driving slow : your views ?

Iceweasel

The UK is not at all bad when you look at league tables like this one for road deaths:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_traffic-related_death_rate

Germany doesn't do too badly either when you consider this kind of driving is perfectly legal:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6DzsdSWTMug

Notice that the speed is in mph not kph as many might assume.

You'll see that he pulls back into lane 2 - in case anyone faster is coming up behind and wishes to overtake him - also note that what caused him to eventually slow down was a lane three 'hogger'.

He was still accelerating when he had to lift off. :eek:

Cornucopia

I would definitely recommend cruise control. I've had this on my last 5 cars, over a period of maybe 15 years (4 Citroens and a Renault). I think it's changed my driving style (for the better, I hope).

It's so little effort to drop or raise the speed of the car that I think I am much less possessive of any particular speed than some drivers appear to be - I let the car do the donkey work of keeping to a steady speed and I concentrate on the road.

edit: I honestly don't think the driving skills of the typical British driver are good enough to warrant a major increase in speed limits without causing carnage. I can see a rise to 80 (in line with most of Europe's 130kph), but that's about it.

UsernameAlreadyExists

Cornucopia wrote: »

I would definitely recommend [strike]cruise control[/strike] hardly driving

Cornucopia wrote: »

I let the car do the donkey work of keeping to a steady speed

You might as well get the train then.


Why is steady best? When was the last time you managed to walk around a town centre or in and out of some shops and up & down the aisles whilst maintaining a constant pace? You have to adapt to your surroundings and other people's actions.
Do you get out of the way of cyclists on the pavement? Or do you step into their path because they shouldn't be on the pavement doing that?

brat

UsernameAlreadyExists wrote: »

You might as well get the train then.


Why is steady best? When was the last time you managed to walk around a town centre or in and out of some shops and up & down the aisles whilst maintaining a constant pace? You have to adapt to your surroundings and other people's actions.
Do you get out of the way of cyclists on the pavement? Or do you step into their path because they shouldn't be on the pavement doing that?

I agree entirely. Cruise control can have a place if you're driving on empty motorways with no hazards to contend with. But it is incompatible with good driving in locations where speed should be adjusted down or up to contend with actual or potential hazards. Cruise control for me equals lazy driving.

Hintza

UsernameAlreadyExists wrote: »

When was the last time you managed to walk around a town centre or in and out of some shops and up & down the aisles whilst maintaining a constant pace?

I somehow doubt Cornucopia drives around town centres with his/her cruise control on!

I agree Cornucopia, I find cruise control especially on motorways to be a god send. It is particularly good on sections where there are extended road works with restricted speed limits.

One can only assume that those who suggest it is lazy driving run their homes with log burning stoves with logs they chop themselves as their sole method of heating because anything else is just down right lazy.

Cornucopia

UsernameAlreadyExists wrote: »

Why is steady best?

As Hintza said, we're obviously talking about motorway driving, here.

Why is steady best? To start with the powers that be say it's best practice. It makes for better fuel consumption. It makes your driving more predictable for the benefit of other drivers.

I've only had French cars with cruise control, so I don't know if they have particularly good controls, but in a motorway situation, it works both for steady speed and as a means of easy speed adjustment, too. When I spoke before about sometimes speeding up to overtake, I mean turning the CC up a notch.

When you drive on CC a lot, you really start to notice how inconsistent other drivers' speed can be. Hills, particularly, where they let their speed fade on the way up, and then let the vehicle charge down the other side.

Buellguy

Cornucopia wrote: »

As Hintza said, we're obviously talking about motorway driving, here.

Why is steady best? To start with the powers that be say it's best practice. It makes for better fuel consumption. It makes your driving more predictable for the benefit of other drivers.

I've only had French cars with cruise control, so I don't know if they have particularly good controls, but in a motorway situation, it works both for steady speed and as a means of easy speed adjustment, too. When I spoke before about sometimes speeding up to overtake, I mean turning the CC up a notch.

When you drive on CC a lot, you really start to notice how inconsistent other drivers' speed can be. Hills, particularly, where they let their speed fade on the way up, and then let the vehicle charge down the other side.

Or when they approach a speed camera at or just below the limit and slow down, or have the speed up and slow down thing when in average speed cameras LOL

iltisman

Constant throttle setting gives me best fuel return so losing speed uphill occurs .If this upsets folk they should have got up earlier.

UsernameAlreadyExists

I am not interested in your fuel return though, so you're being selfish?

bod1467

Cruise control is great. (And it's easy to set and adjust on a VW too).

The main thing I've found is that I look (and think) much further ahead (and behind) when using CC, on the basis that I plan ahead overtakes so as to avoid inconveniencing both myself and fellow road users, without having to adjust speed if possible. Without CC, I (and I suspect most drivers) don't really plan overtakes (at least not to the same extent) and "just go for it".