asked how much time he thought following me at the speed limit cost him. ( If you do the math, 1 mile at 30 MPH vs 40 mph is 2 minutes versus 1.5 minutes which works out to a time cost of 30 seconds per mile or about a whopping 3 seconds per block). My past experiences talking to knuckleheads as a bicyclist is that these guys are often at least half drunk and they claim the road taxes they pay on fuel for their guzzlers mean they more or less own the road that they think you should stay out of. As a bicyclist I never thought fast enough to dishonestly claim that I was an OTR truck driver on my day off and that I thought belligerent drunks should stay out of the road that I paid for.

I've tried to talk to road ragers four or five times and they've always either left as soon as they saw I was kinda big and rough looking (in second grade I learned that most bullies are afraid of a fight, particularly a fair one) or calmed down a good bit after they said their piece. As they say in the car business, your mileage may vary.

It seems to me that most people in large SUV's, pickups, hummers etc dont care about fuel efficiency or anybody alse outside their "fortress". There wouldn't be much point in arguing with them either. ILAveo is right when he talks about bullies. They were probably neglected or beaten as a child and are now bitter. Hence the MASSIVE hummers etc. Just look at youtube and read the comments under hummer crashing into cars videos. Says it all really. Whenever i get tailgated i slam on the brakes really hard. A guy nearly ended up crashing one time! He then passed me in THE PASSING LANE like he was supposed to without hardly a glance. A cop i lived with once told me that if it goes to court, just say a dog ran out in front of you. Where's the dog gone? Case closed. Tailgater Busted. And he'll pay for your car too along with whiplash etc. Heck you may even get a new car out of it!

vtec-e,

I hear you on aggressive/bully drivers. Years ago, I'd slam brakes on tailgaters with more than once incident of road rage (in addition my act of braking). Yes, I have a temper, but my focus in recent months is to avoid situations that would be upsetting to start with. I started later this morning and a subcompact was almost touching my bumper....wish he could have heard me say: "Sorry, I'm not available..." :p

Occasionally I get my camera and sometimes it suddendly promotes good behavior.

It's a struggle.

I get that temptation sometimes but I fight it. I like my car the way it is, and I don't want to incite more road rage by taking aggressive action. What usually works is to do absolutely nothing until we get to a clear passing zone. Then I drop speed gradually until the guy gives up and makes a legal pass. It usually doesn't take more than a few mph.

One thing about my recent move is that despite the reputation for bad drivers, they are a whole lot less aggressive here than in the Northeast. Very rarely do I run into someone here who wants to bully. Most drive much faster than the limit but are content to go around and be done with it. In Connecticut it takes all of five seconds for someone to start shaking their head and cursing while they get almost close enough to push. I don't think I'll be moving back there if I can help it.

I used to slam on my brakes. Hard. Call it an anti-lock brake competition. But it is just as aggressive as tailgating, perhaps more so, so I only recommend this if you're ready to fight.

I got one guy bad. Completely ruined his car, and his day. He was still being an ass when we started to speak, but a quick "Ow, my back...", and he caved. I was SO ready to kick his ass. And it probably led to eventual problems with my gas tank, so perhaps in the end, this is not the best solution.

Sure was satisfying leaving him there on the side of the road with his broken car tho...

Since I got the NAH (my first new car), I'm behaving better. But I haven't run into any bullies yet. We'll see... If someone intentionally tries to run me off the road, as has happened to some of you, I guarranty his vehicle will sustain damage.

For now on back roads, I usually go fast enough that it's not a problem. If I get a tailgater, I start DWL. That is SO annoying to them.

On highways, I just stick to the right lane, and to hell with them. Some people who tailgate on highways are bullies, but some are just sheep doing some kind of herding thing. Some DWL, or slow non-logical speed increases and decreases usually annoy them enough to go bother someone else. But as Mrs Khan so cleverly points out, who am I to get upset with people who may be drafting, when I do it too. :D

-Gren

I'm sure it's obvious now, but yes I'm from the NorthEast (Massachusetts). Some might call me a "M***hole".

...I'm sure it's obvious now, but yes I'm from the NorthEast (Massachusetts). Some might call me a "M***hole".

