Late night driviing and red lights / stop signs

[Bregor]

This is one of the dumbest things I've ever heard on BG.

Clearly you don't read the sports threads.

[aurik]

Funny about those of you concerned about blowing gas on decelerating / accelerating at stop signs...if you were really interested in saving gas, you'd just drive 5km/h slower.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...onsumption.png

[Abandon]

Clearly you don't read the sports threads.

Clearly she doesn't read her own posts.

[miokomioko]

Funny about those of you concerned about blowing gas on decelerating / accelerating at stop signs...if you were really interested in saving gas, you'd just drive 5km/h slower.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...onsumption.png

My old shitty Intrepid's best mileage was at about 71 mph. My current shitty Jeep's best mileage is something like 68 mph. I don't think this is something you can make an argument about as it varies wildly between every car/engine/transmission/tire/etc.

[Heavencloud]

I don't remember the last time I made a full stop at a stop sign when there weren't other cars around.... I actually ran a red early in the morning for the first time a few days ago because there's this one light that doesn't have working sensors during the night/early morning. I waited 3 minutes, close enough.jpg.

[aurik]

I really doubt your best economy was attained at 71mph, that's a lot of drag to overcome.

Most cars attain peak economy somewhere in the 35-55mph range, which is why you see that chart pretty much plunges universally after 60.

[Thunder]

Is that graph current? I was under the impression that peak economy has gone up over the years. 55mph was the optimal speed I heard several years ago in driver's ed class. On my trip to florida I passed the time by playing with cruise control and my mpg rate.

Going from 70 to 77, 80 to 88 and stuff seemed to have the same effect(~9% drop on the mpg - I'm not wrong in thinking a 10% increase should = 9.09% decrease, right?). I remember either the jump from 70 to 77 or 80 to 88 went from 43 to 38 mpg and I get like 35-40 mpg on the 35-45mph roads around my home.

[Bregor]

Clearly she doesn't read her own posts.

lol'd

[aurik]

Is that graph current? I was under the impression that peak economy has gone up over the years. 55mph was the optimal speed I heard several years ago in driver's ed class. On my trip to florida I passed the time by playing with cruise control and my mpg rate.

Going from 70 to 77, 80 to 88 and stuff seemed to have the same effect(~9% drop on the mpg - I'm not wrong in thinking a 10% increase should = 9.09% decrease, right?). I remember either the jump from 70 to 77 or 80 to 88 went from 43 to 38 mpg and I get like 35-40 mpg on the 35-45mph roads around my home.

The main reason you'll witness "worse" economy when you're going 35mph is probably because you're in-city, which means lots of stop and go and low-gear driving. For absolute best mileage, drive as slow as practical in the highest gear. Though keep in mind if you are in driving slowly in high gear, your acceleration won't be very good if you need to speed up suddenly, so keep safety in mind when considering what is "as slow as practical".

The reason that there is an "optimal" speed is because the engine is tuned to convert as much energy as possible in a certain RPM range; below this range, some energy is wasted, and also you're tending to drive in lower gear which means higher RPM. Above this range not only is some wasted, but also you're fighting against drag. High speeds will always exhibit worse fuel economy. At high speeds you expend a lot of energy overcoming drag, which is proportional to the square of velocity, so the faster you go the worse you'll do.

The curve has flattened out in recent years thanks to hybrid technology and computerization, so that going less than "optimal speed" isn't bad at all.

[Osede]

My friend's ex girlfriend's current boy friend once didn't stop at the stop sign and burn it through. Guess what?

They got hit, the guy didnt get so much serious injury, but the girl, who also pregnant by that time, suffer a long coma. It is like a 5-6 months of coma until she finally recovered.

[Yugl]

The OP is stupid; no questions asked. On another note, I do wonder why every traffic thread brings out people from the MD region.

[Wintermute]

Some of you would love my town, after 10pm all the lights flash amber so every light turns into a Give-Way.

Problem is most people driving at butt o'clock are either drunk and/or shitheads who think their burnt-out Civic allows them to forget traffic laws.
Surprising lack of accidents at the big junctions and roundabouts though.

Hate driving at night. I don't trust other drivers/cyclists/pedestrians during the day let alone at night when people think the rules of the road get turned off.

[Lucavi]

The OP is stupid; no questions asked. On another note, I do wonder why every traffic thread brings out people from the MD region.

Cuz' MD authorities don't play when it comes to traffic laws.

[arus2001]

Would like to think I drive defensively, but am not immune to cutting corners on roads I'm especially familiar with. Always stop at stop signs, or at least rolling stop. Can recently recall driving through a local red at about 1am after sitting there seeing none of the other lights turn. Looked around, saw nothing, fuck it, vroom. I'm probably one of those bastards who drive a little slow in areas I'm not familiar with, though, especially if looking for a particular address. Street signs around here just plain suck, either in not being present or old and rusted to the point you could never read it even if you were blipping by at 35mph+.

[Ksandra]

Clearly you don't read the sports threads.

I said "one of" not "the most" !

[Plow]

My old shitty Intrepid's best mileage was at about 71 mph. My current shitty Jeep's best mileage is something like 68 mph. I don't think this is something you can make an argument about as it varies wildly between every car/engine/transmission/tire/etc.

No it wasn't, and no it's not.

You're getting better mileage on the highway because you don't stop and start as much.

Please don't make me source more common knowledge.

The amount of gas you're consuming is directly proportional to your rpm's. Driving at the same rpm in a lower gear you'd get more mileage from wind resistance alone. Not going to bother explaining overdrive.

[Surealistic]

i like the argument "i turn off my lights to see if another car is coming"

what the fuck do you do if some other tard is doing the same stupid shit, well besides end up in the hospital

stop signs and lights are there for a fucking reason, if you have to make a thread on bg asking whether or not you are in the right, most likely you are not, we can all only hope and pray that you thin the population of yourself soon

[Laugana]

Talking about using indicators, over here in the UK, a lot of people very rarely use them when switching lanes on the motorway. HGV drivers will use them for sure, but I don't know why it became the norm not to. I make a point of using them now, unless it's the middle of the night and there's no cars around.

[hey]

i like the argument "i turn off my lights to see if another car is coming"

what the fuck do you do if some other tard is doing the same stupid shit, well besides end up in the hospital

stop signs and lights are there for a fucking reason, if you have to make a thread on bg asking whether or not you are in the right, most likely you are not, we can all only hope and pray that you thin the population of yourself soon

I assume they only turn them off for a second or two.

And lights are there to control traffic. If there is no traffic...

[Ksandra]

The amount of people trying to justify this is lol.

Especially after we've had 3(?) stories of people getting into accidents over the same concept of "there was no one else around".


I had a friend in HS who left the school really late one night with her brother because they were at a play rehearsal. Went to cross the street in the pedestrian line. A guy blew the red light because he thought no one was around.

Killed both of them.

there is no justification of trying to save a few seconds when it can end up killing someone.