Driving with cruise control

K

Kerbouchard

100+ Posts
I know we sometimes get into heated debates on the subject of driving on this forum. But tell me if you do this or know those who do.

My highway driving (unless it is congested) follows some basic rules. I drive 5-10 MPH over the speed limit, I stay in the right hand lane until I am about to pass a slower car in front of me, then I pass in the left hand land and then move back to the right hand lane. (People driving in the passing lane not passing is a huge irritant, but that is not the purpose of this thread.) I also use my cruise control on the highway. That way I stay a pretty consistent speed. Now it is inevitable that I will be gaining on someone form behind and then they speed up, then slow down, then eventually I pass them, continue down the highway and don't see them again. People who don't drive on cruise are not going to maintain as consistent of a speed and it can be annoying but oh well.

But when I start to pass you in the left lane and then you speed up, so I get back to the right lane behind you, then you slow down and I move over to pass you again, and I may or may not be able to pass you but lets say I eventually do, I get back in the right lane, then you speed up and pass me and slow down (not someone being an ***, just someone not really paying attention), then we start this all over.

My wife (who does not use cruise and does not get annoyed at others bad driving) says I should not care that this is going on, etc. But it drives me freaking nuts. Do you ever have to play hop-scotch with some jackass for miles and miles?
 
happens to me quite often on I-45. Not much you can do about it unfortunately. It is usually someone that is talking on their cell phone.
 
I'll do you one better. Driving back from Port A last summer, I matched wits against a guy who wasn't using cruise control. Whenever I would try to pass him, he would speed up, and then I would slow down and so would he. Anywhere between 65 and 80mph he would match my speed. Finally he got trapped behind a slower driver and I passed him, but after I moved back into the right lane, he sped back up, passed the other driver and then me, then changed lanes and slowed down to about 60mph.

Maybe I should've tried the "wave the gun" thing.
 
That is one of my biggest driving-related pet peeves (along with the aforementioned blocking-the-passing-lane offense).

I've often wondered what sort of twisted psychological phenomenon--is it narcissism? classism?--drives people (no pun intended) to, e.g., clog the left lane when the right lane is open, or to speed up in order to avoid being passed.

If you want to witness regular examples of such offenses, then drive the stretch of I-35 between Salado and Austin where they recently opened the third lane. People habitually drive 65mph in the left lane, even though the middle and right lanes are relatively uncongested. They'll also drive at the exact same speed as another car in the middle lane, effectively blocking the entire freeway.

It makes me want to punch the driver right in the ear.
 
Psychologicaly, I think people naturally will try to match people who are driving near them. I don't think most people do it on purpose
 
About the only thing worse than someone who can't maintain a constant speed is the driver who is using cruise control at 70 MPH and takes 5 minutes to pass another driver on cruise control going 69 MPH. Can you not just speed up for 15 seconds and make your pass!?!?!?!?!?!?!

I usually stay about 10 MPH over the limit until passed by another driver. Then I'll speed up to match the faster speed, but remain 100 yards or so back from the lead car. It's not fail safe, because once I got pulled over along with the lead car. I've seen LOTS of folks get pulled over right in front of me though.

Bernard
 
perhaps they are trying to "bait the rabbit"

ie. infuriate the speeder (not you since you are only 5 to 10mph above) by blocking them... Once they see any erratic driving then and only then do you let the rabbit pass and eat the bait (zoom ahead) and thus spring any possible speed traps ahead...

if you are not the speeder don't bite and you will find your window of opportunity to pass the passive aggressive driver be they conscious about it or simply daft.

cruise control is great - I use it all the time.
 
I welcome drivers who pass me, as should any driver in my opinion. It basically creates a buffer zone to protect against (albeit not completely) any speed traps that may lie ahead.

If I'm going 9 MPH over the limit and someone speeds past me going 20 over the limit, I then accelerate to something like 15 over the limit until I can no longer see him.

Eventually that buffer disappears and I go back to driving 9 MPH over, but until then he just did me a favor by letting me get to my destination quicker, while keeping my risk of getting ticketed to a minimum.
 
It's the passive agressive focks. They feel insulated in their car and I'm sure there's the ego factor and some people just like messing with you. I will say driving to Del rio, most people moved over in a one lane road to allow us to pass.
 
There are some game players out there, I don't think thats the situation the OP describes.

Don't let their speed up bother you, its often natural. Do just punch the gas to get by. Passing is a manuver with a start and a finish. Its not just a continuation of prior driving speed. Execute the manuver then get back to your cruise.

I don't let what other drivers do bother you. At least, this is the philosophy my wife keeping pounding into me, not so succesfully.
 