In my parts, we have plenty of gasholes. :D

My previous car was a 1988 CRX HF - killed by a rear ender on Sept 7, 2000. Impact on tailpipe ruptured oil gasket and it fatally hemmoraged the following day. It was an accident but it shows what an impact can do.

Vtec-e, I've thought about braking hard like that a few times but where I live there is something called a "No Fault" policy. That means that if you are involved in an accident, all parties involved are judged "at fault." Everybody then has to pay and everyone's insurance notes that the person was the cause of a crash. I suppose it relieves the work load on law enforcement in higher population areas where crashes are fairly common, but it sure is annoying. The only way you get out of that is if the car is legally parked AND unoccupied at the time it is involved in the accident.

In sharp contrast, where I grew up (and where Brick now lives!) it is "at fault" and specifically you are not liable for being rear ended unless it can be proven that you engineered the situation such that the vehicle behind you had no alternative. This is particularly nice in slippery conditions because then you only have to worry about what is in front of you. Up here in MN I'm extra paranoid.

Delta, I really like your phrase! It gave me a good belly laugh. :D I too just slow down but occasionally that apparently almost isn't enough. I once slowed down from 65mph on I94 (over the limit by 5mph I should mention) to 43mph before the guy finally went around me. The entire time the left lane was completely open. :confused:

On the HF jaunt I found that the thumb out the window above
the roofline gesticulating to the left worked really well,
with or without the yuppie button. Sometimes the thumb was
all it took to get people to back off [i.e. in many cases
they didn't even pass].
.
The responses I got covered almost the whole spectrum, but
not to the point of vehicle impact. Indicating "go around"
might make people think you have a mechanical problem and
you're trying to deal with it and accomodate them, so maybe
a more charitable part of their tiny brain speaks up.
.
That'll be more difficult in the winter, though..
.
_H*

Read this when you have some spare time - I love this woman:

http://www.violentacres.com/archives/56/pet-peeve-2-tailgaters

Here's a snippet:

Mr. Tailgater didn’t like that very much and inched up even closer to my ass. To really prove his point, he started flicking his headlights on and off. I gave him the finger. He responded by laying on his horn.

Livid, I picked up my cell phone and dialed my friend’s phone number. “I’m going to be late,” I calmly told her, “I’m about to get into a traffic accident.” Then I turned off my phone and slammed on my brakes.

It's time to Chill Out (http://www.youthofbritain.com/chillout/) (video)

Read this when you have some spare time - I love this woman:

http://www.violentacres.com/archives/56/pet-peeve-2-tailgaters


I just did. Word....

I still think cleaning your windshield is the most effective tactic. They back away real quick.

Slowly, I looked around the scene of the accident. Like I said before, we were on the express way. On both sides of the road there were immaculately kept plains of grass. Not even a single piece of garbage was visible anywhere for miles. Finally, I looked back at the police officer.

With a bored sneer, I rolled my eyes heavenward and sighed, “I thought I saw an animal.”

The man lost his **** and screamed, “You bitch! YOU DID THIS ON PURPOSE!”

http://www.fmvperformance.com/forum_items/Smileys/default/dancingrofl2me.gif

HILARIOUS! While I think this woman is absolutely insane and don't condone her behavior, I just find it positively comedic that she thinks this is the solution. Yes, let's all fight fire with fire and get tailgaters off of us in this manner.

On a more serious note, that phone call or this blog posting could get her for insurance fraud. She should be more careful.

Tarabell - You mean simply spraying the windshield washing fluid? Brilliant idea - I didn't think of it! I'll try it next time.

That's it. Just hold that lever in. The stuff really travels at 50+mph.

Another reason I don't brake for tailgaters: I want them to go away. I DO NOT want to MEET them.

Tarabell - You mean simply spraying the windshield washing fluid? Brilliant idea - I didn't think of it! I'll try it next time.

If you have a rear windshield sprayer, you can turn the nozzle out and have it spray them. ;)

I know this is so passive but being nonviolent and all...
I let them pass if at all possible. Either I find a wider space on the road and pull over, or I try to find another way of letting them pass me.

