there was one thing i learned from driving a big truck with really bad gas milage. when you try to save gas and be nice in traffic and stay back a bit, theres always an ass to cut you off. when you tail some one so you don't get cut off, they get pissed and hit their brakes so you hit them. you can't win.

 

That site is pretty true, unless traffic beside you is moving slower, then you keep moving up and keep getting arseholes in your lane.

I guess if you stayed in the slow moving lane you would be able to do that.

 

If you think Seattle has traffic you should try driving on the east coast... I'd suggest Boston or DC

 

i definitley let gaps open up in front up me so that i can drift slowly in 2nd gear or so, and so that by the time i get to the main group the light has turned green/traffic starts moving.

 

None of the theories presented work on multi-lane roads with aggressive drivers. People drive very "efficiently" in the sense that a car-sized hole never exists very long. Someone will always jump in and fill it, thus not allowing for the "large gaps" needed to even out the jams.

- Jeremy (jnn4v)

 

I disagree - I drive on the Beltway every day and I can usually keep 2-4 car lengths. I was skeptical at first but you will find that not every person will cut in. Some will, but that's ok - the point is to ease traffic, not to get where you are going a minute or two faster. Rock-solid patience is the key. If someone does fill the gap, you simply have to make another.

You want the aggressive drivers in front of you anyway, because they will continue to cause brake-slamming behind you. It's quite amusing to see them get in front of me and they keep switching and you're barely even behind them.

 

I used to drive like this when I had to commute. Worked well for me, mostly.

 

What we really need is to have some big auto maker lobby Congress to pass a new law requiring every car to have an anti-traffic jamming device, forcing drivers to follow at a safe distance. Driving is so overrated anyway.

We need more asphalt!

Then again, obtuse, agressive, or self-righteous drivers would screw up all the Tarmac in the world, you know the type I'm talking about:
slow left lane drivers
folks who pass on the sholder
folks who leave the travel lanes for the merge lane to pass
self absorbed drivers not paying attention/talking on the cell

That's how traffic jams get started in the first place.

So we need to have a lot more training and education for drivers, not just on how to negotiate traffic jams, but on all facets of driving (skill, knowledge, courtesy, awareness, etc).

 

just tried it today coming to work


if it's a 4 lane highway, just stay in one of the middle lanes and leave a large gap, and don't expect to close it.

helps relieve the stress of stop and go driving

 

But I like to apply one of these (see Figure #1) to the self-rightous folks that cut me off. They only do it...once!

Figure #1






























Juuuuuuuuuuuuuuuust j/k folks


BUT...I must join the side of the fence that is biotching about the fact that if I leave / allow a gap to evolve in front of my car as I maintain a constant speed...that gap will be filled by drivers that will fall out of their lane and "take my gap."


And if they do it without using their turnsignal, I apply Figure #1