Calgarypuck Forums - The Unofficial Calgary Flames Fan Community - View Single Post - A REDVAN Driving Thread (Special Edition, with links)

REDVAN · 12-08-2008, 10:00 PM

To be honest I actually just like to get in front of the other drivers.

When there is very little traffic, I usually set my speed at 10 over and just have my relatively leisurely drive. But if I see minor traffic, I go go go until I get in front of it all. I hate being behind other drivers, you never know what they are going to do. I'd rather avoid them than have to react if they messed up.

I guess it's just a personal driving habit. Speeding does save time when you do it smartly. For example, a drive from my house to university takes 24 minutes when following the speed limit. But by speeding "moderately" I can make it in 18-19 minutes. That matters sometimes. Of course if you hit the lights or a bad patch of traffic, then you will still arrive at 24 minutes, but then that means you weren't really speeding. Other ways to increase efficiency, which I have been doing more as I get further away from 16 years old is smart lane choices. If you pick the correct lane, you can shave time off your commute no matter how fast the normal speed is. For example, the "fast lane" isn't always the fastest. Of course this helps when you take the same route everyday for 6 years, you get to know what lane to go into at what time.

The other, financial argument, isn't something that I really consider to be honest. I find that at highway speeds, aka over 90km/h, my cars fuel economy increases so drastically that it is awesome in it's own right. Of course, when highway speeds are interrupted by city folk slamming their brakes on the freeway, and then getting back to speed, this can increase fuel consumption. I hope that in my lifetime there is automatic driving so that all cars can be automatically driven at rush hour times, that way traffic can be smooth and effective, and remove driver error. If everyone drove the same way, we could all get places a lot more quickly, no matter what.

Variable speed limits would be excellent. Unfortunately, until we get to be some super advanced society where we can afford to have variable speed limit boards put everywhere that can be centrally programmed at times if weather change or heavy traffic, we will need to put up with speed signs. But I guess for every person who treats it as a hard rule, there are already people like me who treat it as a guideline anyway. I used to date a civil engineer for years but she never explained to me the speed limit thing. Maybe she didn't know. You'd think that'd be something that is relatively easy to find out, maybe I will phone 311 or look on the internet or something.

12-08-2008, 10:00 PM	#10
REDVAN Franchise Player Join Date: Mar 2004 Location: Calgary Exp:	To be honest I actually just like to get in front of the other drivers. When there is very little traffic, I usually set my speed at 10 over and just have my relatively leisurely drive. But if I see minor traffic, I go go go until I get in front of it all. I hate being behind other drivers, you never know what they are going to do. I'd rather avoid them than have to react if they messed up. I guess it's just a personal driving habit. Speeding does save time when you do it smartly. For example, a drive from my house to university takes 24 minutes when following the speed limit. But by speeding "moderately" I can make it in 18-19 minutes. That matters sometimes. Of course if you hit the lights or a bad patch of traffic, then you will still arrive at 24 minutes, but then that means you weren't really speeding. Other ways to increase efficiency, which I have been doing more as I get further away from 16 years old is smart lane choices. If you pick the correct lane, you can shave time off your commute no matter how fast the normal speed is. For example, the "fast lane" isn't always the fastest. Of course this helps when you take the same route everyday for 6 years, you get to know what lane to go into at what time. The other, financial argument, isn't something that I really consider to be honest. I find that at highway speeds, aka over 90km/h, my cars fuel economy increases so drastically that it is awesome in it's own right. Of course, when highway speeds are interrupted by city folk slamming their brakes on the freeway, and then getting back to speed, this can increase fuel consumption. I hope that in my lifetime there is automatic driving so that all cars can be automatically driven at rush hour times, that way traffic can be smooth and effective, and remove driver error. If everyone drove the same way, we could all get places a lot more quickly, no matter what. Variable speed limits would be excellent. Unfortunately, until we get to be some super advanced society where we can afford to have variable speed limit boards put everywhere that can be centrally programmed at times if weather change or heavy traffic, we will need to put up with speed signs. But I guess for every person who treats it as a hard rule, there are already people like me who treat it as a guideline anyway. I used to date a civil engineer for years but she never explained to me the speed limit thing. Maybe she didn't know. You'd think that'd be something that is relatively easy to find out, maybe I will phone 311 or look on the internet or something. __________________ REDVAN!