The funny thing is that I often see them at a light I am about to get to (getting there as the light turns green). I feel it is kind of sweet revenge of sorts.

The other day, someone honked at me (actually going the speed limit) as s/he passed me and glared. I should have smiled sweetly but I was annoyed. A few blocks later, I found him/her turning left at a place I arrived at maybe a second later. It was quite funny.


--des

I know this is so passive but being nonviolent and all...
I let them pass if at all possible. Either I find a wider space on the road and pull over, or I try to find another way of letting them pass me.

The funny thing is that I often see them at a light I am about to get to (getting there as the light turns green). I feel it is kind of sweet revenge of sorts.

The other day, someone honked at me (actually going the speed limit) as s/he passed me and glared. I should have smiled sweetly but I was annoyed. A few blocks later, I found him/her turning left at a place I arrived at maybe a second later. It was quite funny.


--des

There is real wisdom in that. I do wish sometimes that I was a wiser person...

I might be older than you are. Age is a good thing for a few kinds of stuff and definitely not all it's cracked up to be for others. :-)

I wish sometimes I wouldn't get irritated at them. THe worse thing, imo, is when the blare the horn as they pass you. It is so annoying. OTOH, I have found that drivers tend not to use their horns in really critical situations. I have done some stupid things for which I am not honked at, but if they want me to go 5 mph faster, then they honk. Strange strange.
(I am guessing they think the horn is for-- I don't know-- annoying the other drivers.)

--des

There is real wisdom in that. I do wish sometimes that I was a wiser person...

i hate the horn, but even more i hate when they have to rattle their pipes, or floor it as they go by, just to prove they are the better car.......

sometimes i just get so fed up with it all.

Yes this person did that as well. Yes it's puny, yes it's undersized, yes it's beat up, but I am getting about triple his/her gas mileage (and that was way way before hypermiling)!
I would be laughing all the way past the gas station that, i think, he/she was stopping at.


--des

i hate the horn, but even more i hate when they have to rattle their pipes, or floor it as they go by, just to prove they are the better car.......

sometimes i just get so fed up with it all.

... i hate when they have to rattle their pipes, or floor it as they go by, just to prove they are the better car.......

Yes and if you do, like me, hypermiling for earth health more than for finance health, you know that all the co2 saving you made during the last half hour is wasted by this behaviour. Actually that the worst part of the agressive passing we all experiencing.

Pierre M.

I'm not too good at the smiling and waving stuff. But I have found recently that it is effective to, as you are letting some boor past you, to turn the other way or become preoccupied with your rear view mirror. NO doubt the "driver" will be cursing you and giving you the finger and at least you dont' have to look at him/her do it.

--des

I take the "kill'em with kindness" approach. When I get an irate driving cursing my make & model, I just wave to them in the rearview. As they pass, I flash'em the best Southern charm of a smile I can muster. The confused look on their face is nothing short of priceless.

In case you aren't sure about a Southern smile, think this: --> :D

I must admit that I am quite impressed by all your comments. Road rage seams to be part of your daily life. I have been hypermiling for six months now and at the maximum, I have experienced only one bad event but with a trucker.

Hypermiling means that you drive under the speed limit. The mainsteam drive over the speed limit. It's obvious the mainsteam has to deal with hypermilers speed and vice-versa. Having impatient cars behind us is part of the game and or you give up or you continually repeat to yourself the reasons of why you hypermile. I remember the "You know you're a hypermiler when....you do not even notice agressive passing because too busy with FE tasks" or something like that. Maybe that's why I don't feel the road rage around me.

This to say, impatient drivers behind us is just another variable to deal with, like SoC, iFCD and others. The less you will take it personally, the best you will feel.

The mainstream driving behaviour is just like the humanity regarding their environmental behaviour, going directly toward the wall and doing absolutly nothing to change it, except for a very to small % of the population. It's pathetic.

Pierre M.

I'm not too good at the smiling and waving stuff. But I have found recently that it is effective to, as you are letting some boor past you, to turn the other way or become preoccupied with your rear view mirror. NO doubt the "driver" will be cursing you and giving you the finger and at least you dont' have to look at him/her do it.

