Expectation of Sloth
 

In article >, Scott en Aztlán wrote:
> What sorts of vehicles do you expect to be driven by Sloths? The Prius
> has already been mentioned, but it looks like SUVs can also be added
> to this list, at least while gas prces are high.

SUVs are always on the list.

> So what other types of vehicles carry a high expectation of Sloth?

I have a sort of rating system.

ordinary 4 door sedan gets a 1.
rice boy car, or mullet driven camaro gets a .75
minivan 1.5
SUV 1.5
super large SUV 1.75
geo metro type car 1.2
super expensive sports car 1.5/2 (I rarely see them driven anything but
slothy)
cement truck 3.5
gravel truck 3
school bus 3
Box truck 2.5
work van 2
buick 1.8
buick driven by someone older than 70 2.5
taxi with passenger 2
taxi without passenger 1
Limo (LV plates in IL) 1.5 (small) 2 (large) 3 (stretched SUV)

I could go on putting this to text, but you get the idea. It's more or
less a quick mental scoring I do of traffic as I approach a light to
decide which lane to be in. The lane with the highest score is generally the
slowest lane.

Now there the odds of sloth effect. For instance, 5 passenger cars
may be a worse choice than a gravel truck and two passenger cars because
of this effect. A large number of vehicles has greater odds of having
that sloth that could be beaten by a 2 year old on a tricycle. The sloth
that will be diving a 1.5 vehicle but actually score a 4 as he can't keep
up with the gravel truck. These sort of people take some skill to
predict who they are. Without data one can just play the odds. And then
there is turning.... If a lane has a good number of people turning it has
to have its sloth rating increased by a factor that just takes experience
with the area.

I would say my instinct on picking the faster lane (wether I get in it or
not) is probably around 75%.

Expectation of Sloth
 

In article >, Scott en Aztlán wrote:

> OTOH, one can improve one's odds considerably by making mental notes
> of how each driver behaved at the previous light.

If I have that, then my odds of picking the best lane are close to 100%.

> If I have the choice
> between getting behind a -10 Sloth who is alone in one lane, or
> getting behind 2 or 3 normal cars in another, I'll pick the normal
> cars rather than be pinned down behind the -10 Sloth. But, as you say,
> in the absence of such data, you just have to fall back on the rating
> system and keep improving it as time goes on.

I used the system to great effect when I did dynamic routing to and from
my previous employer. Sadly, there do not seem to be such choices to
where I currently work. I basically have to pick one of a small number of
routes practically from the get go. There really isn't any picking and
choosing of segments.