[Note from Jason]

This member's posts were mysteriously edited and deleted yesterday. I restored a couple deleted posts, but this one can't be recovered. Why would he do this?

[/Note from Jason]

 

I woudlnt so much call you lazy, as smart. Its practically more lazy to speed and do other things like most drivers...it requires not forward thinking. You've pretty much outlined the ways to succede in FE in city driving...prediction being the tops. Prediction is hard work. I find that I actually drive worse for FE when i'm tired. I find myself slipping to/above the speed limit, and acting like the rest of traffic. And man, i agree with the parking, i'd rather walk 100 extra feet than take the hastle to find that 'good' spot. Keep up the good work

 

Bah! Laziness, I say! It's how I quit smoking, too. Too much work to buy more smokes.

Prediction ain't so tough. Just have to wake up enough to eyeball the traffic light(s) ahead and decide whether they're going to be 'cooperative'... while you're bored, sitting at the current red light. If they look like they will be cooperative (i.e. just turns red with your light, and reasonable delay), go for it. If not, just give it enough gas to roll to a stop on your way to the next bad light at whatever rate that keeps other rude and unenlightened motorists from trying to kill you.

Most cities now have lights with sensors instead of just timers. The 'sensors' make it a problem. You have to look around and take into account whether there are cars on the side of the road or in left turn lanes facing you, wherever you go. It's hard to see that more than a street ahead, and you have plenty to concentrate on, right now, and you have to know more about the intersections you go through. You can't tell whether there is a full minute for the light to turn yellow again, or only seconds if you don't look at the whole intersection and see the cars stopping on the side-roads or left turn lanes.

The empty intersection will (usually) stay green longer. The intersection with *any* cars waiting to cross or sitting in a turn lane facing you will probably turn red right in your face as you approach it, especially if you see "Don't Walk" signs, and they're flashing (10~15 seconds) or red (any second).

Knowing where you're going, and which ways you can turn to 'go around' lights that don't go your way helps. Often, if you're going to turn into a big strip mall parking lot, there are multiple entrances and exits. Sometimes making a right at a signal to make a left into the lot from an un-controlled left turn lane when the light turns yellow to prevent you from going through and making the right turn you originally wanted will save you from stopping. Of course, that takes a split-second decision and a thorough familiarity with the destination. If you haven't been there many times, it's probably simpler to stop, especially if you see pedestrians.

It used to be the lights on timers could be synchronized, so you could go say 40MPH and hit greens for several miles down a major road after stopping at maybe one or two reds. Yeah, you watch the 'drama' of the left turn arrow turning green with nobody waiting for it, but when you get to go, that's the last red light you have to stop at for a little while... if you go the right speed. It's said that (once upon a time) Fresno used to operate like that. Then they 'modernized'. That was before I came (No, it's not my fault, honest!).

Many sections of Fresno have approximately the worst lights on Earth. On major boulevards like Shaw or Blackstone, there are sensors at practically every minor side street with a light that will trip the main road yellow within a second or two of a car stopping on the crossroad. It's virtually impossible to make it any distance without stopping, and the lights are completely unpredictable because they have random input from motorists that you can't see triggering their behavior on the other side of buildings. These are 'uncooperative' lights. If they had the side roads simply trip green in sequence, whether there were cars there or not, the main road would have routine and very predictable red lights, with practically nobody waiting for them except for people who drive too quickly or too slowly, and the side roads would have a predictable wait that would get people syncronized into the flow of traffic within a light or two. A few trips down the road, and you know pretty much where every stop will be (because you have to stop occasionally if you're trying to sync the lights in two directions at the same time, or if there's more traffic than the timing scheme handles).

Ultimately traffic signal technology will probably catch up to the problem by networking lights together and coordinating their actions according to computer vision that assesses traffic flow and possibly reads intentions from navigation computers. Of course, cars will probably be driving themselves by then, so you won't pay much attention to it, what with being a doddering old fogey if you live that long.