--des

That's a very good point. I **think** I may have been flipped off this morning but I'm not sure...just saw something out of the corner of my eye. Wasn't paying enough attention to notice. ;) I'm happier that way.

...I still think cleaning your windshield is the most effective tactic...


Tarabell, I have to tell you. From the day I told to my 10 years old dauther "why" I was washing my windshield, everytime I take the car with her. She ask "Is there somebody tailgating us, Is there somebody tailgating us" Just too see me washing my windows and the other car disappear.

Yesterday, she was with a friend and she was disapointed because nobody was following us near enough to justify a windsheild clean-up. She wanted to show to her friend how I do it. :cool:

By the way, I have noticed less agressivity when I am with wife and dauther. Something noticeable.


Pierre M.

Yesterday, she was with a friend and she was disapointed because nobody was following us near enough to justify a windsheild clean-up. She wanted to show to her friend how I do it. :cool:

That's absolutely adorable. :) Go get those 'gaters! :Banane36:

Tarabell, I have to tell you. From the day I told to my 10 years old dauther "why" I was washing my windshield, everytime I take the car with her. She ask "Is there somebody tailgating us, Is there somebody tailgating us" Just too see me washing my windows and the other car disappear.


That's pretty funny. Gee PapaMile I hope it's not happening every time you drive. It happens to me maybe 4-5 times a year at the most, that someone gets so close to be dangerous. :omg:

I like how you expressed in your last post, that impatient drivers are just one more variable of the road to deal with and not something to take too personally.

I find my car's unusual appearance is my best weapon against road rage. I had a few road rage incidents (in western NC, but not in SC) in my car's pre-aero days, but my biggest problem since I totally aero-modded the car have been people cueing up alongside me in the passing lane to stare at my car. They are too busy staring to think about road raging (except maybe at the gawkers idling ahead of them in the passing lane).

... I hope it's not happening every time you drive...

Not at all. But I don't hate wash my windsheild when I feel the driver behind me is a bit aggresive or even just arrogant. I usually follow the speed limit when there is no room for passing so I don't see why I should let others tell me how I should behave on the road.

The Province of Quebec is the place in north america where there is the highest volume of compact and sub-compact cars and therefore less SUV. Apparently, there is some kind of environmental consciousness here that likely makes everyone more polite with hybrid drivers. "Apparently" because, when I talk with others, I don't feel a lot of this consciousness.

The look of the car is very important, I feel a lot less agressivity with my hybrid then with the Civic si of my wife. A si Civic car is not really hypermiler car (SI is the bigger engin version of the civic of the ones who don't know) My hypermiler behaviour dosen't match with the look of the car.

Pierre M.

I am too. I make a deliberate point to NOT look at/or in the direction of someone who I let pass (or who passed me) in a big huff (esp. if they were tailgating)-- unless I think there is some safety concern. If they want to swear or give me the finger, that's ok with me if I dont' see it. (If I don't see it did they really give ME the finger?)

I take time to look out the side or rear view mirror with apparent interest/concentration. :-)

--des

That's a very good point. I **think** I may have been flipped off this morning but I'm not sure...just saw something out of the corner of my eye. Wasn't paying enough attention to notice. ;) I'm happier that way.

I am too. I make a deliberate point to NOT look at/or in the direction of someone who I let pass (or who passed me) in a big huff (esp. if they were tailgating)-- unless I think there is some safety concern. If they want to swear or give me the finger, that's ok with me if I dont' see it. (If I don't see it did they really give ME the finger?)

I take time to look out the side or rear view mirror with apparent interest/concentration. :-)

--des

If I did that I would feel like I was acting embarassed. I look 'em square in the eye and if they flip me off, I just shake my head at them and think "speed on, hell ain't half full..."

I wish I could do that, but I would get angry. I pretend to be nonchalant. Like there are more important things to do. I don't turn away suddenly. As they are passing, I just make sure my eyes are elsewhere.


--des

If I did that I would feel like I was acting embarassed. I look 'em square in the eye and if they flip me off, I just shake my head at them and think "speed on, hell ain't half full..."

