idiot motorway overtakers who cut in with just 2 car lengths gap

DUTR

matttye wrote: »

I don't know about everyone's cruise control implementations, but mine has +/- buttons for increasing or decreasing speed on the steering wheel, i.e. the same effect as taking foot off the gas or pushing down on the gas.

If speed needs to decrease dramatically then I'll brake, like I usually would.

I'm not sure if it's because I'm still fairly young, but it's taken me no time at all to get used to using cruise control. I've only had my new car for a month and no prior experience of using it. It's dead simple and intuitive to use.

Mine has them buttons on too, also another button to set the distance from the vehicle in front, it will even bring the vehicle to a complete stop in peak time traffic and prevent/reduce a rear ender.
I'm not young

Bongles

matttye wrote: »

I don't know about everyone's cruise control implementations, but mine has +/- buttons for increasing or decreasing speed on the steering wheel,

Yes, I think they all have that

matttye wrote: »

i.e. the same effect as taking foot off the gas or pushing down on the gas.

The same effect in the broad sense, obviously. But you wouldn't (I hope! ) dream of driving everywhere on just the + and - buttons and the brake pedal.

There's an exercise people sometimes use for developing observation, anticipation and planning, and that's to try and drive a stretch of motorway - not frantic rush hour, but enough traffic that you'll have some lane changes and overtakes to do, and you don't want to be any more of a nuisance to other drivers than you would be normally - using only the cruise control buttons to adjust your speed. Funnily enough, there's a reason why denying yourself use of the pedals (and ordinarily it would be mainly the gas pedal that you'd be using) is a good exercise for developing those skills .

~Chameleon~

Bongles wrote: »

Yes, I think they all have that



The same effect in the broad sense, obviously. But you wouldn't (I hope! ) dream of driving everywhere on just the + and - buttons and the brake pedal.

Why not? How do you think amputees driving cars purely with hand controls manage?

Not saying it would necessarily be sensible but it's certainly possible.

roonaldo

~Chameleon~ wrote: »

Why not? How do you think amputees driving cars purely with hand controls manage?

Not saying it would necessarily be sensible but it's certainly possible.

not the same. cruise control is not an accelerator and brake function, its just buttons to control the speed.

matttye

Bongles wrote: »

Yes, I think they all have that



The same effect in the broad sense, obviously. But you wouldn't (I hope! ) dream of driving everywhere on just the + and - buttons and the brake pedal.

There's an exercise people sometimes use for developing observation, anticipation and planning, and that's to try and drive a stretch of motorway - not frantic rush hour, but enough traffic that you'll have some lane changes and overtakes to do, and you don't want to be any more of a nuisance to other drivers than you would be normally - using only the cruise control buttons to adjust your speed. Funnily enough, there's a reason why denying yourself use of the pedals (and ordinarily it would be mainly the gas pedal that you'd be using) is a good exercise for developing those skills .

I do change speed using those buttons when I can, but sometimes it's not appropriate and the brake needs to be used.

topdaddy_2

Not all cruise systems have a +\- button

DUTR

topdaddy wrote: »

Not all cruise systems have a +\- button

I have only ever owned 2 cars with CC, both had increase/decrease, but I agree the earlier versions may not have had that feature.

Bongles

~Chameleon~ wrote: »

Why not? How do you think amputees driving cars purely with hand controls manage?

I would guess that, whilst their control might be operated by hand, its function would be much more akin to an accelerator pedal than a cruise control. The two are quite different. For a start, cruise control is a speed control. Obviously the system uses the engine but what you are controlling is the desired speed, whereas with the accelerator what you are controlling is engine revs. For example, I would expect an amputee could still do things like hill starts and rev-matched gear changes.

In terms of control input, cruise control offers you in effect just a switch with three positions - 'plus', 'minus' and 'neither'. In contrast, you can position the accelerator pedal anywhere in its range of travel and you can move it as fast or as slow as you like. And in terms of response, I've not driven with a cruise control that offers the same finesse as the accelerator pedal.

photome

Bongles wrote: »

I would guess that, whilst their control might be operated by hand, its function would be much more akin to an accelerator pedal than a cruise control. The two are quite different. For a start, cruise control is a speed control. Obviously the system uses the engine but what you are controlling is the desired speed, whereas with the accelerator what you are controlling is engine revs. For example, I would expect an amputee could still do things like hill starts and rev-matched gear changes.

In terms of control input, cruise control offers you in effect just a switch with three positions - 'plus', 'minus' and 'neither'. In contrast, you can position the accelerator pedal anywhere in its range of travel and you can move it as fast or as slow as you like. And in terms of response, I've not driven with a cruise control that offers the same finesse as the accelerator pedal.

Not sure anyone said it does.

What I said at the start of this debate is that cancelling the CC is the same as lifting your foot off the gas.

2 posters on here were not aware that was the case and panicked about having to find the brake pedal :eek:

interstellaflyer

On a slightly different note, however loosely related to the opening post, I've had this happen a few times, sitting in lane one doing 70mph, someone overtakes, fine no problem with that, however they then return to lane one and slow down to less than 70, meaning I find myself catching them up, Ok dealing with it is not a problem, I just find it very irritating, I mean, why overtake in the first place?