I’m sure your usual style of truck driving in normal conditions was not angering the other truckers or vehicles on the road…
Actually, it did anger other truck drivers. I worked for a company that governed its trucks at 64 MPH. There was no shortage of drivers who thought they could do a better job driving my truck.
Good words of advice.
There are other reasons that I sometimes use for riding the left lane.
From here to the farm is a 15 mile stretch of I-75. The right lane is literally falling apart. There are holes in it large enough to bust tires on a transfer truck much less smaller trucks. If I’m hauling my tractor on my flatbed, it’s not safe for me to run in that right lane. The deep holes could cause a lot of problems from jarring the hitch on the trailer loose to shaking a tiedown off or who knows what. It’s a scary thing to see a 500 lb set of disc harrows bounce on a trailer. However, the left lane is pretty smooth and doesn’t have such holes in it. 70 to 75 is all I’m going to pull that trailer, I don’t trust it above that. If you get mad, you get mad, but at least I’m trying to see to it that you don’t eat a 3000 lb tractor that came loose and fell onto the highway.
I know in the early 90’s there was a stretch of I-75 coming into Knoxville on the north side of town around what they call Bull’s Gap. I once had a boat trailer jar off the ball it was so rough. Fortunately the chains caught it and I didn’t have a problem. From then on I rode in the smoother left lane when pulling through there. Within a month of me loosing a boat trailer, the same road jarred the trailer off a big rig and it resulted in the death of someone in a 4 wheeler. The next week they were paving on the highway.
Skipper
Or, maybe he just drives a lot of miles per year? Isn’t that a possibility? Or is this a slam dunk, “you are totally obsessed” situation?
In my 35+ years of driving I’ve managed to rack up little over 1 million miles. For the past 10 or so years I’ve been averaging about 45k/yr. So…yea I drive a lot. And in those 1 million miles I’ve had ONE accident that was my fault…and 1 speeding ticket.
It’s really sad that someone has to die before they decide to fix things. But I suppose you could say their death meant something.
Again, you cannot blame your road rage on anyone except yourself!
If you are in fact getting a negative reaction on a frequent basis, I would assume that you must be “overly” thrifty.
Think also of the CLOCK TIME you’re diving slowly on the trip from point A to point B. Yes, driving slower burns less gas per minute but, for the same comparison trip, you are burning gas for a LONGER PERIOD OF TIME . You must notice and adjust a bit to reach a logical compromise in fuel used for the trip taken.
And I do it WITHOUT being a speed nazi.
What is a “speed nazi” and what that I have said that makes you think I am one of these?
It only took 6 years for them to finish fixing that stretch of road.
Our stretch of interstate is currently being patched. Dumbest thing I’ve ever seen. They are putting 3" of blacktop over the top of the holes without fixing the holes and it’s busting back out within 2 or 3 days sometimes less making it worse than it was to start with. We are on the 6 year plan for widening the section to 3 lanes and they don’t plan on doing much more than patching until the rebuild.
Skipper
I recently drove on a five hundred mile trip, and I decided to drive 60 mph to save gas. In West Virginia, where gas is more expensive than in Pennsylvania, Virginia and North Carolina, but where the speed limit is 70, people whipped pass me at 80 mph or better. In SUV’s and pickups.
My 60 mph is actually about average around my hometown in Pennsylvania. But apparently those who are still driving in WV haven’t gotten the news that slowing down saves money.
I do accelerate briskly, after all, each moment you spend in a lower gear is a moment you are not optimizing your gas mileage. But I also coast to traffic lights, down hills and to stop signs. I gotta admit, though, your 35 mpg beats my 30 mpg in a 97 Accent stick shift. But I don’t do much highway driving.
They only get sunshine in West Virginia when the government sends it, news is too much to expect.
Skipper
oh, your the one. i am all for saving gas but i am also not willing to sit behind some “slo - moe” to do it. here are some of the ways my friends and i save fuel. my friend and i do most of our errands once a week together, a couple different grocery stores, phamacy, walmart etc. one week i drive next week he drives. as soon as the weather turns in the spring i park my car. i ride my motorcycle or walk till november. my harley (52 mpg) beats your camry anyday. i’m retired now but i used to carpool or take the train. get more organized (we all could) look at your personal calender every sunday and give the upcoming week an overview of what you’ll be doing, are there any trips that can be consoladated, can you carpool some of your errands, can you go online or on the phone to eliminate any trips, etc. etc. if you want better gas milage than 35 why not buy a smart car, or a hybred, there are cars out there that will give you the gas milage you crave and keep you out of my way all at the same time. you should have no trouble selling your camry, there great cars and hold their value. but please, please, please most of the rest of us want to drive normally (i’m not talkin about hot roddin) and you will continue to be on the recieving end of the “1 finger wave” unless you adjust your driving style to include concern for others. remember “keep the shiny side up”
bill
“My father-in-law drives about 10mph below speed limit. And one day he’s driving down the road and comes upon a old lady driving about 20mph below speed limit…”
What roads to the speed-challenged use? My aunt decided that 65 MPH was too fast so she decided not to drive on the interstates anymore. She drove on the state highways where the speed limit was 55 MPH. Eventually, even that was too fast and she gave up driving long distances. She did not keep up with the speed limit when she made her decision; she was slower. Should she have been kept off the roads as she aged and slowed down? She made responsible decisions about her driving and went the safe speed for her. Everyone else could be as courteous and thoughtful as she was in weaning herself off the roads. BTW, she’s given up driving entirely now.