I think I'm going to be the devil's advocate, but here goes: If people are driving much slower than the speed limit, that's not too polite. After all, the roads are how people get from one place to another, and being late because somebody's 10 mph under the limit to get better mileage is really annoying. Not that I think tailgating is ever a good idea, just that I understand why people get mad.

Maybe a good approach to keep people calm is to always go the speed limit if there's heavy traffic (assuming that conditions allow it to be driven safely). It seems like the nice thing to do, anyway.

I think I'm going to be the devil's advocate, but here goes: If people are driving much slower than the speed limit, that's not too polite. After all, the roads are how people get from one place to another, and being late because somebody's 10 mph under the limit to get better mileage is really annoying. Not that I think tailgating is ever a good idea, just that I understand why people get mad.

Maybe a good approach to keep people calm is to always go the speed limit if there's heavy traffic (assuming that conditions allow it to be driven safely). It seems like the nice thing to do, anyway.

Devil's advocate to the Devil's advocate: If I'm going 50 in a 60 zone and there are two lanes to the left of me, what' the problem? Occasionally some drivers think it's a problem. :rolleyes:

In advance, if drivers behind can't pass, I'll let them by

This I agree with. On a one laneroad, going under the speed limit is impolite. On a multi-lane road, there should be more than enough room for everybody.

Wow, Great Thread... I've been a cave lately but here goes.

My wepon against tailgater is the blinker. Since I always know a good half mile before my turn, where it is, I turn my blinker on 800 yards before my turn. Nothing gets somebody to pass quicker than a right turn signal. They have no time to stew, they just roar on by.

Secondary weapons include ignoring them. Hop on the cell phone and talk to the answering machine.

Final weapon is the camera phone. If all else fails, just post their plates to this site, like this guy

http://www.cleanmpg.com/photos/data/500/h3_aug_07_F350_incident.jpg

For those in the back row, his Texas plates read 76T-WD1. We took this shot while he was stepping out of his car to pound on the skull of a poor nurse that had stopped abruptly in a parking lot for some kid or something. Guy in the dully lost it and screamed at her for a while till we stepped out to see what was going on. By then the nurse tried to drive away but was a bit to shaken up so she pulled over. Rager took that opportunity to jump out of his car and "finish" the job.

In stepped Chuck to the rescue and things calmed down considerably once the shutter started flashing.

... So serious, in fact, that I renewed my concealed weapons permit and am shopping for a new gun to keep in the Insight. No, I'm not in any way kidding.:D Come on down ta' Texas, if you ain't here already. You can ride "shotgun" with me anytime! My brother carries a small arsenal with him at all times as well. Personally guns freek me out, but I would rather be on the "right" side than the "wrong" side of one.

If some good ol' boy came at my car with a baseball bat, I'd throw myself in front of the car like a secret service agent.Yeah, attacking the Prius would get me pretty unglued.

It seems to me that most people in large SUV's, pickups, hummers etc dont care about fuel efficiency or anybody alse outside their "fortress".Gotta counter that a bit. Everyone I know personally with SUVs are fairly nice people. Strange as it sounds I really think people don't understand that cars run on gas. They just see the "fuel" light like the "oil" light. No concept of cause or effect. Honestly, I don't think the thought of driving a smaller car ever really entered most peoples minds. Just cutting gas cost, not consumption. I don't think these guys are stupid, just that they never really thought about it.

Read this when you have some spare time - I love this woman:

http://www.violentacres.com/archives/56/pet-peeve-2-tailgaters

Here's a snippet:Must be a pen name. I swear I know her! A real hoot to drive with!

I'm not too good at the smiling and waving stuff. But I have found recently that it is effective to, as you are letting some boor past you, to turn the other way or become preoccupied with your rear view mirror. NO doubt the "driver" will be cursing you and giving you the finger and at least you dont' have to look at him/her do it.Yeah, a similar effect is to "act" like your on your cell phone hearing about some really important piece of news. Since the type prone to be ragers tend to be distracted drivers, they just see a phone chatter as a like kind. The few times I've done this, I just see them roll there eyes and say "ohh, that's why they were poking around". What freeks people out is the thought that your going slow intentionally. They seem to mind less if they think it was an accident.

