To draft or slow down?

[GasSavers_RoadWarrior]

Originally Posted by monroe74

Maybe this is not surprising, since there aren't lots of lean-burn cars out there. Just the VX, HX, Insight, and the first-gen Civic hybrid, as far as I know.

Well there's lean and lean... there's a lean out cruise on most vehicles where it'll go to about 16:1

[monroe74]

Interesting, I didn't know that. I guess that's sort of lean-lite.

[imzjustplayin]

Originally Posted by R.I.D.E.

mikivx could you get me a set?

regards
gary

Well if you're anything like me and you don't speak spanish or any other foreign language, you can check out michelin's UK portal which DOES have the proper tire size you'd need for the civic VX. Also if you go to tirerack.com, it will show you DOT approved tires that you can purchase that match the manufacturer's specifications. If you buy tires that aren't from this country, you could get into trouble with the law or cause other issues. The two tires I found were Yokohama Y379B and Sumitomo HTR T4: http://www.tirerack.com/tires/Compar...All&loadRank=2

[Lelandjt]

Drafting makes a HUGE difference if you are close enough but how close to be to be inside "the pocket" depends on the speed and shape of the vehicle in front of you. All this can be easily felt on a road bicycle. You can feel as you enter the pocket and sometimes even feel the positive pressure pushing from behind. I've drafted trucks at up to 45mph on my bike when I'd have been going 25-30 without the draft.

[diver1972]

Originally Posted by Hateful

I was on 95 north yesterday behind a big rig doing 58mph. I didn't see that truck moving to the left to let any of the rigs doing 75mph pass. The faster trucks changed lane and went around on the left just like all the cars.

I see this quite often, almost religiously, when traveling in FL, GA, TN, SC, and NC (the states I most often travel).

[diver1972]

Originally Posted by theholycow

This one is obvious even to me, someone who doesn't do it. It enhances your own safety by getting the dangerous driver away from you.

I still disagree that it enhances anyone's safety; thus, I'll never do it.

Originally Posted by theholycow

The big rig driver expects RVs and U-hauls to be going 20mph under. He does NOT expect a car to be doing that...

Really? How do you know this?

Besides, even if you have some kind of insight into the global assumptions that trucker's have/make, and that particular insight proves your contention true, then I contend that those truckers are taking risks by making those broad assumptions while operating their rig.

Originally Posted by theholycow

Yup, lots of big rigs out there are traveling too fast based on those assumed conditions. You can post on a forum about their responsibilities all you want, but it doesn't change the reality out on the highway, which is that while 1993CivicVX is moseying along at the legal minimum 45mph in a 65mph zone weighing 2300 pounds, the 80,000 pound truck is doing 80mph in the same lane.

True, but I've yet to see or even hear about an accident caused by this situation. Have you? If so, exactly how many occurrences have you heard of?

[diver1972]

Originally Posted by PaleMelanesian

In Texas, most country highways (2-lane) have paved shoulders wide enough to be another lane. It's common, even expected, for slower traffic to pull over on the shoulder to let others pass. It's even written in the driver's handbook as a recommendation. I make use of this ALL the time.

Now this is a very different scenario than the one suggested earlier. This scenario involves a paved surface (i.e. often called an emergency lane). The earlier scenario involved an unpaved shoulder (which is obviously not well-suited nor advised for vehicles designed to be operated exclusively on paved surfaces).

[diver1972]

Originally Posted by monroe74

Tailgating is dangerous. It's wise for me to go out of my way (literally) to create distance between myself and anyone who is dangerous.

Well, do as you please, but just remember that, whenever you decide to go "off-roading" as you veer off the paved lane and onto the dirt, grass, gravel or what-not at 20 to 50 mph on the road shoulder, that you're risking losing control of your vehicle. Have fun.

Originally Posted by monroe74

In other words, when you see someone driving badly, your impulse is to get close to them and drive badly yourself.

Yeah, that's my impulse; fortunately, for the other drivers and myself, I don't act on it 100% of the time...maybe only 75% of the time. I know it's childish and somewhat dangerous, but it's one of my few vices in this world.

Originally Posted by monroe74

Tailgating is tailgating. Your comment is like saying you only drink and drive when the weather is nice.

Maybe it is like saying that.

Originally Posted by monroe74

That's helpfully candid. Here's a suggestion: find a different way to express your emotions.

Good. If you're aware of a more effective way, then let's hear it.

Originally Posted by monroe74

Next time you see something like that, I suggest you stand in his lane, at precisely the speed limit, and force him to slow down. Change lanes, if necessary, to prevent him from going around you. After all, if you don't teach him a lesson, and force him to obey the law, who will?

This doesn't warrant a serious response.

[diver1972]

Originally Posted by R.I.D.E.

I have found over the last 42 years of driving that I The drivers I really dislike are the idiots that ride in your blind spot and remove your escape route when another idiot does something as insanely stupid as pulling onto any interstsate at 5 mph. To stupid to use the shoulder to accelerate.

Me, too. It's almost like they somehow imagine that the solid white line delineating the rightmost lane of travel and the emergency lane is never to be crossed.

To any of these uninformed drivers who might be reading this: I'd like to take this opportunity to inform you to feel free to use this extra asphalt in front of you (i.e. the emergency lane) to raise or lower your vehicle's speed accordingly prior to attempting to merge into the rightmost lane of travel. If it helps, think of a collision (i.e. sideswipe) with another vehicle already in this rightmost travel lane as an emergency. So, by avoiding this collision, you are justified in using a portion of the emergency lane.

[diver1972]

Originally Posted by 1993CivicVX

It seems to me a big 'no no' to be going too slow that a trucker comes up fast from behind and has to either kill all his precious momentum or risk making a sudden lane change maneuver.

I don't see this as a no-no at all. It's as simple as this: "slower traffic keep right" OR "keep right except to pass" (both are quite common road signs on interstates and highways in the eastern U.S.). I've yet to see a sign which reads "If a big truck is approaching you while you're in the right lane, then just ignore those other two signs about keeping right and change lanes to the left to let the truck pass you on the right".

If this were as much as a safety issue as some posters in this thread would have us believe, then surely this topic is addressed by at least one driver's education course in the U.S., right? If it is, then I challenge those posters to produce evidence of such.