Originally Posted by xcel

That is where the real safety issues are imho. How many of the 18-wheeler’s you pass daily are driving in the middle and left lanes at 10 over in heavy traffic? Do you know how many miles those guys drive in a year? In a decade? Over a lifetime without much in the way of an incident? Follow the pros because most are by far better drivers then the hundreds of thousands of others you and I share the road with … I did say most. There are any number of OTR’s that are driving over the limits by what I deem to be an excessive amount too but not nearly as many as those you and I drive with day in and day out

Originally Posted by kenny

Zimbop you make some very good points about safety.
I will take your post to heart.

Perhaps this is a good motto to drive by:
Safety First
Courtesy Second
MPG Third

BTW, I never turn my car off when driving - I think that's nuts and have said so here.

The way I use cruise control I never get near the car in front of me.
50 MPH almost always assures lots of space in front of me to absorb the speed variations of the traffic in front of me, my brakes will last forever.

Also traffic in the right-most of 4 to 6 lanes in LA rush hour is not doing anything near 75.
There are occasions in which I do speed up, such as when a freeway interchange dumps us into the left-most lane of the freeway we are merging into.

Like Wayne said tailgaiting is much more dangerous, and more common, than hypermiling.
I'd say 85% of L.A drivers tailgate, drive too fast and incorrectly assume they will be able to stop if there is a problem.

Also like Wayne said I am 100 times more aware of the position of the cars around me than the idiots in their Ford Exploitations talking on cellphones, putting on their makeup, looking at their NAV and their DVD screens while carrying their usual cargo of a Starbucks Latte.

Originally Posted by kenny

I honestly drive 50 MPH in cruise control in the right-most of 4 to 6 lanes.
Besides, Los Angeles rush hour traffic doesn't go that fast anyway.

I almost never need air conditioning - I remain within 5 miles of the beach 99% of the time.
I bring shorts and a tank top and change in my car after work so I don't cook dirving home.
60 MPG is worth a little creativity now that gas is $3+ a gallon.
Plus I feel more relaxed in these clothes.
Just becuase you have AC, that doesn't mean you have to use it.
Besides feeling hot can feel good, it's all in your head.
Humans existed millions of years before AC - at least you don't have to walk.

I've had my hybrid since April of 2004.
At first I did hear a few horns, saw a few blinking brights - but no middle fingers.
But something magic happend 8 weeks later - that all just stopped.
All the irritated drivers trying to teach me how to drive "right" just vanished the day I got my customized license plates that read: "SIP GAS"
Nobody even tailgates me anymore.
They take one look at my plates and get as far away from me as they can.

I just can't imagine why.

I recently showed another hybrid owner how to improve her MPG.
I drove her car and got 62 MPG on my commute (with two people in the car) - she said if she hadn't seen it with her own eyes she wouldn't have believed it.
She said she learned from me to not care TOO much about others behind her.
Besides plenty of drivers race, tailgate, weave in and out of traffic and drive as if they don't give a crap about others in front of or to the side of them already.

Sure there is a fine line, but the really high MPGs require a certain resolve, confidence and (dare I say) selfishness.
I'd never go 50 on a one lane flat country road.
I'd be killed.

One other thing that improves my MPG is I have given up the sense of ownership of the space in front of my car.
Everyone else tailgates so nobody can pull in front of them.
This is a MAJOR MPG killer.
You are constantly speeding up and braking to "protect your territory".
Also when you don't care that people pull in front of you your blood pressure drops - you relax.
It's wonderful.

Yes, I am a man on a mission.
There are more obnoxious people on more obnoxious missions.

No Hummer has driven over me yet.
They are more car-crazy than I.

Originally Posted by SretiCentV

I've never been to california so for me to comment about anything there - especially driving conditions - would not be ok. Coming from Miami, however, I can tell you that it simply isn't possible to do any of those things. Traffic is either moving 70 or 5. Just this morning I had a woman honk at me repeatedly for driving 45 in a 45 zone. The second time, I slammed on the brakes and hoped she would hit me so I could get out and beat her to death...

Maybe what I'm trying to say is that I need anger management? Probably so, but either way its exceedingly difficult to get good mileage where I live. My best ever was yesterday actually where I got 63.9 in the morning and 55.8 on the way home.