"speed on, hell ain't half full..."Yep.. I'm probably paying down my Karma from my years tearing around in my Mustang. Fun ride, but man I was a real nuisance.

This I agree with. On a one laneroad, going under the speed limit is impolite. On a multi-lane road, there should be more than enough room for everybody.Cool... thanks for posting up, glad to see some opposing views.

My view is that going the speed limit is definitely impolite to the speeder behind me. But tailgating is dangerous, speeding is illegal, and while driving fast it's less likely that I'll avoid an accident in front of me.

So on the slow side I see A)
Impolite
Law Abiding
Safer (for me)

On the speeding side I see B)
Polite
Illegal
Less Safe (for me)

On my scale, the PROs of A outweigh the PROs of B.

But on a simpler calculation. Driving the speed limit is impolite. Tailgating is violent. Being violent is always worse than being impolite. The reason tailgating is violent is because it impedes my ability to react to situations in front of me. If a kid chases a ball into the road while I'm being tailgated, I'll hit my breaks, the rager will hit me, and push my car over the kid running into the road.

And as a final point, I think it should be every citizen's right to live within the confines of the law. I shouldn't be forced to break the law just to satisfy some social demand. In other situations this is called peer pressure.

As was posted earlier, "speed on, hell ain't half full..."

11011011

In the Washington DC area where I live, I'm not sure that driving under the speed limit would qualify as being safer for the slow driver. I've had people do some pretty nutty things because they thought I was going too slow even before I was hypermiling (and was driving well above the speed limit). That changes the equation a little bit - for me the speed limit seems to be just about right.

Personally, I like the idea of washing my windows when I get a tailgater. I've been doing that for years and it's fun to watch them back off in a hurry. For those of you who live in snowy climes, it also usually results in a bath of icy rain for them, which is even better.

And as a final point, I think it should be every citizen's right to live within the confines of the law. I shouldn't be forced to break the law just to satisfy some social demand. In other situations this is called peer pressure.
As was posted earlier, "speed on, hell ain't half full..."

11011011

I'm paraphrasing a bit but, this reminds me of what I heard many times as a kid, "If all the other lemmings in the neighborhood jumped off a cliff does that mean you have to as well?"

This has been my position for as long as I can remember. I DO NOT and WILL NOT be forced to break the law just to satisfy someone elses selfishness when they want to speed.

I discovered the windshield-washing trick by accident many years ago and there have been very few times when it didn't work.

I don't think anybody in this thread ever suggested breaking the speed limit. Just sayin'...

Actually, in some places you have to. If everyone on the interstate is doing 70 (5-10 mph over limit in most paces, and common) and comes up on somebody doing the 45 minimum, it is far more dangerous than everyone doing 70.

It many places, it would be "impeding the flow of traffic"


Drive as slow as you care, BUT watch the Delta so you don't become a bigger hazard than those you condemn.

Hi WH:

___70 on 55 mph limited Interstates in both our locales makes you a deadly weapon. Since the 70 mph traveler is not going to be impeded, it will be pulled off the road and ticketed. Well, may be it should be anyway ;) Watch what happens when the 70 + mph driver blows by a trooper. The binders are tapped and down they go to 50 – 60. Who is in the wrong? Obviously someone knows they are speeding or they wouldn’t slow down every time they pass a trooper and wince hoping that the trooper does not pull out and ticket them.

___As someone who drives the Chicago Interstates at 50 almost daily, there is the far right lane. For those being stupid, there is the far left. Delta’s are for those in the far left, not the far right.

___Good Luck

___Wayne

Wayne, I have driven at 50(sometimes as low as 45) in Chicago as well and have never felt that I was in danger of being crushed and don't even recall ever having been saluted.;)

Wayne, I have driven at 50(sometimes as low as 45) in Chicago as well and have never felt that I was in danger of being crushed and don't even recall ever having been saluted.;)

Same for me, I went to Chicago in June and hypermiled the rented car (a bad habit :D) and the others were very polites.

edit: The funniest thing, I took for some (bad) reasons the package with fuel included, so fuel consumption was not an issue on financial point of vue and returned the car almost full.


PierreM.