Cruise Control
Submitted: Sunday, Jul 31, 2011 at 21:13
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mikehzz
I just returned from a quick trip to
Arkaroola from
Sydney (just because I had never been there) and I must say that I really love Cruise Control. The car eats kilometres at an amazing rate without any fear of being caught speeding and you don't get anywhere near as tired. I even have the GPS giving me a digital read out of just how fast I'm going down to the decimal point...109.8 kph in all the 110 zones. The car is so good it doesn't vary by more than +/-0.5 up any
hill or down any dale. Analogue dials...phttt!
Now here is the problem. Quite regularly there are people who don't have CC who fly past me like I'm standing still and then 10kms up the road I comfortably have to overtake them again because they have slowed dramatically. A further few kms up the road and they fly past me again only to slow yet again. This leap frogging can go on to the point where they actually get cranky at me. How can I prove to them that my speed hasn't changed and it is they who are doing the wrong thing? Or is it wrong for me to be driving along like a robotic terminator with unyieldingly constant speed? It's certainly annoying when you know you are doing the right thing and and others perceive it as the wrong thing.
Second problem. Other CC users are rarely a problem as the cruise keeps us separated by a comfortable margin and we don't clash all that often. However if some guy has set his cruise 0.5 kph slower than
mine and had a 2km head start then after 4 hours I will be creeping up on him. There is nothing more torturous than pulling out to overtake someone at 0.5kph. I'm talking dual carriageway like the Hume here. Obviously on a single lane you would plant it momentarily to get round. However the threat of getting caught speeding on the Hume is greater so you tend not to plant it under those circumstances and that leaves us blocking both lanes for an uncomfortably long time. It's like a comical race in slow motion with Fast Freddy and no cruise sitting behind us getting cranky yet again.
What's a fella going to do?
Mike
Reply By: Notso - Sunday, Jul 31, 2011 at 21:16
Sunday, Jul 31, 2011 at 21:16
Floor it and overtake, then explain to the magistrate that it was risk management. as being on the wrong side of the road is the most dangerous place to be, you were just trying to minimize the risk. You never know he/she might just believe you!
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Follow Up By: mikehzz - Sunday, Jul 31, 2011 at 21:20
Sunday, Jul 31, 2011 at 21:20
Yes I do floor it on a single carriageway but people tend not to on the dual lane roads like the Hume.
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Follow Up By: Robert K3 - Sunday, Jul 31, 2011 at 21:22
Sunday, Jul 31, 2011 at 21:22
You'd have to ask Sir Kev about that and what really does happen.
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Follow Up By: Hellman and co. - Monday, Aug 01, 2011 at 12:15
Monday, Aug 01, 2011 at 12:15
Would you beleive a mate of
mine who works in Mining industry only tried this excuse last week.
Explained that he has done all the training on risk analysis and is a trained supervisor etc, and he determined that the risk of speeding up to 115KPH was less than the risk of being on the wrong side of the road for a distance.
Police man refused explanation and said that under NO circumstances is anyone to exceed the speed limit.
He got a ticket.
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Follow Up By: Notso - Monday, Aug 01, 2011 at 15:50
Monday, Aug 01, 2011 at 15:50
Yeah, but if he takes it to court and explains this to a Magistrate, who are generally much more open to this sort of thing, he may win, you never know. The real problem is that speeding is considered to be an absolute offence, in other words you are guilty till proven innocent.
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Follow Up By: Bonz (Vic) - Monday, Aug 01, 2011 at 19:52
Monday, Aug 01, 2011 at 19:52
Speed limits aren't an exercise in risk management. That excuse wouldnt wash. They are an exercise in absolute numbers and revenue raising.
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Reply By: Bill BD - Sunday, Jul 31, 2011 at 21:25
Sunday, Jul 31, 2011 at 21:25
Your second problem is easy to solve. Just click your own speed back 0.5 km and all is good. Your first problem is a little more difficult. I would wind my speed back for while and let the irritating person get ahead. I certainly wouldn't be playing leapfrog with anyone. When using cruise control there is nothing more annoying than people not using cruise control.
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Reply By: Ruffy-Dan - Sunday, Jul 31, 2011 at 21:26
Sunday, Jul 31, 2011 at 21:26
You gently touch the accelerator and speed up by 2km/h. You are still
well and truly safe from recieving a ticket and you will now be travelling around 40 metres a minute faster than your rival. Within thirty seconds you will be back in the left hand lane with fast freddy no free to speed off
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Reply By: Madfisher - Sunday, Jul 31, 2011 at 22:38
Sunday, Jul 31, 2011 at 22:38
I recieved a nasty chip in my windscreen from doing that exact scenio on the hume. Next time I will just click the cruise up a bit. In NSW they give you a bit more leeway anyway, but SA and VIc I think is only 3ks.
And yes that is a pet hate of
mine too. Mind You before I had cruise I could hold a steady speed all day(use to wish my wife could) but now after using it for years find it hard to do so.
Cheers Pete
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Reply By: sweetwill - Monday, Aug 01, 2011 at 08:56
Monday, Aug 01, 2011 at 08:56
hello mikehzz.
when i'm driving and doing the speed limit give or take a few ks i really don't care what the other drivers think, let them over take as many times as they like so long as i am within the speed limit cheers mike.
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Reply By: Andrew & Jen - Monday, Aug 01, 2011 at 09:21
Monday, Aug 01, 2011 at 09:21
Hullo Mike
I agree - before I had one in the car, I thought they were a "toy". But now I use them most of the time, even in the metro area. Saves a lot of angst re speeding fines! :-)
There is one additional issue - the diiference in speed between those using their speedo vs those of us using accurate GPS. Most speedos over estimate the speed, ie, one of my cars is 5% slow, the other 4%. So the with my cars you need to be showing 105 and 104 on the speedo respectively.
