Eliminating stop and go traffic

My guess is people behind you don't like seeing other drivers pull in front of you because of the gap, thereby making them move further behind in the pack. It doesn't make any sense but difficult to get people to change their habits.

 

Right away thought of this:

 

Great video, but I saw at least 10 cars pull in front of him in the big gaps he was leaving in front. We don't know how many were behind him that went around to get in front. We also don't know what kind of impact to traffic this driver was causing behind him because he wasn't keeping up with traffic - he was only concerned about what was in front of him. So while he might have been alleviating the traffic jam in front, he might have been causing one behind him.

 

He mentions the cars that are sticking behind him are keeping a good space, near the beginning. A trend?

I see similar behaviour in pedestrians exiting a train, headed for an escalator bottleneck. Most walk at about the same pace, but there's often one or two walking quicker than the pack, squeezing by people, almost tripping them up sometimes.

 

Based on my experiences when I had an SUV, I can think of two reasons why people would do the "race up":

[1] First is I may have lost my patience with the road or with life itself and so I blow smoke at every driver near my car. (I don't do that anymore. I used to....)

[2] Second is I may be genuinely late for an appointment and can't afford to miss it, so I end up thinking (incorrectly) that every little opportunity matters. I admit that I am late for some things but I rarely "race up."

If one follows [1] and [2] frequently enough it just becomes a habit.

 

i always leave a large enough gap for people who legitimitly need to change lanes. and yes, i have to keep backing off because no one will ever leave the gap empty.

 

that the frustrating part. if you leave a "safe gap" someone will always drop in, which means now you safe gap has evaporated and now you need to easy off the gas to get your safe gap back...

Watching the video, he;s leaving about 6-8 seconds of a gap in front of him, when all that is needed is about 2-3 seconds for safety purposes. While he has increased his fuel mileage, and saved his brakes, he hasn't saved any time, and pretty much all he has done is piss off all the drivers behind him and create more potential for road rage directed toward him.

Around here, when people leave large gaps or are slow to accelerate and fail to keep up with traffic, are usually talking on the phone, reading, or otherwise not paying attention to their primary task of driving their car.

The only bonafide reason for people waiting for the last minute to "cheat in" the line is if they are from out of town/state and were surprised by the exit, not expecting the long line, lost, confused, ect...

But Yes if I was behind you or the guy in the video creeping along while there was 2-300' foot gap open in front of you. I'd pass you... legally. Basically I'm the kind of person that likes to control my own "destiny" if I want to go slow I'll go slow. I don't want someone else to be my "moral compass" so to speak...

 

Interesting video, thanks for sharing it. I learned to drive in the UK, and the recommendation was to always leave one car's-length for each ten mph of speed, and double that distance if it's raining. When I first came to the USA (early 1980s) I was amazed as to how close drivers would keep to the vehicle in front, it looked almost as if they were all roped together; and passing on either side! (!!!!!) The first time I saw someone pass me on the inside, I really thought they'd blown a tyre and lost control! Looking ahead and anticipating traffic-flow to avoid braking, is something I've got into the habit of doing, and have found it really helps to get the best economy no matter what I'm driving.

 

I drive like this guy but I'm not so pompous to think that I am the Zen Warrior easing traffic congestion. I'd like to think I do but without solid evidence, we don't know. Looking in the mirrors at headlights hardly gives enough information about the status of traffic from behind. Besides, I have at least one guy who tailgates me every time i go out because I do this. Thus, anything I do behind me is erased.

I used to race up to the light or fill in the gap. I didn't do it because I was in a hurry. I did it because that was how you drive. That's how everyone I knew drove. If there is a space in front of me then the guy behind me honks. If there is a space in front of the guy in front of me, I honked them. If you didn't do it, you didn't know how to drive properly. And now I know better.

 

it's no different from gunning it upto a light and slamming the brakes, same mentality.

 

It appears while trying to solve one traffic, you potentially create another. I also can't understand for the life of me why someone who thinks they see a window in traffic to pull out into, does so but fails to speed up to the same as the traffic flow, or does it very slowly. They act as if they're the only driver on the road and everyone else be damned. They could care less, or are totally clueless when they create a traffic mess behind them when everyone has to slow down and go around. Same goes for slow drivers who are left lane hogs. They're going to turn left sometime within the next 10 miles......or not. People are so incredibly selfish these days, and I hate to say it, from what I observe they tend to be of an older generation.

 

at around 2:45, the guy is in the left lane and people keep pulling in front of him, even tho the middle lane is going faster.

 

I thought it was rude too. He explained it later. That's the exit for the express lane. If you don't enter now, no one will let you in later.

 

That's also the guideline that I use, and when there is lots of snow on the road, your max speed should be about half the speed limit.

Sadly not everyone does this, so these guidelines are not really substitutes for personal decision making.

 

I hadn't come across the ½ speed-limit guideline (a good one), and I'd never seen real snow until I started living over here (North East corner USA) - snow in the UK is a joke, especially when you see the 3 (yup, three!) snow-ploughs they have for the county of Devon, an area about the same size as Delaware.

 

My philosophy is to let one in, and hope that someone will let me in when necessary!

 

i didn't realize it was a left exit, we don't have many of those. he was definitely going too slow, but i don't think that's what the o/p is talking about. gunning it and slamming the brakes is self perpetuating. it is possible for everyone to drive a more constant speed without much fluctuation, but i realize that will never happen.