Posted on 05/15/2007 12:01:24 PM PDT by DogByte6RER
LEFT LANE DRIVERS of AMERICA
“If you’re not a Left Lane Driver then get out of the Left Lane!”
Traffic has become increasingly congested and tempers flare as slower drivers occupy what has been historically referred to as the “fast lane”. It’s time to get that Left Lane back! It is our considered opinion that not only will traffic move more smoothly and more quickly once the Left Lane is used in the way it has been designed but also headaches, frustration, bad tempers and road rage will all be greatly reduced when this pressure valve is released. It’s time to reduce this unnecessary stress. It’s time that… LEFT LANE DRIVERS UNITE!
We invite you to join Left Lane Drivers of America, a growing, grassroots effort to reclaim the Left Lanes on our freeways and multiple lane highways. To do this, those of us who are genuine “Left Lane drivers” are politely but firmly reminding others what the Left Lane is for.
(Excerpt) Read more at leftlanedrivers.org ...
I’m glad to see at lease one other person on this thread who didn’t sleep through physics. My boss, an engineer/racer disucss these misconceptions all the time.
You are absolutely correct. However, efficiency isn't even a factor when 95% of your energy is physically required to overcome drag to maintain speed. That remains constant no matter what kind of engine you're running. You're car would have to burn TWICE AS MUCH GAS at 55 than at 70 to make up for 95%. If your car does indeed burn twice as much gas at 70 than at 55, then indeed, you're seeing a 5% savings at 70.
In Deutschland there is no speed limit on many Autobahnen. So, one is allowed to go as fast as one's equipment, budget, and skill permit in the hammer lane. Woe betide the Trabi driver that gets in the way.
However, the German cops are absolute murder on bad drivers and especially equipment violations ...exhaust, lights, rust, brakes, tires ... you can even be fined if your car is dirty ... inside or out! DUI? Forgetaboutit, you're going to the slammer, losing your car, and never mind ever getting another license.
Betcha 30% of the cars ... and drivers in Maine be off the road in 30 days! (In MA, make that 80%) One other teentsie thing: cruising a car at 80 MPH is no a big deal .... do it every day. However, it does require good, properly maintained equipment.
Frankly, I get very worried when some young fellow in a modified Jap Pocket Rocket with a lowered suspension and very low profile tires smokes me at over 100MPH. Examining some of these jerkmobiles up close is scary. I have seem some that were "unsafe at any speed," held together by those decals! Ditto these hairy dudes in the shaggy pick-up trucks, whose wrecked equipment litters every ditch from here to Skowhegan.
“I can’t tell you how many times I’ve gave the finger too after passing a left lane slow driver (on the right) and then literally tried to cut them off a little.”
If you really do this then you’re actually one of the most dangerous types of drivers on the road. One day we’ll probably read about you being scraped off the road or somebody you killed being scraped off.
I’m sorry about your friend and his family, but it’s hard for me to believe he committed suicide just because he didn’t get to say goodbye. I rather think it had more to do with the fact that his family died.
Well, there is a tiny window of opportunity for this to have been a semi-accurate statement. An interesting factor might be at what point one's automatic trans shifts into overdrive top gear.
Some vehicles absolutely could not control-cruise at 55, because the damn trans brain kept dropping to a lower gear. The OD gear might be .76 to 1, the next lower 1.2 to 1, so one might actually turn many fewer revs at 70 than at 55. Of course, your cD would increase exponentially at the higher speed, so a lot would depend upon the car's shape.
I experimented on this very point with my rusty Chrysler 5th Avenue, with the trusty 318. Reached absolutely no worthwhile conclusion, except that this a very good car, if you can still find one. Mine went salty years ago
Speaking of cruising, the cruise-control setting I use is 72MPH in a 65 Zone. Most of the time this works fine to keep up with traffic and avoid attention, although I have had to adjust to traffic moving at just under 80. If asked, whether politely or impolitely, I always yield the fast lane as quickly as safely possible.
Correction. That was just accounting for drag, and not the inertia that would actually help in the long run. My bad. Teach me to do math in a hurry.
