Battery based vehicles of today and tomorrow pt 2

[Dftodd]

Yep, I was going to comment on the lane change concept. I see that a lot. The vehicle will catch up to me, then slow to my pace for a bit or several miles, depending on driver awareness, then move over into the passing lane and speed up to pass me. The ones that stay behind me for ten miles really give me a comforting feeling...... DEER!!!!

I saw something flicker in my side mirror on the service truck while going down the interstate. About a mile or so down the road, I caught it again

Finally turned on my backup camera and got a shock Some idiot in a prius was less than a foot from my trailer hitch. All I could see was prius grill in the display.

I really contemplated putting the truck into manual mode and down shifting it a couple gears. All I would have felt was a little tap.

But discretion kicked in. I thought about all that paperwork and the accident investigation. What happens if I hook him with the trailer hitch like a fish?????.... The 4 hrs at the closest walk-in clinic for a pee test..... It was about 5pm and I still had a couple hours drive to get home.

I lit the truck up like a Christmas tree with all the beacon lights flashing in his face. Added the rear light bar to the mix and let off the throttle instead.

I got down to about 35mph before the idiot decided to go around me.

 

[sd455dan]

I saw something flicker in my side mirror on the service truck while going down the interstate. About a mile or so down the road, I caught it again

Finally turned on my backup camera and got a shock Some idiot in a prius was less than a foot from my trailer hitch. All I could see was prius grill in the display.

I really contemplated putting the truck into manual mode and down shifting it a couple gears. All I would have felt was a little tap.

But discretion kicked in. I thought about all that paperwork and the accident investigation. What happens if I hook him with the trailer hitch like a fish?????.... The 4 hrs at the closest walk-in clinic for a pee test..... It was about 5pm and I still had a couple hours drive to get home.

I lit the truck up like a Christmas tree with all the beacon lights flashing in his face. Added the rear light bar to the mix and let off the throttle instead.

I got down to about 35mph before the idiot decided to go around me.

one guess -Idiot was trying to hypermile the Prius.
Took it way past safe driving to the extreme.
That would have ticked me off as well.

 

[Fixastuff]

The one that always amazes me. Driving down the Interstate. Suddenly you see brake lights and traffic starts congesting. You slow. And slow. And slow. After a mile or so you may even have to temporarily stop. Finally you are down to one lane. Crawling. Then here it is, construction or something that requires one lane. You crawl past it. Then the hiway is completely open and it's a race back to cruise speed..... What the hell???? Why isn't the traffic going past the obstacle in one lane fashion at the allowed speed???

Study fluid dynamics and you'll understand. You have to double the speed going from 2 lanes to 1 not to cause congestion for

 

[MossRoad]

Once someone gets to the closeness point of I can no longer see their headlights in my rear view mirror, just the top of their car, I just let off the gas and start coasting until they go around me.

 

[MossRoad]

The one that always amazes me. Driving down the Interstate. Suddenly you see brake lights and traffic starts congesting. You slow. And slow. And slow. After a mile or so you may even have to temporarily stop. Finally you are down to one lane. Crawling. Then here it is, construction or something that requires one lane. You crawl past it. Then the hiway is completely open and it's a race back to cruise speed..... What the hell???? Why isn't the traffic going past the obstacle in one lane fashion at the allowed speed???

If people would just do the zipper merge, things would work out great. Unfortunately, even in places where zipper merge is posted with signage, you get the folks that aren't gong to let anyone pass them if they're in the slow lane, and will purposely close up the space between the car in front of them so that others cannot merge.

It's almost a pointless discussion with people that are stuck in their ways and will never accept that something they learned years ago may not actually be the best way to do things.

 

[NoTrespassing]

When I was a kid, a friend of mine's mother used to drive us around in her 70ish Malibu wagon. She could not maintain a constant speed. She'd step on the gas and let off the gas. on. off. on. off. We'd get seasick!

Reminds me of Freshman year high-school. Chess club had a meet about 2 hours away and a teacher drove 3 of us in his Brand New Ford Pinto. That guy would gas, let off, gas let off then entire 2 hour drive both ways. I wanted to kill him.

 

[MossRoad]

Study fluid dynamics and you'll understand. You have to double the speed going from 2 lanes to 1 not to cause congestion for

When I was a lifeguard on a whitewater course, I learned about that. We had a 20' wide stream of water going 5 mph. Throw a stop-log across half of it, narrow the passage way to 10' wide, and the water speed instantly doubles up to 10mph.

Traffic doesn't behave like fluids in that situation. If it did, we'd all jump from 55 to 110. That might be fun.

Again, if folks would just maintain a steady speed with a good gap in front of them, and allow cars from the other lane to merge, we'd all get through the area sooner with less problems.

 

[MossRoad]

Reminds me of Freshman year high-school. Chess club had a meet about 2 hours away and a teacher drove 3 of us in his Brand New Ford Pinto. That guy would gas, let off, gas let off then entire 2 hour drive both ways. I wanted to kill him.

For his driving habits or for making you be seen in a Pinto?

 

[bmaverick]

To me it's all woke insanity. Self diving is analogous to autopilot on a plane. I believe some people actually believe as they get older, reflexes aren't as good, self driving will get them where they're going. I don't want that any more than I'd fly on a plane without a pilot or a handicapped pilot!

Recall the Miracle on the Hudson landing after take-off. The pilot had REAL LIFE experiences vs. flying in auto-modes. Even is several flight simulators, younger pilots failed to land the plane like he did.

Likewise, all this gadget stuff makes a person lazy and slower with responses.

Recall in Minnesota the huge expansion bridge collapse on the interstate? If many of these auto gadget cars are in a convoy, they would all follow one another off the cliff.
This was bridge design and PM failure, no earthquakes either.

While driving, I once got into a 6.2 quake. A new experience as the vehicle felt like the front tire lug nuts on both sides were coming off. Keeping the vehicle in it's lane during rush hour traffic at 60mph was nuts

 

[airbiscuit]

The one that always amazes me. Driving down the Interstate. Suddenly you see brake lights and traffic starts congesting. You slow. And slow. And slow. After a mile or so you may even have to temporarily stop. Finally you are down to one lane. Crawling. Then here it is, construction or something that requires one lane. You crawl past it. Then the hiway is completely open and it's a race back to cruise speed..... What the hell???? Why isn't the traffic going past the obstacle in one lane fashion at the allowed speed???

I remember reading one time that that slowing traffic is like ice freezing on moving water like a river. I don't remember all the details, but at the beginning, ice crystals form but they move with the flow. Then a few start to attach to the shore, and more attach to them and the clog gets bigger faster and faster.