Of course, all bets are off in a major downtown area with a lot of jaywalking pedestrians. Just give up. People are TRYING to get themselves run over by you. Nothing is predictable, and you have to pay attention to who's dancing in the street with an iPod on and not a care in the world. In these situations, it's best to park the car somewhere and walk, or take public transportation.

 

Less
I had to check, I thought I had written your first post.
That is exactly how I drive.
Also I frequently won't even pull into a parking lot if I can find a parking space on the street, perferably one just before the driveway so nobodody can pull in front of me.

Really all these people rushing around are just stressing themselves out.
You and I have found one of the secrets of happiness.

 

I agree WHOLEHEARTEDLY !!!

In recent years, I have not really been a "rush" driver like many on the road, but I admit I did my share of "gassing it" between red lights. So Silly, Oh So Silly !! No more !!!

Even this weekend I had an instance of this dude in a hot rod Ford pickup ZOOMING around me in a 45 MPH area when I was going about 38, like I was keeping him from a hot date. Next light, I was in another lane, two cars ahead of him. He ZOOMED away again, picking open spots in the traffic. Next red light, again there I was right beside him in another lane. He never knew what was going on, but I could not help but chuckle. I was getting about 60 MPG between lights, and he was getting about 5 MPG.......

Anyway, driving to conserve is the only way to go these days. Anything else is just silly.

 

I pretty much drive as you do. About 1100 miles a week for work and then personal miles on top of that.

I always never considered it to be a problem on my end. I thought all the others were the lunatics.

JK

 

Now, there, if I drove 1200 miles a week, nobody could keep a hybrid car away from me. I might drive that far in a couple of months right now, but if I got a 'real job' again (self employed now, working out of my house), I'd put that on every month, perhaps every couple of weeks if I worked down in the valley somewhere.

Now, I drive a really fuel efficient 'regular car' that's out-scoring a bunch of people with hybrids, though it's an unfair comparison due to favorable driving conditions, and no cold weather driving on the stats, yet.

 

Well, the roads ARE shared and driving outside of conditions can be as rude and hazardous as the maniac drivers. When there's no one around it's not a big deal, but in traffic it's hard to predict what a driver going 10MPH under the limit is doing (are they lost? looking for an address? something in their eye? drunk and driving slow to compensate?) and someone coasting to the stoplight can prevent others behind them from making their turn, getting the green arrow - it can even hurt THEIR mileage. Other drivers have no way of knowing how a hypermiler drives, and that makes you unpredictable to them. Even if they did, they'd have no way of knowing YOU are one of them! If you were driving 38 in a 45, I'd pass you as well. It's safer to have distance from the maniac and unpredictable drivers both.

 

If I see a red light in front of me, I consider it unreasonable to continue with my foot on the gas. Drivers trying to justify the extra power they purchased have the problem, not me.

My problem is what to do with somewhat distant *green* lights :-)

 

Well, to each their own, but I have matured to the point that I realize the speed limit is "the upper limit" and not the "required speed." (except on roads where a minimum speed limit is posted.) The other drivers are not paying my fuel bills, so I have every right to drive a "reasonable speed below the limit" under any circumstances.

Like I said in my last post, I do my best to never inhibit other drivers, but when a hypermiler like me meets a speed demon zooming up behind them, something has to give - and if there is another lane for the speed demon to change into to get around me, I'm not adjusting my speed for him - I do change lanes when I can if I notice they are coming up fast behind me, which I consider a VERY NICE THING to do for them.

I consider myself somewhat of a crusader for slower speeds, because it's just idiotic the way drivers (at least in Phoenix AZ) just ZOOM ZOOM ZOOM from red light to red light like they are going to a fire. It's asinine and foolish, and if I slow someone down a little bit for a short distance, well, that's the breaks. They might not know it, but I just saved them a little gas money for the half a block they got stuck behind me !!!