Tailgaters - How to hypermile?

Yeah, I can always use more dinnerware. :drum:

 

Good Idea, you may be preventing a flat tire on someones car.

 

The Maine Motorist Handbook and Study Guide says the following:

So, assuming you are being tailgated, rather than simply wanting the person behind to pass (be honest!) it may be legitimate to slow down.

 

If I am on one of Texas nice roads with the wide shoulders and someone is tailgating, I often just pull over on the shoulder and let them pass. I usually try to drive the speed limit though and maybe even a little above, then if they are really in a hurry, I get out of the way.

 

I, too, am new to this board. What many people who responded to your post might not understand is that if you drive too slow (or just poorly) on a Los Angeles freeway, you can get shot. You might not believe what I just said, but you only have to watch the news, and it happens way too often here. It only has to happen once to you. And that's not to mention the sniper who just randomly shoots at cars. We got those, too.

I try many of the driving tips I've received here, and it's great that you all have shared those tips as they work great. But my suggestion to anybody who feels somebody is tailgating them (especially in Los Angeles) and there is a lot of room in front of you (and that is subjective), maybe just speed up a little to traffic speed for a little while. The tailgaters will sooner or later go around you. I think it's just too much stress worrying about the tailgater.

For those of you who say not to worry about the tailgater or others who don't like your driving, again, in Los Angeles, you don't want to make such driving errors. Many do, they catch the wrath of other drivers, somehow get injured (in a fight, wreck, firearms, etc.) and then say "I didn't do anything." Maybe that's a correct statement, but you knew how to avoid the situation and didn't.

So, be courteous to other drivers, they'll be courteous to you, and you can still use your MPG saving techniques, but probably slightly modified. When there are less cars on the road, then do whatever.

Dumb Mike

 

Bravo! Well said.

I've been posting to various threads suggesting similar opinion but I got answers like, "So I figure your local driving culture is very aggressive?"

I get the feeling that people were pitying me for living in such a slump where drivers are all crooks. Well, crazy things happen everywhere. Some places have more and some have less. But all it takes is one to happen to you and you're doomed. It too late to think "Why didn't I avoid that?" after it happened.

 

dodgerblue18 and DumbMike post from regions already well known as among the most aggressive in the U.S. I continue to resist efforts to make such styles the norm everywhere else, because once it gets established, it is very difficult to remove.

Freeway shootings are very abnormal here. And such misbehavior is more risky here, as we have a much larger fraction of the population legally equipped to shoot back. But that doesn't mean much when every driver on the road is already controlling a lethal weapon.

 

I agree that Los Angeles has the most (or close to it) aggressive drivers, and I'm not proud of it. Heck, that was me when I was driving my Explorer. But I'm not sure whether you agreed with me or not. The fact that you say "every driver on the road is already controlling a lethal weapon" should mean that we should do whatever we can to keep everybody on the roads happy because they are probably carrying a weapon.

My point is that maybe all of us Prius drivers should take the position that while trying to use our gas saving techniques, we should also take into account that others on the road don't appreciate how we are doing it. Then act accordingly. Somehow let the tailgater somehow get by you.

Read posts on this board with the "I don't care what others think" attitude. I'm actually offended that Prius drivers have that attitude. I am now a Prius driver. I am now grouped in with everybody on this board, and generally speaking, I'm proud to be grouped with all of you.

When somebody sees me driving my Prius, I want them to be jealous that I'm getting over 50 MPG and also doing my part to conserve gas rather than their first thought being on bad Prius drivers (whether we are actually good drivers is irrelevant to them).

I think my biggest point is for self-preservation. I don't want some crazy guy with a gun get mad at some other Prius driver for what is thought to be poor driving habits and decide to take it out on me.

Dumb Mike

 

I wish I said that.

I guess that's why I'm "Dumb Mike."

Dumb Mike

 

An old Chinese saying: "don't worry about the million, worry about the one in a million".

"Very rare" doesn't mean it won't happen. If a guy gets so mad because of road rage, he won't have the emotional capacity of evaluating whether his behaviour is actually a misbehaviour, not alone risky.

Even if it might not be causing a shooting incident, it might be causing multi car pile-up. Even a fender bender is not worth your own risks, me think.

