Need ideas to make my VX more visible on the Interstate

[jadziasman]

Another close call today on the Interstate and it's only the fourth day of my new slow gas saving speed of 60 to 62 mph!

I was poking along I-96 in the far right lane at 0615 this morning (my part of the earth had rotated enough to face the sun by this time so it wasn't dark) and a large pickup - F250 or F350 came into the far right lane to pass someone in the middle lane and WHOA - WTF - there's a "little red car" in my way. The driver adjusted quickly and passed me too close for my comfort. Part of it is that my VX is only 51 inches tall. I don't think the truck saw me right away when he came over a very modest rise and almost ran into me. He was going at least 80+ mph.

I want to increase my visibility somehow by placing a CB antenna or something like it on the roof to artificially increase the VX's height. I don't want to create any drag though so I wonder what kind of flag or signal I could stick on the roof to be more visible. Hazard flashers are too extreme (at least for now). I just got 51 mpg this week (but at what cost!!!!!!).

Ideas?????

[GasSavers_RoadWarrior]

There's this reflective surface paint you can get from tremclad/rustoleum that's a clearcoat that reflects light like a highway sign or license plate. You could spray it all over in that, then it would glow red in any sunlight or in peoples low beams or driving lights.

Edit: Also you could get one of those pulser circuits like motorcycles use for rapidly flashing the lights, hook up to lowbeam headlamps and tail-lights and drive with the lights on.

Edit2: Get flourescent orange trail marker tape and close a foot or two of it in the top of your hatch, it will flutter and draw attention, you could also use it to sheath an antenna to give it a slightly more aero and visible profile, i.e. fold it around it and stick/staple it together at the back.

[theholycow]

It sounds to me like you need to adjust your driving style. I think it's not safe and practical for you to go that slow on that road. Sometimes hypermiling isn't the only concern, and don't forget that. You might be able to merely do a better job calculating your optimum position to avoid similar close calls in the future, though -- it sounds like you were hidden next to another larger vehicle.

Speed difference is reportedly the largest factor in accidents on highways. A Civic VX poking along at 60mph is going to get CREAMED by an F250, so for your own safety, you might just want to pick up the pace and pay a few MPG for some safety.

Your CB antenna idea might be doable; paint it blaze orange and put a ribbon, streamer, or ball at the top of it. You can bend it so it's angled back which may help reduce its additional aerodynamic drag.

Originally Posted by RoadWarrior

Edit: Also you could get one of those pulser circuits like motorcycles use for rapidly flashing the lights, hook up to lowbeam headlamps and tail-lights and drive with the lights on.

If that means what I think it means, it will be very illegal. You're talking about strobing the head/tail lights, right?

[101mpg]

I'd also suggest buying the brightest lights for every exterior part of your vehicle you can find. Super-bright taillights help a LOT, side marker superbrights, the brightest headlights you can afford, etc.

Personally I drive with lights on at ALL TIMES. In my CRX I'm smaller than you are and sometimes it means turning on high beams. I'm not a whole lot larger or safer than a motorcycle, and if they have three or four headlights on at all times with HIGH beams - then I will too. Have NEVER been pulled over for it, either. If I was, I'd thank the officer for helping me be safe and it must have been left on accidentally, make sense?

Driving with my high beams on even in the daytime has resulted in LESS (they happen no matter what size vehicle) incidents, but I've noticed part of WHY. Most people are on autopilot. The brighter light makes them THINK I'm closer - so they leave more room if they are in front, or more room if passing, DESPITE having come up from behind!

[DracoFelis]

Originally Posted by 101mpg

I'd also suggest buying the brightest lights for every exterior part of your vehicle you can find. Super-bright taillights help a LOT, side marker superbrights, the brightest headlights you can afford, etc.

Personally I drive with lights on at ALL TIMES.

Lights are a good idea, but they are clearly a trade-off.

Yes, they make you more visible, but (due to their electrical power load) they are bad for FE. So you want to use them when you "need" them, but not overuse them (and therefore get lower FE than you otherwise would).