I would be real careful about all of that honking and flipping motorists off. More than one DFW motorist has been killed for less.
Around these parts, that and about $1.50 will get you a cup of coffee. Most people revel in their ignorance and would rather nit-pick symantics of posting.
By in large, I find Americans to be dumb and arrogant. Well, I'm one of them ... probably right up to and including my own complaint. ;-D
My "gut feeling" is that it probably takes more than twice as much space to stop if you double the vehicle's speed.
In the day of the V8 Avenger ... it is possible that 55 might have saved a little gas, but this is an antiquated law that has no bearing on modern cars. Modern cars are cruisers ... they get thier best MPG when you dont have to touch the brakes, are in your top gear, and are below 2500 RPM. In my Jag, that means my optimal gas mileage is attained between 73-78 MPH, depending on the incline of the road. Modern trip computers can show you this as well, just set it to show your instantaeous mileage, and watch what your own driving habits show you.
What would save a lot of gas in this country, and precipitate a fall in gas prices is raising the limit to 75, and elimination of carpool lanes so that capacity is increased by 33-20% (depending on the number of the existing allowed lanes).
I think the fastest reaction time of people who aren't Chuck Yeager is about 30 milliseconds. At 90 miles per hour one is traveling at 132 feet per second. That means you travel about four feet before any hope of reaction. Not too bad for those who don't yak on the cell phone or ever tune the radio at that speed. Of course, the real trick is having the correct reaction. That is what separates the quick from the dead.
I've got to agree with you. Speeding can surely be a quick trip to the grave. Sadly, they are likely to take someone else with them or in their stead.
One thing that nobody can ever correctly anticipate is the reaction of the other drivers. The likelyhood that everyone will do the right thing at the outset of an accident is nil.
The most sorrowful thing that happened to me while driving 285 in Atlanta happened about twenty five years ago. I was a fairly heavy foot in those days, so I was going pretty fast. Some dope behind me was tailgating and trying in vain to switch lanes often to get ahead in really heavy traffic. He pulled behind me, turned on his lights, blew his horn, and followed really close. I had no way to pull over because I was already whizzing past traffic that was nearly stalled in the lanes to the left and right of me. Then I noticed that people in front of me were bailing out of my lane going left and right ... and in a flash it was my turn. Some extreme fool had stopped on the intestate in order to make a right he just missed. Using that last 30ms, I dodged left into a shoe-horn spot and braked like mad to merge in. The jackass behind me had no time to start his 30ms. I saw hoods, trunk lids, fenders, and windsheilds pass me. I never saw anything on the news, but I wouldn't be surprised to learn that everyone in both cars were killed.
Anyone who thinks they don't need that "one car length for every 10 mph" gap are stark-raving lunatics.
Atlanta traffic and drivers still stink. Just this week:
http://www.11alive.com/news/article_news.aspx?storyid=97205
http://www.11alive.com/news/article_news.aspx?storyid=97188
Amen to that! I work out of my home now, so I can venture out when the crazies are mostly at work.
I'm looking for a place to move as I get closer to retirement. There are some swell spots in Utah where there is hardly anyone. Sometimes I ponder Romania or maybe Checkoslovakia. (Just places way the hell out of the mainstream.) American politics and the stupid destruction of our engineering and manufacturing base with the government sanctioned illegal invasion from the south lead me to believe that this Nation will soon hit the skids.
This place is crazy. I even have to share the road with morons driving hot cars AND other morons blocking the road. A terrible mix, really.
There are speed limits on the left lane and last time I checked they are the same as the other lanes.
Where I really get p*ssed off at you guys is on city freeways. There are left lane exits and the left lane is where the toll road passes are so other people have legit reasons to be in ‘your’ lane. If a city freeway has 6 lanes in both directions you hogs still think the left lane is yours to drive as fast as you want to. Well it’s not and I honk and wave (and laugh)everytime I see one of you guys who just whipped past me, getting a ticket.
In case you are thinking I am a slow poke, I am not. I sometimes drive the speed limit, almost always above but still under 85.
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