I accelerated quickly from the lights and saved time

Today I was at a traffic light. There were no other lights further on
(just a T intersection about 1km away). When it went green, I
accelerated briskly up to the speed limit. The other cars slotherated.

When I reached the T intersection, I was able to turn ahead of an
18-wheeler coming through from the side. The slotherators had to
be stuck behind it. I then passed through another light just before
it went yellow, which the truck had to stop for. I never saw any
of them again.

My non-slotheration saved me at least 4 minutes on my trip time,
and probably more, since the nature of the roads was that it would
have been difficult to pass the truck, and circuitous to take an
alternative route. Note that I also saved the amount of fuel that
I would have used to idle or drive at low throttle behind the truck
for this extra 4 minutes or more.

Old Wolf wrote:
> Today I was at a traffic light. There were no other lights further on
> (just a T intersection about 1km away). When it went green, I
> accelerated briskly up to the speed limit. The other cars slotherated.
>
> When I reached the T intersection, I was able to turn ahead of an
> 18-wheeler coming through from the side. The slotherators had to
> be stuck behind it. I then passed through another light just before
> it went yellow, which the truck had to stop for. I never saw any
> of them again.
>
> My non-slotheration saved me at least 4 minutes on my trip time,
> and probably more, since the nature of the roads was that it would
> have been difficult to pass the truck, and circuitous to take an
> alternative route. Note that I also saved the amount of fuel that
> I would have used to idle or drive at low throttle behind the truck
> for this extra 4 minutes or more.

4 minutes saved over a 1 km range plus one light?
You used more gas accelerating 'briskly' than you would have following
the truck. Driving slower (within reason) is more economical than
faster.

Harry K

N8N wrote:
> Harry K wrote:
> > Old Wolf wrote:
> > > Today I was at a traffic light. There were no other lights further on
> > > (just a T intersection about 1km away). When it went green, I
> > > accelerated briskly up to the speed limit. The other cars slotherated.
> > >
> > > When I reached the T intersection, I was able to turn ahead of an
> > > 18-wheeler coming through from the side. The slotherators had to
> > > be stuck behind it. I then passed through another light just before
> > > it went yellow, which the truck had to stop for. I never saw any
> > > of them again.
> > >
> > > My non-slotheration saved me at least 4 minutes on my trip time,
> > > and probably more, since the nature of the roads was that it would
> > > have been difficult to pass the truck, and circuitous to take an
> > > alternative route. Note that I also saved the amount of fuel that
> > > I would have used to idle or drive at low throttle behind the truck
> > > for this extra 4 minutes or more.
> >
> > 4 minutes saved over a 1 km range plus one light?
> > You used more gas accelerating 'briskly' than you would have following
> > the truck. Driving slower (within reason) is more economical than
> > faster.
> >
> > Harry K
>
> Are you sure about that? to the best of my knowledge you can't
> actually make that statement without conducting carefully controlled
> tests on the exact vehicle in question.

I think all internal combustion engines share some characteristics and
operate on the same principles so one might draw a conclusion, for
example, that holding any engine at its peak torque rpm will require
more fuel than maintaining the idle rpm and other extrapolations of
that nature and so provide us with general indications of the
tendencies of ICE's... if not the exact data of a certain vehicle of a
certain weight operating in a certain atmospheric pressure crunched
down to a gnat's ass.

I think we could safely conclude that Mr. Wolf, in his haste and
boundless joy and excitement at finding an open road to his front for a
change, very likely failed to maintain a velocity or rate of
acceleration that resulted in the maximization of his fuel economy.

We can not calculate the minimization of the fuel economy of any
vehicles wishing to access the road to his front whose idle time was
increased as he MFFY'd himself into their rightful space/s in the
traffic flow... but I don't think it can be discounted.
-----

- gpsman

I'm sure it's a lot of fun to punch it every once in a while. But I
doubt that you did much more than burn gas, increase the wear on your
car and enjoy a very temporary thrill.

Ignore the nattering nabobs of negativity.
Moderate acceleration to terminal velocity is the way to do it.

Dave

In article .com>, Ed Pirrero wrote:

> You're an idiot if you think using the road in the most time-efficient
> manner is somehow "MFFY". Oh, wait - that's right. You stop in the
> middle of the road to let those who are coming from side roads join the
> main road, even if you don't have a stop sign. What, you don't? What
> kind of MFFY driver are you?

I've seen drivers do that, in fact at one particular intersection on my
commute it seems to be commonplace. A driver on the main road stops to
make a left on to the cross road. One of the drivers from the side road
will make a left on to the main road before the driver from the main road
turns. (violation of right-of-way as the driver on the main road has
right of way) OR the driver waiting behind the one turning from the main
road will continue to wait allowing drivers from the side road to turn
left on to the main road.

On 25 Apr 2006 18:56:38 -0700, "Old Wolf" >
wrote:

>Today I was at a traffic light. There were no other lights further on
>(just a T intersection about 1km away). When it went green, I
>accelerated briskly up to the speed limit. The other cars slotherated.
>
>When I reached the T intersection, I was able to turn ahead of an
>18-wheeler coming through from the side. The slotherators had to
>be stuck behind it. I then passed through another light just before
>it went yellow, which the truck had to stop for. I never saw any
>of them again.
>
>My non-slotheration saved me at least 4 minutes on my trip time,
>and probably more, since the nature of the roads was that it would
>have been difficult to pass the truck, and circuitous to take an
>alternative route. Note that I also saved the amount of fuel that
>I would have used to idle or drive at low throttle behind the truck
>for this extra 4 minutes or more.

4 minutes?? WOW!!! And you only ran over three kids in the process.

Brent P wrote:

> I've seen drivers do that, in fact at one particular intersection on my
> commute it seems to be commonplace. A driver on the main road stops to
> make a left on to the cross road. One of the drivers from the side road
> will make a left on to the main road before the driver from the main road
> turns. (violation of right-of-way as the driver on the main road has
> right of way) OR the driver waiting behind the one turning from the main
> road will continue to wait allowing drivers from the side road to turn
> left on to the main road.

In my country, those side-road drivers actually have the right of
way if there are no yield signs (with your 'left' being our 'right'
since we drive on the left). Most people seem to be unaware of
this law (despite it being in the licence test); probably because
almost all intersections do have paint giving right of way to the
main road drivers.

laura bush - VEHICULAR HOMICIDE wrote:

> "Old Wolf" > wrote:
>>>My non-slotheration saved me at least 4 minutes on my trip time,
>
> 4 minutes?? WOW!!! And you only ran over three kids in the process.

Actually it was 2 kids and their dog, it just ran out in the road.

Meh, I am so used to gpsman's bile that I actually find your
posts refreshing and funny now. Keep it up!

In article .com>, Old Wolf wrote:
> Brent P wrote:
>
>> I've seen drivers do that, in fact at one particular intersection on my
>> commute it seems to be commonplace. A driver on the main road stops to
>> make a left on to the cross road. One of the drivers from the side road
>> will make a left on to the main road before the driver from the main road
>> turns. (violation of right-of-way as the driver on the main road has
>> right of way) OR the driver waiting behind the one turning from the main
>> road will continue to wait allowing drivers from the side road to turn
>> left on to the main road.
>
> In my country, those side-road drivers actually have the right of
> way if there are no yield signs (with your 'left' being our 'right'
> since we drive on the left). Most people seem to be unaware of
> this law (despite it being in the licence test); probably because
> almost all intersections do have paint giving right of way to the
> main road drivers.

The side road in this case has a stop sign, the main road does not.