This is true, because in almost all cars (cars with grid charged battery packs are one notable exception) every watt of power you use comes from the alternator (although that electricity may be temporarily stored in the battery before you use it, it still comes from the car's alternator). And where does the alternator get its power from? You guessed it, virtually all alternator power comes from additional mechanical load (and therefore additional fuel use) against the gas engine. So far from being "free" in a car, electricity is actually amazingly expensive (in terms of cost per kilowatt used) in a car. And the more gas prices rise, the more costly that (car generated) electricity is becoming all the time!

As a result, many of us have gotten significant FE gains, simply by saving electrical power in a car. And one of the significant uses of electrical power (fans are another big electrical power drain) is the many car lights burning up a lot of watts of (electrical) power.

OTOH lights are often needed for both safety and legality, so you can't get away from them entirely (despite the FE benefit, if you could). And you are also correct that sometimes when they aren't technically "needed" (from a legal standpoint), some lighting can be very useful in making your car easier to be seen. So we clearly have a trade-off here (saving electricity, and therefore better fuel economy, vs the safety and legal reasons for using lights).

One thing I've found that can make a big difference, is converting your car lights to (very bright, not the cheap bad) LED modules. You can't do this with your headlights, but you can do this with virtually every other light in the car, and the power savings can be very significant. I've done this, and I was able to save several amps of power (when my lights are on). Not perfect, but much better than the electrical load before.

So what do I do? I generally only run my headlights when I think they are really "needed" (often for legal reasons, such as driving at night), because even the low beams use a lot of watts (about 110watts just for the two lights + whatever power the secondary LED lights use). However, I do run my (converted to LEDs) secondary lights (everything EXCEPT the headlights themselves), whenever I feel that turning them on would make my car significantly easier to see. Because in that case the safety concerns override the power cost (only a few watts of power for the entire set of car LED modules, due to the fact that the LEDs are SIGNIFICANTLY more power efficient than the conventional lights the LED modules replaced). However, on really bright days (when I don't think the lights will add much to my car's visibility), I just turn off all my car lights, and go with the lowest possible electrical load (and therefore the potential of even high FE than even my secondary lights give me).

[GasSavers_RoadWarrior]

Originally Posted by theholycow

If that means what I think it means, it will be very illegal. You're talking about strobing the head/tail lights, right?

No it's a very fast pulse rate, not discernible flashes. It's legal above a certain pulse rate, not sure the details. Makes them flicker rapidly, like seeing a TV screen out of the corner of your eye.

[GasSavers_TomO]

Originally Posted by RoadWarrior

No it's a very fast pulse rate, not discernible flashes. It's legal above a certain pulse rate, not sure the details. Makes them flicker rapidly, like seeing a TV screen out of the corner of your eye.

So that is what is happening when I see those motorcycles doing that!

I always thought their magneto was on it's way out, lol.

[theholycow]

Originally Posted by TomO

So that is what is happening when I see those motorcycles doing that!

I always thought their magneto was on it's way out, lol.

I too thought it was either something wrong with the electrical system or bad suspension causing the bike to bounce. I hate seeing that, it's almost as bad as glare to me, I can't look away from it and properly divide my attention.

[slurp812]

Originally Posted by theholycow

It sounds to me like you need to adjust your driving style. I think it's not safe and practical for you to go that slow on that road. Sometimes hypermiling isn't the only concern, and don't forget that. You might be able to merely do a better job calculating your optimum position to avoid similar close calls in the future, though -- it sounds like you were hidden next to another larger vehicle.

I've never known faster to be safer, EVER. The dangerous behavior is the f250 driving too fast. If 60 is the speed limit, then 60 is not out of the question is it? I still like the bumper sticker idea:

"Sorry, but this piece of crap wont go any faster!"

[JV-Tuga]

Your car is not small. The guy has to be legally blind.

Statistically speaking light colored cars suffer less accidents. Visibility is probably a factor there but painting your car white will still not make people pay attention if they are oblivious behind the wheel. They'll probably wake up when they hit something. Hopefully it will be a pole or a railing and not your car.