Go ahead and flip me off!

Irunnoft,
Welcome, and I hope that sane and reasonable driving speeds become more the norm on roads everywhere.

One word of caution passed along from experience shared by a moderator here, efusco: Be careful with the grill blocking if you don't have a scangauge to monitor temperatures. It sounds like your drive, highway speeds and mountainous, is a candidate for a hotter engine in general, so I'd recommend
a scangauge. I know you said you have a partial grill-block, but it wouldn't hurt to be a little extra cautious about it.

 

Well, depending on the frequency of being flipped off, it might be worthwhile to keep the $100 bill in your shirt pocket. Each time the finger-wave happens, pull out the $100, make a quick beep and wave the bill.

 

Irunnoft, welcome! You make some good points about speed. I also drive "slow" like you do and agree that it's not worth it to drive "normally." I would say that the numbers in my signature speak for themselves. Good luck and keep your chin up, you're not alone.

 

This is such an amazingly true statement. Driving even 70 or 75 versus 60 does NOT provide the decrease in travel time that people expect. This is because though distance covered over time increases linearly with speed (as expected), on most trips people make (shorter trips, or trips with city-street legs as well as highway legs, and this pretty much means any trip you'll make anywhere that isn't an hours-long vacation drive), your average speed is WAY harder to increase than you think.

Thus your mental math suggests on a 15-mile trip with a freeway leg that going 60mph indicates a 15-minute drive, whereas going 80mph you should take only 11:15. The reality is that you start out going 0 mph for as long as it takes you to start moving, and you are likely driving some on the street for a few minutes, then you board the freeway and manage to accelerate to your freeway speeds, then you exit the freeway and decelerate some more. Since on that 15-minute drive, anywhere up to 70% of the driving time can be spent at speeds below those on the freeway, and your average speed over the whole trip is vastly lower than 80mph, or 60mph, or whatever.

I'm telling you that the woman flipping you off is terrible at math *and* takes herself too seriously.

Driving behind you momentarily cost her less than a second of her life. But it made her 50% less likely to lose her life in an accident. She SHOULD have been thanking you.

~ dan ~

 

Great, please stay OUT of the left lane & if you see a Ferrari or Corvette coming up behind you at warp speed please move over immediately

Thanks

 

If a Corvette or Ferrari driver is coming up at warp speed maybe the speeding driver should slow down immediately as the speed limit is considerably lower than warp speed.

I also believe anyone driving below the posted speed limit should make every effort to keep out of the way of people wanting to drive at the limit or even above it. Some higher performance vehicles with stone age technology like Ferraris and Corvettes get better economy at speeds higher than 53mph. Remember wiping 5% off the mileage of a Corvette is equal to 20 to 30% off the mileage of a high tech Prius. It's important to assist these poor people who need a fast car to boost their ego, the price of cigarettes and designer clothes are going up too!

 

Ha! Well, guess what? The cost of driving the Corvette/Ferrari/whatever is also going up, courtesy of higher gas prices. Life can be such a b**ch....

 

Screw the speed limit

As far as technology, why dont you show me the carbon fiber or ceramic brakes on your Prius. Where do you think the Prius inherited an aluminum body and disc brakes from anyways ? Race cars, thats where

 

Separate from revenue generation potential, speed limits are in place to keep drivers who are less skilled in the operation of their car from losing control of the car at high speed and possibly maiming or killing other drivers when the less-skilled driver loses control of their car. It is a lowest common denominator kind of thing.

While race cars are certainly a development laboratory for advances in automotive technology, their place is on a race track, not public highways. Zipping along at 120 mph and hitting road debris that blows out a tire and sends the car spinning into other cars is pure stupidity. It is starting to sound like you advocate racing on the street. Do you?

 

You forgot how much more fuel is used by the average vehicle that likes to habitually speed as well. It is bad for our health, bad for national security, and bad for our safety. But it's all about individual rights god damn it and since I'm rich I can do whatever I damn well please, screw everyone else! This is America!!!

Guns and Hummers for all!

