Yes, I agree. Many people do not take the advanced drivers courses. Therefore the practices they implement are learned on the road. The school of experience. WE BOTH do dupport you Dr. Car!
I just wanted to write in and say that this is a great topic. (Hold on the light is turning green)
(Ok red light again)
People should slow down. I have slowed down. With my laptop and cell phone, I can (Hold on, green light)
(you should see this idiot passing)
(ok, red light)
Yes, slow down, we should all slow down and get more done on the way to work.
Everyone have a pro
(Sorry green light)
productive day.
Now that’s funny.
Most of us don’t have to wait for red light, we can actually text while driving. Practice and get back to us.
Seriously; if/when fuels gets much more expensive (maybe double the current prices) and if I magically have more free time I will drive a little more slowly. At the moment, most people’s time is much more valuable that the price of fuel (which is still ridiculously cheap in the U.S.).
At the moment, most people’s time is much more valuable that the price of fuel (which is still ridiculously cheap in the U.S.).
I am finally starting to agree with all the whiners that gas is getting too expensive. Adjusted for inflation, it is now more expensive than it has ever been in the U.S. I have been saying the same as you for a while, but it now costs me almost $10 to fill the tank on my motorcycle ;D
Shoot, it cost $5 to fill up my weed eater. 
Skipper
HE FINALLY GOT IT!
I’m sure he got a message but not likely the one you intended. He, like most people, probably believes you are a nutcase. Ragers exist on either end of the spectrum. I think we just heard from the other extreme…
It also costs me $10 every-time I go into starbucks, $20 every-time my daughter goes to the movies, $100 every-time I pay my cell phone bill, $200 for my cable/internet bill, $400 to buy a pair of shoes, and $100/hour to have my cars serviced. Fuel is still a pretty good deal compared to most other common expenses.
Wow, Craig, considering your car preferences, I didn’t picture you as the type of person who wears $400 shoes and hangs out at Starbucks. I had you all wrong!
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?
I’ll field this one,although it’s pretty obvious. Basically it comes down to no passing zones generally being found on two lane roads. So when you move into the left lane to pass somebody on the two lane road, you are now going head on with opposing traffic. Which is more dangerous than driving 80 MPH in a 65 MPH zone whilst keeping up the traffic flow. I realize that this is high-concept stuff for most of the driving public.
LOL, I simply like old cars better than new cars. Trust me, I’m really not saving much money by driving older cars; I’m in the process of spending about $5-6000 to replace the engine in one of them (I finally lost compression in one cylinder after 430K miles). Keeping 30 year old cars in good condition while actually driving them costs about the same as driving new cars (but is much more fun).
But I do like good coffee, decent shoes, and a few other “modern” toys.
I do the same thing, getting almost 50 mpg with my tercel, driving at about 60 on the highway, and driving easy on the local roads. My advice is just stay in the right lane on highways, and don’t be intimidated. I’ve found that if psychos don’t get any results with their tailgaiting, they will get the idea and back off.
MY WIFE gets nasty when I drive to save gas! I drive 55~60 on the Interstate, and 50 on state highways. I find that I have a lot of company also driving to save gas. We ignore the nitwits in SUV’s who sail by in the passing lane, using up gas which keeps the price high for all of us! My van has an automatic tranny so decellerating properly while maintaining control is no problem. BTW: My Dodge Grand Caravan gets 30-34 mph on the highway, but city driving brings it down to about 24 mpg overall.
Here we have a city school system and a county school system. You can always tell which school a driver went to. A person who learned to drive at the city school will always pull into the oncoming lane on a 2-lane road to slow down for a left turn. A person who learned in the county school will always, when turning onto a 4-lane devided highway, will go directly into the FAR lane of the highway, often then swerving into the near lane with nary a signal, in spite clear instructions in the drivers manual to turn into the near lane, then signal if you need the far lane.
He, like most people, probably believes you are a nutcase. Ragers exist on either end of the spectrum. I think we just heard from the other extreme…
Like I said; when I was younger and a bit of a hothead. Point being, if you want to rage while driving just remember, you have no idea what the other nutcase is capable of. BTW, I’m older and much calmer now. I’m never in the mood for road stupidity anymore.
Last week I was driving North on I-81 (speed limit 65mph)and came upon a sea of brake lights. I rapidly braked to a stop only to move slowly to 20mph and again slow to a stop. I noticed cars on the grass shoulder, apparently having evaded a collision by driving onto the grass. I assumed an accident was ahead. After aproximatly 10 minutes I found the cause. A Saturn station wagon traveling at about 50 mph. I’m suprised other drivers had not set the car on fire. The driver was the subjest of horns blaring and many raised middle fingers.
The point is: a large diferential in speed between vehicles is dangerous. Drive safely, not simply to save money
It’s not the SUVs that are the cause of rising gas prices. It’s the fact that China and India are becoming more industrialized and needing oil for themselves. with a total population about 10 times that of the US in those 2 countries alone, we’re gonna be heading higher and higher.
“…$400 to buy a pair of shoes…”
What hides are those boots make from?
The last time someone got pissed at me for driving 50 mph through Virginia was on the way home from a Bristol race on 58. The guy had asked me how to get to I-75 from Kingsport, and I told him that’s where I’m headed, he could follow, but at the Virginia line I ain’t taking chances, if it says 50 mph I’m going to run 47. He followed toodling along at 45 mph for about 2 miles before he got teed off and passed me, made it about half a mile before getting the first of 2 driving awards. He caught me coming into Jonesville and followed along between there and Cumberland Gap but couldn’t stand it no more. Half a mile out of Tennessee he got the 2nd award. They have 0 tolerance for speeding in that state.
Skipper
I dip tobacco. When I’m dipping behind the wheel, I spit into an empty soda can I keep in the cupholder.
The driver of that little Saturn better thank whatever god he prays to that I wasn’t there. I’d have pulled up to him on his right, then opened my window and “washed” his windshield with a soda can full of old tobacco juice. One can only pray that old slowpoke got his later on down the road.
Yeah, I think it’s safe to say everybody has done something when they were younger that they weren’t particularly proud of after the fact.
I’ll never forget something my mom said when she was still alive and I was very young- we get so soon old and so late smart.
Life’s way too short to be wasting it being angry. So many people I see on the road seem to take out all their daily frustration during driving. It’s like winning a challenge on the road makes up for all the previous lost battles in life. They do things in their cars they would never do face to face with the same person. And they exist on either end of this spectrum.
One thing I learned along the way- you can’t really teach anyone a lesson about their driving habits/style. The act they did that enraged you is likely viewed by them as “what are you complaining about- you’re the one with the problem!” Or, they simply do not have any regard for you and that’s not likely to be changed by you.