Re: Advice to Drivers of Small Pointless Japanese Cars

In message <Riv8k.14853$4f6.8178@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>, "Ulysses"
<eatmyspam@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote:

>Well, according to your definition I *may* be a Sloth Coaster.  

If you have to ask, you probably are. :)

>As for
>brakes, it puts a lot more wear on the brakes to make a hard stop.  Us
>sloths don't do many brake jobs because we don't use them very much.

And that is the most im****tant thing in the universe, right?

How much does a brake job cost these days? Compare the value of that
one brake job you managed to avoid over those 150,000 miles against
the value of all the time you have wasted. Is your time truly worth so
little?

>It takes more gas to accelerate quickly than moderately.  

A platitude straight out of the 70s, when cars all had (maladjusted)
carburetors with secondary pumps that sprayed more gasoline into the
air than they did into the venturi of the carb. Have you ever bothered
to test your theory using a modern vehicle? Or did you just accept the
dogma as fact without even questioning it?

>I do not speed up so slowly as to impede anyone else but I have to pay
for my
>own gas so I try not to waste it.  If it is at all possible I will make
>every effort to allow a Jackrabbit to pass me or situate myself in the
lanes
>so that Jackrabbit can get past me easily.  

You're more considerate than 99.9% of the Sloth Coasters out there,
and my hat is off to you in appreciation. I honestly don't have a
problem with any speed that people want to drive, as long as they keep
to the right and don't block other drivers needlessly. Unfortunately,
there just aren't very many Sloth Coasters who are as considerate as
you are. They'll block whichever lane they happen to be in, and they
don't give a damn who is inconvenienced by it.

>If I am on a single-lane country
>road where no safe passing is possible I will go the speed limit if
someone
>with an axiety problem is behind me.  

I will pull off the road, either into a turnout (if available) or onto
the shoulder, and let them past. 

>On one particular stretch I have had
>people pass me countless times only to end up right behind them (or is
some
>cases ahead of them) at the stop light several miles down the road.  I
have
>no doubt that I used less fuel to get there.  

Well, since you never check your assumptions, how will you ever know?
:)

Is Sloth Coasting some sort of religious experience, where you take
everything on faith?

>I don't know where you live in
>SoCal but at least *some* towns have the lights timed 

I live in a newer section (South Orange County) where all the lights
are sensor-controlled. Of course, the local Sloth Coasters don't
change their behaviorwhen the lights aren't timed - my bet is they
don't even notice.

>If I am driving on public roads I consider my car to be trans****tation,
not
>a s****t. 

Well, the game you're playing is a bit different, but it's still a
"s****t." The goal of your s****t is to maximize your gas mileage and
minimize the number of brake jobs you have to perform on your car. My
"s****t" is to maximize my throughput and get from Point A to Point B
as efficiently as possible while minimizing needless delays. You're
every bit as much a "player" as I am.

>As for getting there 2 minutes sooner, so what?  

The difference can be a lot larger than 2 minutes. The time I passed
my Sloth Coaster co-worker on the way to work one morning the
difference was more like 7 minutes over a distance of only a couple
miles. Most of that was undoubtedly time he spent idling at red
lights, getting ZERO MPG. I arrived at the office earlier AND probably
used less fuel.

>I see many people risking their lives and the lives of those around them 

Driving AT the posted speed limit is "risking lives?"

>Another thing that doesn't ever seem to get mentioned is that by
repeatedly
>changing lanes on the freeway and cutting in front of other cars people
are
>actually slowing down traffic.  

You speak as if they only alternative to Sloth Coasting is to weave in
and out of traffic and cut people off. How about those of us who don't
get in anyone's way, don't slow anyone down, and just want to drive
efficiently?

Besides that, when you change lanes in front of someone and accelerate
away, he does not need to brake because you are going faster than he
is. So where's the slowdown?

>Every time someone cuts in front of someone
>else that person has to either take their foot off the gas or apply the
>brakes.  

Maybe that's what happens when YOU cut in front of someone...
Personally, I only change lanes if I'm going as fast or faster than
the car that is about to be behind me. I never force them to slow down
in any way.

I call it the Golden Rule of Driving: "I'll stay out of your way, just
as I would have you stay out of mine." If everyone followed this rule,
we wouldn't be having this conversation

>> Sloth Coasters are all smug and sanctimonious because they usually
>> coast up to a light just after it has turned red. "You see?" they crow
>> to anyone within earshot. "Good thing I coasted because I wouldn't
>> have made the light anyway!" What these guys fail to realize, of
>> course, is that it's a self-fulfilling prophecy. By driving so slowly,
>
>This is a conradiction--how could they be sanctimonious if it didn't work
>for them?

Probably because they take everything on faith, and never realize it's
not actually working as well as they think.

>> The other bogus claim you hear a lot is "the guys who don't Sloth
>> Coast never get where they're going any faster." Well, that's complete
>> bull****. I've told the story in r.a.d of how I caught up to my Sloth
>> Coasting co-worker and beat him to the office by several minutes,
>> primarily because I made it through at least one traffic light that he
>> did not. There have been countless instances where I have passed some
>> Sloth and made it through a "stale" green light, while the Sloth gets
>> caught by the red. I get there faster often enough to make it well
>> worth the effort to try.
>
>This is what I was talking about.  So they got there a couple of minutes
>sooner.  For what?  They simply want to "win."

No, they simply want to get where they're going without unnecessary
delays caused by inconsiderate road hogs. Why do you wish to deny them
this simple freedom?
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