Getting Flipped Off Is A Badge of Honor

I got flipped off a week ago because this guy tried to overtake me on an onramp and he failed to get in front of me. Made him really pissed. Tried to overtake me while still on the merger, tried to overtake me on the right (which is illegal here).
When he finally managed to pass me (because I had done my share of overtaking and moved over to the right lane) he also had his middle finger practically pressed against the driver's side window.
Made me laugh.

 

I never do any hypermiling where my driving impedes the flow of traffic. If you are trying for crazy mileage. Make sure it's over 20 miles or more. Otherwise it's not worth it. The novelty wears off trying to get high mileage numbers after awhile.

The greatest compliment I received from a passenger. Wow this car has a bunch of lights and fancy colors. What do you get for mileage. I pointed to the MPG for the current tank. It was 55MPG with 350 miles on the tank. The passenger said, what I consider that a crime to get over 50MPG in any car. I said I would consider it a crime if I got under 50MPG on a tank.

For me the glory days of the past are gone with the increased ethanol in gas in my state. 53-54MPG is all I can get without making concerted efforts to increase my MPG. In the past the spring and summer mix made 55-58MPG the typical tank.

 

Thus causing them even further delay?

I would find that to be shockingly arrogant.

Now I'm not suggesting you needed to drop everything and pull off the road into an unsafe spot to let them pass... I wasn't there, I didn't see, and passing is a delicate balance that plays out differently every time.

I do think you could've put the hypermiling activity on hold until you had a bit more of the road to yourself.

Numbers are important but the road has always been socially regulated, long predating official regulation. Free advice: learn to read the signs.

 

I'm probably never going to take frustrating a driver to the point of flipping me off, as being a "badge of honor".
Even if I was legally going the speed limit, and they illegally wanted to go faster.

It wasn't a matter of hypermiling for me. I've posted before that I got 2-3 speeding tickets in a few months period. My auto insurance was going through the roof. I absolutely COULDN'T afford to get another.
So for about 2 years, I was pretty much forced to go the speed limit as the max.

Yeah, a lot of people passed me. A lot of them angrily. I was driving a Prius.

I never felt any "pride" in this rather forced accomplishment.

It did however illuminate how much seemingly the vast majority of drivers at any given time are going significantly over the posted speed limit.

I also drive a 2 lane stretch posted 45 mph. And I think it's the worst. Because it ISN'T a residential area, or a school zone, and 45 mph falls into a speed "penumbra". It's faster than typical residential or urban street posted speed limits... 20, 25, 30, 35...
But not as fast as highway speed limits.
I think 45 mph, really tempts most people to drive faster than that speed.
The 45 mph stretch I drive?
Well when I HAD to drive 45 mph? I can tell you it felt like NOBODY else was going 45. Most people I would guess were going 50-55 mph or faster.

They should do national poll. I'd be curious to how many people admit to routinely driving over any posted speed limit.
Maybe you only notice the cars that are passing you....not the ones that aren't?

I also think that in residential zones, school zones, most people DO follow the speed limits.
Well, at least I'd hope so.

 

not my experience on the beltway

 

"Badge of Honor?" huh?

Yeah.
Right.
I would have found a place to pull out and let the Civic by me, but then I get paid in part to drive for a living and don't use public roads to try to earn some kinda goofy hypermiling score while I'm on my way to the granola co-op.

This thread piqued my interest this morning because I don't 'get' to drive a Prius...I HAVE to drive a Prius - at least if I want to keep my job.
I also HAVE to drive at the PSL because my beloved company puts data loggers in most of its vehicles.
The first gen data loggers only notified the head shed by text or email if i busted a preset max speed, but they have recently changed those for new and improved ones that will rat me out for "excessive acceleration, harsh braking, or busting the published PSL on a given road."
Evidently, trying to get a G3 up to interstate speed meets the guidelines for "harsh acceleration" which earned me my first and only informal counseling from my boss when he got a nasty-gram from up the food chain.

Personally?
I consider it a badge of honor that I've been driving for Big Bell for over 20 years and the closest that I've come to earning a black mark in my copy book was for "excessive acceleration" while driving a car that offers "same-day zero-60mph" acceleration times.
I consider it a badge of honor that I've never EVER had my car's 1-800-HOWZMYDRIVING number called for excessive assholery on the road.
I consider it a badge of honor that I do not recall EVER being flipped off despite the fact that I've actually HAD to drive AT the posted speed limit for the last 5 years.

YMMV....

 

I would disagree...getting flipped of is not a badge of honor.

 

Having owned several hybrids and still have the highest ranking for an unmodified CMax on one forum's economy challenge (64.5mpg/tank), I think I know what it takes to hypermile effectively.

Now that I have plug-ins, I drive "normally" (speed limits to +5ish, smooth stops) and get 999.9mpg "scores".

 

Having a sticker is only half of it. It's not going to be a license for antisocial driving. To make it work, you need to drive as if the sticker is real, meaning don't aggravate other drivers. Don't make assumptions about other peoples' 100 seconds. If somebody really wants to get past, find a way to help, as conditions allow.

 

Due to a speeding ticket, I took an unusual driving course back in the 80's that taught a good portion of the course from a psychological standpoint based on Freud's work. The gist was our minds work in three modes ID (child), ego (adult), and superego (punishing parent) and we should strive to operate a vehicle in the adult (ego) zone as much as possible.

Holding up folks is both the child (me first) and the punishing parent parts of the mind making the decisions. Pulling over to let them pass or maintaining flow would be the adult thing to do.

 

Driving efficiently, and driving legally - or even safely are sometimes very different things.
Also driving at the PSL is very different on a multi-lane highway than it might be while driving on surface roads with hills and intersections which provide for more challenges for getting good hypermiling scores.

However (comma!) driving as I do while on the job has taught me that an ounce of courtesy will save pounds of phallic gestures.

While I'm on the interstate, it's pretty straightforward and If I'm in Goofy, I will just get behind a slow tractor-trailer far enough back that I can see the driver in the mirrors. If I'm in my POV I just go with the flow of traffic.

If I'm on a surface road, I'll accelerate and brake normally, and try to pull off and let people driving at NORMAL speeds drive by me if this can be done safely.
Usually, I'll drive a longer route and try and avoid two lane highways.

Common courtesy is sorta like common sense.

It's somewhat curiously named, if you know what I mean.
I believe, WADR, that your OP tells much about which path you took.

We all fall short of the ideal, and since I live in a glass house I've learned not to get dressed in the living room....

 

I haven't advocated that you break the speed limit. If the other party felt the need to cross a double yellow to pass you and then break the speed limit? Hey, that's on him or her.

I have to take you at your word that there was no opportunity to signal, slow, crowd the hard shoulder, duck into a driveway or simply turn onto a side street. I've driven roads like that too. And I've felt pressure from people behind me desperate to pass around. If conscientiously going exactly the speed limit isn't solving the problem, put your flashers on, slow down, scoot toward the outside line and wave them around. It's still on them to do a dangerous pass, but that's their problem.

 

Meh, that one could go either way. Some people bring their guns with them in the car- you might be lucky they only deployed a bird instead of a bullet.

 

Say it anyway you want...hypermiling on a 2 lane road shared with other vehicles to game the score is wrong...and placing a sticker about saving the planet just puts a bigger target on your back. Furthermore, unless you you are an On Duty Officer, your job is not to regulate Traffic Laws...regardless what you drive. This whole thread is about the "ME" factor and pissing someone off...on purpose.