I drive a lot of miles and I don’t have a lot of war sytories about people slowing me down or the legion of tailgaters (I’m around the speed limit). It’s a waste of my time to obcess about people who drive differently than me. I don’t know who they are and don’t know their reasons.
I have been driving for maximum gas mileage for many years now and one thing I gave up long ago was super slow and lazy acceleration. At best, slow acceleration is overrated and at worst it is counterproductive.
Accelerating a car to 60 mph takes the same energy as lifting it 119 feet into the air. Every bit of that energy comes from your engine. The amount of energy it takes is exactly the same if you accelerate like a jackrabbit or take all day to get there. Why not accelerate to your cruising speed at the engine’s most efficient throttle opening? (that’s usually about 70% full power)
My best average for a tank of gas was achieved by using my throttle as an on/off switch. Either about 2/3 full power or idle. Nothing in between.
Accelerating slow dramatically reduces your average speed. It is more efficient to accelerate normally to a slower cruising speed and achieve the same average speed.
I also try to conserve when slowing down. I try to calculate it so that I am still coasting when the light goes green again. But I generally drive at or within that ten miles above the speed limit where the police won’t (usually) pull you over when on the freeway. But I still get those tail-gaters. If I see them coming and the coast is clear, I pull to the right. But sometimes there are cars there, sometimes they are actually doing the speed limit. And these folks get on your tail. For those, I let off the accelorator. Figure it is safer. Besides, my old pickup needs to be replaced. 
Do everything legal when driving to save on fuel and avoid looking in the rearview mirror too much to allow others to intimidate you. You can’t possibly “diffuse” the “aggression” of other drivers so concentrate on your own driving and leave the frustration to others.
…avoid looking in the rearview mirror too much to allow others to intimidate you.
I really hope that was intended as a joke.
only to a certain degree should any one drive like you’re. lately have been slowing down.but still maintaing the speed limit.if you dont maintain your speed /or the speed limit.someone will eventually get into a accident it might not be you.i understand about the gas .but really how much do you really save from the way you drove before gas went to $4 a gallon?
This is probably the funniest thing I’ve read in awhile. I always wondered where the road rage people hang out.
I drive on the left sometimes. Why? Because I just let someone on the highway to be courteous. Now the road ragers behind me are whipping around on the right and I can’t get back. Also when I need to make a left on a city street, if I wait till I need to make my turn to get over, the ragers in the “fast” lane will speed up because there’s no way I’m gonna be allowed in front of them. Plus the guy behind them feels the same way. And the guy behind him. And the guy behind him, ETC… So I get in the left lane when I get the chance. Even if it’s a couple miles away. You ragers bring this upon yourselves by being aggressive unreasonable jerks.
Here in Fl. I’ve seen minimum speed signs on I-95. It’s 40 I beleive in a 70 mph zone. Someone’s talking here that you have to go with whatever speed everyone’s doing. Others are crying about slowpokes on country roads in no passing zones. Blah, blah, blah.
Tell me. Why do you think you can ignore the maximum speed limit sign because everyone else is, but somehow you think that no passing zone sign is so important? Why do you have a problem passing on the right? (they don’t here in Fl. by the way) Your already breaking the law, so what’s a few more? Oh yeah, some guys saying of course you’d better drive slow in a residential street because of little kids ( I do too; in the middle of those small streets:D), but yet it’s somehow o.k. to endanger those same kids riding in their parents cars down the highway?
I try to be courteous to all drivers, even the obvious jerks. Speed swerve, kill yourself, flip me off all you want, that vein is throbbing on your head not mine. If you stroke out or have a heart attack, I’m going to make it home to my family safely.
And to the threatening guy who said something about someone had never met a real road rager yet because he hadn’t been beat up yet. I keep a teeball bat behind my drivers seat, and most people here in Fl. carry guns; so you’d better really think about threatening anyone.
Oh, and the reason us slowpokes slow way down when you ride our bumper? It really is just to piss you off and make you madder. When I was younger and a bit of a hothead, I slowed down to 5 mph. The guy behind me still wouldn’t leave my bumper. I sped up and started doing full brake checks to a complete stop. Still didn’t get it. I then spun my '77 Delta sideways blocking this two lane road for a full minute staring the guy down. HE FINALLY GOT IT! Either pass us or slow down, we really don’t care about your finger gestures or threats.