 

As for tickets I think its 100% revenue driven

RE street racing, No, I used to when I was younger & crazier but today I usualy stay around 84-95 depending on the speed limit

I am certainly against street racing bcus its an insult to real racing and it is far too dangerous w all the uncontrolled variables out on the street

This is why we have race tracks where most people at least have a clue and there are no grannies, cokeheads, or jallopies

 

Irunnoft,
Thanks for the thread, and welcome to PriusChat. Your commute is long! Your prius is the perfect car for folk like us that drive a lot every day. My commute is 31 miles each way, and I feel guilty spending that many BTU's to get to/from work.
I generally drive about 2 miles an hour under the posted limit on a multi-lane road, and stay in the right lane. I'll drive the speed limit if there's not a passing lane. I've been driving for 40 years. Since driving the prius, my driving has changed quite a bit. I am much more relaxed and happier behind the wheel. I used to participate in road rage. Now I let it go.
I can't understand when people give the middle finger salute, or honk, or ride my tail (when they could easily move into the next lane and pass me.) Sometimes I wonder if these drivers are angry because on some level they know how much more it's costing them to get to where they're going. It's just a guess, and I'll never know for sure, because as hard as I try, I haven't figured out how to read minds.
Thanks again for this thread, and happy motoring.

 

Ha! Great pic. Nothing like Hummers and Squad Automatic Weapons to start the day with.

On a serious note, having too much disposable income to spend on obnoxious behavior is always a challenge. One idea that seems to make more sense each time I consider it is a Clean Skies Program. The Cliff Notes version of a Clean Skies Program is to apply taxes on carbon consumption and put the tax proceeds in a Clean Skies Fund. Purchasers of clean technology would get refunds out of the Fund. At the end of each year, there would be a dividend paid out from the fund. How much to pay in refunds for purchasing clean technology is a detail that needs study as is the issue of how to not unfairly penalize lower income families who can not afford the latest and greatest clean technology. But the concept of charging gross polluters who choose to be obnoxious is attractive. I might have to start a thread on a Clean Skies Program.

 

Dispute between neighbors - a true story

​

A city councilman in Utah had a beautiful view of the mountains until someone purchased the lot below his and built a new home. It was 18 inches higher than the city’s ordinances allowed. The councilman, mad about his lost view, made sure the city enforced the lower roof line ordinance. The new neighbor had to rebuild his roof at great expense.

Recently the councilman informed the city that his new neighbor had installed some vents on the side of his home. He didn't like the look of the vents and asked the city to investigate. When city officials went to the councilman’s home to see the vent view, here’s what they saw.

 

More likely from WW II fighter planes than race cars.

Harry

 

Yes but 1st automotive use was on race cars

Jaguar D type was 1st to use Girling disc brakes in the 50s

and race cars in the 1930s had aluminum bodies before planes did

The Auto Union of 1938 had an aluminum body, a mid engine supercharged V16, and awd

 

Nice find Banjoman. Hahaha

 

So far my best MGP was doing 63MPH behind a flatbed, not drafting mind you, but close enough that the slipstream helped a bit. I stopped using the cruise control when I found I can get better MPG without it, especially on the highway. Another thing I noticed is if I am in a pack of cars doing about 65-70 the MPG improves too, it has something to do with slipstreaming, taking advantage of the cars along side and in front and behind me. OTOH if I drive my Vic or F350 at 53mPH it sucks gas like a sponge, but at 68MPH the Vic gets 4MPG more than at 55, the F350 I am not sure what it gets since I rarely drive it on the highway, just on county roads where the limit is 55, but has a lot of stops, and currently gets 15, but if I calculate it right, I should be getting 18MPG on the open road @65MPH. My daily commute sucks, too many turns, stops and hills to get anything better than 48MPG out of it, no matter how vigilant I am with the throttle, it just isnt going to happen, and now with the cold weather, it is taking its toll on MPG, I think its down to about 40, and I have to have heat and defrost since I have two children and my wife with me, the windows fog really fast without it. I also dont want the kids to get cold, they start to cry and I start to drive faster and the wife starts to cry and I drive faster, then the kids start to scream and I drive faster.