This is a perfect example of what happens when someone takes a concept with a benefit at an individual level and wrongly extrapolates it without considering the effects of scale.
Sounds great but you have to ask yourself what the impact would be if the majority of drivers practiced these techniques. Gridlock! That's what. Imagine for one second what all this "slow accelerating, leaving more space and slowing down sooner" would do to traffic flow. I want to reduce gas consumption and burn less fossil fuels but the result of these well-meaning suggestions is traffic chaos. The same number of cars, each taking up more road space, travelling less miles per hour will take more hours. Does that even make it a net benefit? I suggest the added time spent driving may well cost more fuel in the long run. Remember automobile engines have efficiency curves. They are NOT more efficient at lower RPM. Most maximize MPG at around 35 MPH (50 KMH) which is the maximum speed limit in most cities and suburbs. So do not be fooled into thinking that the slower you drive the better gas mileage you get. It just aint true.
Truemors
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at 18:53 on March 28th, 2008
NOT GOOD STUFF
This is a perfect example of what happens when someone takes a concept with a benefit at an individual level and wrongly extrapolates it without considering the effects of scale.
Sounds great but you have to ask yourself what the impact would be if the majority of drivers practiced these techniques. Gridlock! That's what. Imagine for one second what all this "slow accelerating, leaving more space and slowing down sooner" would do to traffic flow. I want to reduce gas consumption and burn less fossil fuels but the result of these well-meaning suggestions is traffic chaos. The same number of cars, each taking up more road space, travelling less miles per hour will take more hours. Does that even make it a net benefit? I suggest the added time spent driving may well cost more fuel in the long run. Remember automobile engines have efficiency curves. They are NOT more efficient at lower RPM. Most maximize MPG at around 35 MPH (50 KMH) which is the maximum speed limit in most cities and suburbs. So do not be fooled into thinking that the slower you drive the better gas mileage you get. It just aint true.