Disappointing highway mileage.

[SteveMak]

Originally Posted by JockoT

...The main problems seem to be having to keep up with traffic...Any other advice for highway driving?

That's a big part of the problem: Letting others determine your diving style. If that's your decisions -- and I'm not dissing you if it is -- then you will experience the effects of that decision.

On the other hand, if you feel okay setting your own, more constant and fuel-efficient pace, possibly slower than peak or average traffic speed, then you might benefit from better fuel economy, as you will be employing a different "driving style."

Important Note: Some folks on this forum and on public roads are bitterly opposed to vehicles "not keeping up with traffic." That's their problem, as long as you are within the law. I frequently hypermile, doing 50 mph (80 kph) in the right lane. On the rare occasion, I'll get an irate motorist flip me the bird or honk their horn. Most just pass, uneventfully. When I'm on a 2-lane road (1 lane going each way), I am sensitive to long line-ups forming behind me, so I either pull over to let them pass or do the speed limit so lineups are less likely to form.

[Draigflag]

I feel you shouldn't let others determine your driving style, but equally, you shouldn't determine the driving style of others, in some cases tens of cars, behind you either. In the UK, most roads are single carriageway so we don't have the privilege of switching lanes to pass slow traffic. This can mean being stuck behind slow drivers for miles and miles, very frustrating. The police will pull you and advise you to speed up if you're travelling too slowly here, as it causes many accidents.

I personally blast my horn past those who travel at less than 50% of the limit hoping they'll understand the annoyance and frustration they're causing to others. There are laws stating you must pull over if you have a certain number of cars stuck behind you, it can land you 3-9 points and £5000 fine if you don't, however it's very rare that people report such offences.

[JockoT]

The worst critic of my driving, whether too slow or too fast, is usually sitting beside me, in the form of my other half. My wife. She is usually pretty good, but occasionally tells me what to do, who to give way to, or where to park. It wouldn't be so bad if she was a driver herself, but she isn't. Never had a license! Like me criticising the pilot when I fly.

[JockoT]

Originally Posted by Draigflag

There are laws stating you must pull over if you have a certain number of cars stuck behind you, it can land you 3-9 points and £5000 fine if you don't

The offence is Inconsiderate Driving. You can drive slowly, as long as you pull over and let faster traffic past when conditions permit. However, you would have to be travelling VERY slowly to get a ticket, and if you took it to court and pleaded that conditions made you feel you were travelling at a safe speed, for the vehicle and your abilities you would have a good chance of an acquittal.

[R.I.D.E.]

Today I made a left turn off a 45 mph divided 4 lane after exiting a 55 mph limited access 4 lane like an Interstate.
1 left turn (we have flashing yellows when the through lanes are green)
A couple hundred feet and another left turn
Another 150 feet and another left turn
Then a right into the parking spot next to the front door to my bank

All three turns and the park without the engine running.

No one would have kept up with me unless they were crazy.

There are stretches here where I have driven 40 miles through 75 different traffic lights and never caught a single one of those lights.

I'm not trying to convince anyone to drive in any particular way, and every day I see stupidity beyond belief. One woman in a SUV, passes me in the left turn lane, blows back over into my lane, almost hitting another vehicle head on IN THE INTERSECTION WITH A TRAFFIC LIGHT!

Of course she just climbs up the arse of the car in front of me and tailgates them for another two miles. 3 miles later she is still right in front of me after risking the lives of many people. Had a cop seen it would have been two reckless charges. Traffic was heavy, the road is two lane, 55mph, 45 mph, then down to 35 mph.

I was NOT driving slow, but I could tell that she was closing fast even when I was going 55.

Drive the speed limit here and you're a rolling roadblock, expect flying debris launched into you windshield. Pop got a can of beer in the windshield at a combined 100mph when he flashed his high beams at an oncoming car that had theirs on.

[JockoT]

Just glad I don't drive in the US these days, though I must say, my brief spell driving in Santa Rosa and the surrounding area, back in the 80's, was trouble free. Apart from the Freeways, where it appears to be a case of drive in any lane you fancy.

[R.I.D.E.]

Originally Posted by JockoT

The offence is Inconsiderate Driving. You can drive slowly, as long as you pull over and let faster traffic past when conditions permit. However, you would have to be travelling VERY slowly to get a ticket, and if you took it to court and pleaded that conditions made you feel you were travelling at a safe speed, for the vehicle and your abilities you would have a good chance of an acquittal.

Grandpa on my fathers side died in 1946. He was a state policeman in Virginia when they had a total of 7 early 1920s, during prohibition, when the bootleggers had armored cars and machine guns (think Joe Kennedy). Grandpa always charged "offenders" with driving to fast for existing conditions, never for a specific speed.

How do you argue that with a Judge?

[Draigflag]

Things are more black and white these days, the law isn't just based on opinion as there would be a hundred answers to every question.

[JockoT]

It is certainly black and white if you accept a fixed penalty notice. If you go to court it depends on the magistrate/sheriff and the quality of your lawyer. And if you have money it depends on how far you want to appeal decisions.