Driving under the speed limit when conditions are safe to drive the limit is simply a poor decision if traffic is backing up behind you.

I try and go the limit on up to 5-7mph higher if the flow / safety dictates. if someone tailgates I just chill, they will go around me sooner or later. I dont hang out in the left lanes if Im not going with the flow of traffic - thats asking for trouble.

If Im in the carpool I find I have to 'speed' a bit because that lane on my route generally moves at 80mph. I will sit there and do 72mph and I think thats fast enough to be acceptable but others may disagree it seems as someone is always tailgating - but there are plenty of places for them to pass me if they wish.

 

I drive in the right lane of 4 to 6 so I just ignore the A-holes behind me.
Nobody has rear ended me yet.

I have plates that help.
Before I got these plates they used to flash their brights or honk or stay on my tail for a long time.
I guess they thought I wasn't paying attention, or was on the phone or someting and just needed to be reminded to go faster.

That all stopped the day I got my plates.
Now they pass me up immediately when they read my plates because they realize I am driving this speed delibrately, and I am NOTgoing to speed up.

I don't want to publish exactly what my plates say but it reads something like GOINSLO.

I recommend getting custom plates with such a phrase.

 

I so much want to (for fun, as well as to send a message), but here in Texas it's $40 extra annually for a personalized license #. My registration just came up for renewal ($74 annually, if I recall correctly), and I did splurge on "specialty plates" which are $30 extra annually, but $22 of the $30 goes to a particular agency/non-profit/statewide fund related to the plate of your choosing... in my case, to the Texas Parks & Wildlife Department's wildlife diversity program (Texas horned toad plates). That I can stomach paying $30 extra annually for.... but not a freebie extra $40 to the state just for a custom slogan.

I know many states have much more reasonable "vanity plate" rates, which explains why in places like VA I saw *so* many personality/"vanity" plates. We almost never see them here in TX, due to the cost. I guess that's what we get for not (yet) having a State Income Tax.

 

Heya Shannon - while I was at lunch yesterday I spotted a local Gas company truck and it just made me smile that they actually thought about what they were doing. This was the local Peoples Gas company and the employee was driving a Ford with their "green" logo on the tailgate (resembling your logo here). I guess they could have chosen a Civic GX to make a statement about the Natural Gas thing but it was still neat to see someone finally thinking about this. I keep wondering when the local Autoparts stores will get any type of Hybrid instead of using those 14-year old Minivans spewing toxins and holes in the exhaust and all the short stop-and-go trips they make. Oh well. Different topic.

 

Absolutely, that is awesome! If it wasn't an Escape Hybrid they were driving, sounds like one of Ford's FFV (Flexible-Fuel Vehicle) Ranger pickups that can run either gasoline or ethanol (or natural gas; I'm not sure if there was an option as to which.) Ford also makes a Taurus sedan that's FFV, as well as an Explorer FFV (for fleet sales, only, I think.) They're all pretty rare... probably far rarer than the Ford Escape Hybrids (which is saying something!), but I can vouche as to their existance -- I've seen a Ford Taurus FFV in Austin, TX, and one or two Ford Ranger FFV pickups here in San Antonio.

I always have an eye out for hybrids and flexible-fuel vehicles (plug-ins, too, but I've yet to make a sighting "in the wild".) I got funny looks when my husband and I were at Rocky Mountain National Park walking through the parking lot and I spied a Ford Escape Hybrid with State license plates and a slick National Park Service vehicle wrap advertising the vehicle's hybrid status and fuel economy. Here we are ogling the vehicle, taking photos and such, and everyone else is walking by us wondering why we're so excited/interested in a National Park Service Ford Escape utility vehicle. Ah well... I've also seen FEH's used by a local water utility in Coppell, TX (suburb of Dallas); those I even posted photos of here on GreenHybrid's "Share" section.

 

I friend of mine installed a scrolling LED display in the rear window that reads different messages depending on the speed of the vehicle and the proximity of others following behind. At one point if you are too close and going fast, the display reads "Smile, you are on camera" followed by a flashing arrow pointing to the rear window mounted review CCD camera.

I like the idea alot. If this was a frequent problem for me I would perhaps consider installing it as well.

Cheers;

MSantos

 

Yeah, Leah, I was so excited to post that I forgot to mention the vehicle -- it was in fact the Ford Ranger pick-up truck and apparently had the Flex-Fuel option. It is nice to see some of the Nat'l Parks and Public Utilities advertising their Hybrids sometimes. I did laugh when I was passed quite quickly by a Mercury Mariner with all sorts of decals and logos and some hefty 20" pimpin' tires and was sponsored by the local Ford/Lincoln/Mercury dealership. It had one person in it (though maybe they just delivered an entire family to their rental car) and it took me back to a meeting with the Milwaukee Hybrid group about the use of large trucks. They do have their use (pulling trees, hauling boats, transporting half the J.V. basketball team to the game, etc.) but to see single people in these large vehicles does make me chuckle anymore as I silent scoot along at 55 mph. Sure enough, 2 miles later at the exit ramp they are sitting there at the red light after zooming ahead of me at 75 mph and not letting up until the last 300 feet of the exit ramp. That thrills me to no end anymore -- having someone glare at me as they pass because they think I'm too slow and then pacing the lights just about right so I pass that person as he is sitting still and I've maintained my momentum, spent less gas, had more fun, and increased my FE all at the same time. They zoom past looking at me again and screech to a stop and I pass them at 35 mph at the next light that I've timed perfectly. That just makes my day anymore.

 

I like the idea a lot.
But I'd fear for my safety.
Here in Southern California road rage is a problem.

 

Some tailgaters are in an angry vegetetive state while others might be taking it out on hybrids - you decide on this story of my morning commute.

I leave before dawn to avoid most of the raging idiots. Someone was it seemed about two feet from my rear bumper and I adjusted my rear view mirror. It was one of the worst tailgating in five years since....then he passed by. Yeah, about five years ago, someone in an identical yellow vehicle was only inches from my rear bumper and this is within a mile from where that happened, so it might be the same guy with the same hangup. My "Animal Friendly" Texas license plate and website (same as in my sig) plastered across my rear hatchback probably hissed him off a bit, too. I got 73.5mpg on the commute - would not be suprized if he got 7.35mpg.

 

Or you can become a trooper in order to turn the tables and become a tailgater yourself. In Miss. it's SOP for cops in unmarked cars to tailgate drivers for miles on end; their goal is to provoke them into speeding up past the limit, changing lanes without signaling, or some other "felony." Their favorite targets, of course, are the out-of-staters. If you must drive thru Miss., I recommend doing so on I-10 -- it's only 77 miles.