Yeah, I use cruise control, but there are situations where you need to return control of the vehicle to your right foot. When you are going 75 and some other guy is going 75.5 in the left lane with his cruise control on, and three or four cars stack up behind the guy and can't pass, and it is going to take 12 minutes for the guy to pass me, I speed up for a short distance, let the traffic pass the left lane roadhog, then resume the cruise speed. When it is safe, the guy passed me.
I did this on a trip recently, and I sped up three or four times. The guy wouldn't move out of the left hand lane, and everyone who came up on him had to pass on the right. I didn't want to be in the way of all the irate motorists the inconsiderate left lane guy was pissing off.
It's easy to hit the cruise buttons and speed up a mile an hour or two, or slow down a little to get distance between you and a car going virtually the same speed.
It's really dangerous to drive in a clump of cars together, always try to find an empty space where you have distance between you and other vehicles.
 
I use cruise control everywhere. I think I probably drive more with my thumbs than my feet.

I can't fathom why EVERYBODY doesn't use cruise control. My wife won't, even though she can't walk and chew gum at the same time. I don't talk to her when she's driving because every time I ask her a question, she slows down to listen to me, yet she still won't use cruise.

In fact, I wish there were a federal law that cars have to be equipped with cruise control. I drive a hilly two-lane road on my commute, and the people who drive 50 up the hill and 70 down the hill cause annoying traffic flow problems that wouldn't exist if everyone just set their cruise on 60 (the speed limit).
 
I have a brother who does not like to get passed. It's not that he can't maintain a constant speed, it just irritates him when someone passes him and he will speed up. One time a car started to pass him and he speed up so they couldn't pass him, eventually they hit 85-90 miles an hour. About a mile or so later they pass a Hwy patrol car and he gets pulled over. So of course he is mad about this "other" car, but it turns out, it was a detective going to some crime scene or something and he had called the Hwy patrol to catch him. He got no sympathy from me, as this is also one of my pet peeves. I still wonder if this is related to when he was dropped on his head as a kid.
 
You can't let annoying driving habits get to you. It's just not worth it. The speed limiit is much more reasonable than it used to be (65 to 80 mph), so I'm not going to worry about being trapped behind a doofus here and there. And being behind somebody doing 75.5 is a lot better than being trapped behind someone doing 55.5.
 
I commute 80 miles round trip Monday thru Friday, every week. I deal with all kinds of drivers. I, like the OP, usually set my CC at 5 to 10 MPH over the speed limit, and I usually face light to moderate traffic. As someone who drives a lot and knows that my chances of being in an accident are significantly increased by this, I pay special attention to certain things. First if someone wants to go faster than me, that's great, go right ahead. I usually don't have any problems with those drivers as long as I let them by. If I pass a car, I keep my passing speed for a while to separate myself from the car I am passing by quite a difference before I slow back down. Usually, if the other guy is one of those slow-fast-slow drivers, they get the message and stay away from me.

My biggest thing, though, is to avoid at all costs, a traffic cluster. You know those groups of 4 or more cars going the exact same speed, occupying all of the lanes on the highway. Driving in that situation is like inviting an accident to happen and if you're in the middle of it all, you have almost no options if something goes wrong.

The worst part of my daily commute, however, is this stretch of highway were apparently my car becomes invisible, because the stupid redneck, bumpkins that live along this highway will pull right out in front of me without the least bit of concern for me being there or how fast I'm going. Most of these people are farmers pulling trailers or even driving tractors. It so bad that I usually take a slightly alternate route that avoids most of that highway, if I can.
 
The key thing with cruise is there is a tendency to fall into a trap of thinking you have the god-given right to maintain the cruise speed at all times, and these people that get along side, or speed up when you pass, then slow down in front of you, things like that, shouldn't make you have to adjust your speed. Just forget it and slow down a little or speed up a little for some distance to create a safe space for you to operate within.
Driving right next to another car is very dangerous. You could be the one to reach down and change the radio station and find yourself a couple of feet into the next lane, we've all done it. If no one is next to you, no harm done.
 
I think some people speed up when you pass them because you passing them makes them realize they were going more slowly than they intended, for whatever reason.
 
It is quite irritating when in crusie control another vehicle passes on the left and immediately changes lane a few yards in front of you and slows to below your speed to let the next vehicle behind them pass.

When this happened to me once I wipped around the car in front and hearly smacked into the B car passing us. I had used the mirror, but car B was in my car's blind spot. It cost a couple grand to get the other car fixed and I paid out of pocket.

Since then, I always disregard mirrors and rubber neck left or right to get the real story.
 
What was that for? He didn't accuse you in particular of it - and there do exist people who seem to drive that way.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Weekly Prediction Contest

* Predict TEXAS-KENTUCKY *
Sat, Nov 23 • 2:30 PM on ABC

Recent Threads

Prediction Results Threads

2024 Schedules

Back
Top