 

Nobody's suggesting you to adopt an "aggressive" driving style. If anything, we're suggesting a "defensive" driving style, with which you avoid being the target of road rages by following the norm, not by driving aggressively and set that as the new norm.

You're mistakening that we're suggesting you to join the active aggressors, but instead we're suggesting that you avoid being the passive aggressor who provokes the active ones.

 

Wow, glad I don't drive in LA. Or any really big city for that matter.

If I did, I'd pack kevlar into the doors and keep a .45 within reach...

 

Sheesh, I was born and raised in LA and while guns have been a common fixture in some respects, the dystopian/madmax/boyz in the hood LA dumbmike describes is far from the east LA I grew up in. In fact, when attempting to hyper mile, the MOST sh*t I get is from people in south Orange County and Riverside. I've literally never heard of someone getting shot for the sole reason that they were driving 60-65 in LA.
In the LA I know, guns are majorly a sub culture of gangs and low income areas with very specific uses: protection, intimidation, retaliation, and theft. and even in criminal use it tends to be a "measured" response (in theft murder generally keeps the theif from being recognized). But sociopathic murder of slow drivers? Come on, that really comes off like a little fear mongering. Maybe there are slew of publicized incidents that I just don't hear about but man, dumbmike's LA seems like a bad 90's movie or even a western with guys shooting their guns in the air to spook the slow horse n carriage blocking the trail.

back to the point, dumbmike is right, in
LA/OC/Riverside, you gotta somewhat go with the flow of traffic or you piss people off (I'm saying go at least the speed limit)

But, we each have to question what it's worth to get 45mpg (and keep up with swift traffic) vs 50mpg+ (hypermiling). it's a difference of about $3 dollars per fill up, which may mean less to me than it does to others.

 

I didn't mean to overstate my position. The shootings on the freeways are not normal events. My point is that they happen, probably more in Los Angeles than anywhere else. The more normal event is the road rage turning into some argument, fight, wreck, etc. That's probably a daily event.

You agree that if you don't go with the flow of traffic you get people upset. That's the point.

Your last paragraph is probably more to the point. We save a few dollars by using these various driving techniques. But to what end? Having somebody take out their frustrations on me? No thanks!

And by the way, I'm not saying don't use the gas saving driving techniques. I'm only saying to choose the proper time and place.

Dumb Mike

 

I strongly suggest your "probably" is incorrect. Speed limit means maximum, not minimum. Period. Road rage is a result of many factors, but driving like grandma must not be cited casually as some sort of known fact. Violent outcomes of road rage are, in fact, ultra rare and thusly make the news. Sounds like it is YOU who must learn to be patient when some one tailgates or gets near you.

 

I completely agree, I do the same thing!!! I make them go around. I don't worry about people flashing their highbeems due to my 5% tint in the rear.

 

I definitely think there's a difference between doing what's best for you (maybe the world) vs. intentionally pushing people off by trying to upset them or otherwise berate them for the car they drive or for that matter, mess with people who are just trying to get to their destinations. kinda makes ou an a-hole

 

I don't quite understand your post at all. I think the most important response is that it is never an issue of me being patient when someone tailgates me because I just get out of the way. I don't get mad. Did you read my prior posts? Doesn't sound like it.

I was just trying to advise people that at least in Los Angeles, there can be some very bad results if you drive (what others think is) badly.

Road rage in Los Angeles is basically a daily occurrence. If that is rare to you, then OK. Personally, that's too often for me.

But you are correct that road rage is due to a combination of many things. But if you think that driving slow on a Los Angeles freeway isn't one of those things, you are highly misguided.

Dumb Mike

 

heck I always drive 20-30 km above the speed limit and still I get tailgaters
Usually they're young teens in sporty cars. I dont let them get to me. I will see them on the next traffic light, or on the news later on because of the car crash they caused

 

Again I challenge the validity of your statistic "daily occurrence". If an occassional horn honk or tailgater constitutes road rage to you, then you really need some councelling that is beyond the scope of this forum. Speeding up and/or trying to "get out of the way" (when you are in the right hand lane) are definitely NOT the solutions.