But most people haven't a clue about their actual speed vs speedo speed. It is very easy to check, even without a GPS. If you are travelling at 100 kph, you will pass the 5 km markers every 3 minutes. If it takes longer, you speedo is over estimating. Then speed up a tad and retime the 5 kms. Continue this until you get 3 mins.
Cheers
Andrew
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Reply By: Member - Derek Jones - Monday, Aug 01, 2011 at 10:24
Monday, Aug 01, 2011 at 10:24
Slightly off topic - but my greatest irritation is those drivers who build convoys through their failure to overtake at opportune times.
It seems to me with more and more overtaking lanes being built more and more drivers are losing the confidence to overtake. This then leads to long convoys of cars all banking up behind a slower moving vehicle (usually a truck or caravan) which makes for a mad scramble at the next over taking lane.
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Follow Up By: roger ramjet - Monday, Aug 01, 2011 at 13:19
Monday, Aug 01, 2011 at 13:19
Ha
It must be all those as described above who refuse to take their vehicles off CC.
Man, now I know why all those idiots block both lanes of the highway as they take 3 minutes to crawl past some other vehicle like they're in lala land ! How annoying is that ??!
To use a line from a Robin Williams movee..."Your either overtaking, or your not. Make up your mind which and do that !"
As for the confidence levels I totally agree. Many people I see on the highway barely look in control of their vehicles, let alone having any real skill and judgement. Though probably better they sit in fear behind another than make a stupid mistake and wipe themselves and god knows who else off the planet.
Geez, those idiots and their CC, now I know what they're doing, it'll send me crazy......I probably wont sleep tonight now.... :-)
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Follow Up By: mikehzz - Monday, Aug 01, 2011 at 19:51
Monday, Aug 01, 2011 at 19:51
Hey Roger,
So you thought they were idiots before, but now you know they are CC idiots it will keep you awake? :-)
Lots of times slow overtakers on dual highways are just being cautious about getting a ticket cc or not. You nudge the speed up as much as you dare.....
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Follow Up By: roger ramjet - Wednesday, Aug 03, 2011 at 08:14
Wednesday, Aug 03, 2011 at 08:14
Hi Mike,
My distress is that they have a choice yet they let the machines take control. I had previously erred in their favour and assumed they had some sort of reasonable excuse. I guess if you're determined to avoid a ticket then you simply don't speed - fair enough.
I guess I'm not so risk averse - quite happy to blow up to 120 to get past in a reasonable time and not annoy those behind me. Driving actions should allow for others as
well as oneself IMHO.
I have CC and never use it, for all the annoying reasons listed here. I've tried it and it doesn't suit my driving style :-)
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Reply By: snoopyone - Monday, Aug 01, 2011 at 12:01
Monday, Aug 01, 2011 at 12:01
Worst effect of using cruise especially when towing is that it increases fuel consumption.
A Toyota will change down and roar up a
hill madly trying to maintain the set speed, when just letting it die off a bit and still get over will be much more economical. We never used Cruise at all on our trip.
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Follow Up By: Andrew & Jen - Monday, Aug 01, 2011 at 12:09
Monday, Aug 01, 2011 at 12:09
Agreed - I never use it in undulating country for that very reason. Just click it off and ease over hills. But on the flat - marvellous! :-)
Cheers
Andrew
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Reply By: ozjohn0 - Monday, Aug 01, 2011 at 16:13
Monday, Aug 01, 2011 at 16:13
I think that Cruise Control activates large large magnets built into the car body.
Anytime I'm using CC and slowly creap up on a slower car I can't get past as their speed increase to match
mine. Or a faster car approaches from behind and while overtaking their speed decreases to match
mine.
It must be the magnets keeping them in touch with me at the same speed. Drives me crazy.
Ozjohn.
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Reply By: Fatso - Monday, Aug 01, 2011 at 16:33
Monday, Aug 01, 2011 at 16:33
The use of cruise control should be mandatory if you have one.
Up here where Gino drives down the highway alternating between 70 & 100 while checking out Louigies & Santos cane paddocks it can get a bit frustrating.
Great eh. Last week near
Innisfail we got down to 60 behind some absent minded drongo where there was a solid line & then had to do 120 to get past them on the passing lane. I reckon if you were 3 cars back you wouldn't have even caught him.
I think I just hate the Bruce Highway anyway because of this.
Everyone else either wants to do 10k over or 30k under the speed limit except for those that are happy do the speed limit but want to do it 3 car lengths behind you.
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Reply By: Member - Bill B1 (NSW) - Monday, Aug 01, 2011 at 17:11
Monday, Aug 01, 2011 at 17:11
The Bruce Highway is a goat track. I'll bet any truck driver will tell you the same. Not enough overtaking lanes so the convoys form quickly.
Bill
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Reply By: LoveEmptyRoads - Tuesday, Aug 02, 2011 at 12:57
Tuesday, Aug 02, 2011 at 12:57
I use CC all the time, and on overtaking I floor it, my policy is that shorter the overtaking time, the safer it is. Yes and on double lanes, I just play with my CC, I know one tap is 2km/hr difference, so I acelerate or decelerate as I need, tapping my CC. Would not mind one of those expensive CC with laser control, which slows you down when behind somebody to the same speed. And I do not drive according to my speedo, but only use GPS for my speed.
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Reply By: mikehzz - Tuesday, Aug 02, 2011 at 13:07
Tuesday, Aug 02, 2011 at 13:07
A quick thank you to all the people who took time to reply with some tips and observations. Cheers, Mike
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