Having spent several hours on the Interstate today, and about 45 minutes on a two-lane highway, I have only one question: Does anybody except me use the automatic speed control that's standard equipment on most cars? I get frustrated behind drivers who go anywhere from 55 to 75, slowing down and speeding up at random intervals without any discernable reasons. I love the speed control, and I've been using it since 1976. I always use it when I'm outside the city limits, but as far as I can tell, I'm the only one.
Oh, well. I'm safely arrived at Judy's old homeplace, Thornton, Texas, where the only Internet access is through a tin can and a string. So blogging is likely to be quite light for a couple of days.
4 comments:
If you mean cruise control, yes I use it once I get out of the city, especially going down to Florida and from Las Vegas to Phoenix.
Drivers do any number of stupid things and all we can do is stay alert and try to get out of the way of the crazier ones.
My usual commuting complaint, now that my daily trip is mostly on highways, is the idiot-default assumption that tailgating is the only way to drive...that at 35 or 75 MPH, the proper distance between cars is approximately .5-1 car length...which of course means that any slowdown or other activity in the car in front means a sudden braking by the car behind, and so on...necessarily slowing heavy traffic ever more as we pass down the line of tailgating and sane drivers behind. My driving down to the DC suburbs from the Philly burbs reminds me that, if anything, such brilliance is more common around the Capitol Beltway than in the old capitol.
I find I don't use cruise control much, since it won't make much difference when I have to pass and dodge these and other folks doing their mysterious things. Such as slowing down suddenly for the Maryland speedtraps....
I sure do use cruise control. I wouldn't own a car without it. We had some harrowing narrow escapes on the road between Las Vegas and Tonopah. I'm in cruise at 75 mph. The truck coming toward me is probably doing 70 mph. And he's passing a car going more slowly. Doesn't he realize that our combined speeds are 145 mph? This happened not once, not twice, but three times. They blink their headlights at you as if that will solve all problems. In my old age I still have pretty good reflexes and the shoulder was the only place to go. Whew!
The only time I can keep it on for more than 10 minutes at a time is when I go to work at 4 a.m. When I drive I-5 to Portland it's a constant shift from 80 in the fast lane to 55 in the slow (in a 70 mph stretch). I like to stay between 65 and 75, so I'm always changing lanes to pass the slowpokes and get out of the way of the speeders.
An old girlfriend used it everywhere, even doing 25 in town.
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