:thumbsup:
Its like this...
You're following someone along and they are going exactly the speed limit. That's great. But the car following can't go exactly the speed limit. They have to go just a tad slower. And anyone behind them has to go a tad, tad slower. And the third is a tad, tad, tad slower. Etc...
So then you speed up 3mph to go up that hill. And everyone behind you now thinks you are speeding up, so they all speed up, too. But then you slow down again. So car #1 has to brake. And car #2 has to brake harder, and car #3 has to brake harder than car #2. Etc...
And it takes car #2 longer to react to your speed than car #1. And car #3 even longer. And that's for both accelerating and braking.
And that's what causes pulsation in traffic, which causes people to brake more often, accelerate more often, and be less fuel efficient.
By you not maintaining a constant speed, everyone else behind you suffers.
Now if you break it down to just one car following you and you're going 55. He's obviously going faster than you, because he caught up to you, right? So he slows down to 54. And he's thinking, well, the guy's probably going 55 so I'll just sit here. But then you speed up 3mph to go up that hill. He notices you speeding up and says "YAY!" and starts trying to match your speed. So he'll have to get up to about 60 to catch up to you going 58. And right about the time he catches up to you just over the edge of the hill, you're doing 55 again, he's doing 60, momentum is carrying him accelerating well past 60 on a downhill run and you're slowing down going down a hill, which is against the laws of physics. He has to brake hard now. And I guarantee he's calling you a donkey vortex for slowing down on the downhill when you just accelerated up the uphill. Most people want to drive at a constant speed, and that's the speed of the person in front of them. If that person is constantly speeding up and slowing down, they aren't playing by the rules of common etiquette, and are therefor a menace to society.
Its like this...
You're following someone along and they are going exactly the speed limit. That's great. But the car following can't go exactly the speed limit. They have to go just a tad slower. And anyone behind them has to go a tad, tad slower. And the third is a tad, tad, tad slower. Etc...
So then you speed up 3mph to go up that hill. And everyone behind you now thinks you are speeding up, so they all speed up, too. But then you slow down again. So car #1 has to brake. And car #2 has to brake harder, and car #3 has to brake harder than car #2. Etc...
And it takes car #2 longer to react to your speed than car #1. And car #3 even longer. And that's for both accelerating and braking.
And that's what causes pulsation in traffic, which causes people to brake more often, accelerate more often, and be less fuel efficient.
By you not maintaining a constant speed, everyone else behind you suffers.
Now if you break it down to just one car following you and you're going 55. He's obviously going faster than you, because he caught up to you, right? So he slows down to 54. And he's thinking, well, the guy's probably going 55 so I'll just sit here. But then you speed up 3mph to go up that hill. He notices you speeding up and says "YAY!" and starts trying to match your speed. So he'll have to get up to about 60 to catch up to you going 58. And right about the time he catches up to you just over the edge of the hill, you're doing 55 again, he's doing 60, momentum is carrying him accelerating well past 60 on a downhill run and you're slowing down going down a hill, which is against the laws of physics. He has to brake hard now. And I guarantee he's calling you a donkey vortex for slowing down on the downhill when you just accelerated up the uphill. Most people want to drive at a constant speed, and that's the speed of the person in front of them. If that person is constantly speeding up and slowing down, they aren't playing by the rules of common etiquette, and are therefor a menace to society.
