Druff's "Fastest Car on the Road" theory

[PLOL]

Druff seems like the type of guy who roots for the Cops in LA car chases. No offense

[Krypt]

Druff the type of nigga to slap his own ass during sex

[donkdowndonedied]

People who believe this are quite ego-centric.

It is obvious that matching speeds with everyone else is the most safe way to drive.

If you are the best driver then your biggest chance of a wreck is from the random shit people do. Well, that random shit doesn't impact you unless you give it a chance, which you do by passing people.

I had a friend who made this same claim, but he claimed you were safest because it minimized your time driving. This same guy thought a lot of things that didn't get him very far...

Being the fastest car actually forces you to constantly pass people. I didn't hear the specific argument this references, but come'on.

[Dan Druff]

People who believe this are quite ego-centric.

It is obvious that matching speeds with everyone else is the most safe way to drive.

If you are the best driver then your biggest chance of a wreck is from the random shit people do. Well, that random shit doesn't impact you unless you give it a chance, which you do by passing people.

I had a friend who made this same claim, but he claimed you were safest because it minimized your time driving. This same guy thought a lot of things that didn't get him very far...

Being the fastest car actually forces you to constantly pass people. I didn't hear the specific argument this references, but come'on.

There is no way to match speeds with everyone else. There will always be variance of speed on the road.

You seem to be claiming that passing people in dangerous, but I will counter that it's safer to be the one passing (if you are a safe, sane, sober driver) than the one being passed. And that's my whole point.

I'm also not referring to one-lane-each-way highways, where you have to go into oncoming traffic to past. I concede that brings additional risk.

[PLOL]

People who believe this are quite ego-centric.

It is obvious that matching speeds with everyone else is the most safe way to drive.

If you are the best driver then your biggest chance of a wreck is from the random shit people do. Well, that random shit doesn't impact you unless you give it a chance, which you do by passing people.

I had a friend who made this same claim, but he claimed you were safest because it minimized your time driving. This same guy thought a lot of things that didn't get him very far...

Being the fastest car actually forces you to constantly pass people. I didn't hear the specific argument this references, but come'on.

There is no way to match speeds with everyone else. There will always be variance of speed on the road.

You seem to be claiming that passing people in dangerous, but I will counter that it's safer to be the one passing (if you are a safe, sane, sober driver) than the one being passed. And that's my whole point.

I'm also not referring to one-lane-each-way highways, where you have to go into oncoming traffic to past. I concede that brings additional risk.

Uh, okay, then you're just transferring the risk to somebody else

[shortbuspoker]

[Dan Druff]

There is no way to match speeds with everyone else. There will always be variance of speed on the road.

You seem to be claiming that passing people in dangerous, but I will counter that it's safer to be the one passing (if you are a safe, sane, sober driver) than the one being passed. And that's my whole point.

I'm also not referring to one-lane-each-way highways, where you have to go into oncoming traffic to past. I concede that brings additional risk.

Uh, okay, then you're just transferring the risk to somebody else

Not really.

I have the confidence in myself to know that, despite driving faster, I am cautious when it comes to making safe moves and watching carefully for the other driver's actions.

When there's people passing me, I have no idea what the fuck their story is. They may be drunk, on drugs, looking at their phone, overly aggressive, careless, etc.

I feel much safer being the one in control of the passing, especially because I fully know what to expect from myself.

[PLOL]

95% of drivers think they're better drivers than 50% of drivers. Just like poker, nobody thinks they're a fish

[Deal]

95% of drivers think they're better drivers than 50% of drivers. Just like poker, nobody thinks they're a fish

and the more confident they are, the more leaks they have. Case in point, Druff.

[hongkonger]

As someone who spent two years of his life researching the FARS database can say without a doubt the OP is correct about average speed relation to traffic being the safest. LOL at fastest car being safest. There is so much info to contradict this and truly hope people are not honestly taking this strategy especially if driving with young children or for that matter drives a motorcycle..

Average speed is absolutely safest. The data prove it.

[donkdowndonedied]

People who believe this are quite ego-centric.

It is obvious that matching speeds with everyone else is the most safe way to drive.

If you are the best driver then your biggest chance of a wreck is from the random shit people do. Well, that random shit doesn't impact you unless you give it a chance, which you do by passing people.

I had a friend who made this same claim, but he claimed you were safest because it minimized your time driving. This same guy thought a lot of things that didn't get him very far...

Being the fastest car actually forces you to constantly pass people. I didn't hear the specific argument this references, but come'on.

There is no way to match speeds with everyone else. There will always be variance of speed on the road.

You seem to be claiming that passing people in dangerous, but I will counter that it's safer to be the one passing (if you are a safe, sane, sober driver) than the one being passed. And that's my whole point.

I'm also not referring to one-lane-each-way highways, where you have to go into oncoming traffic to past. I concede that brings additional risk.

Well, I didn't say passing people is "dangerous" but it definitely more dangerous than not passing people.

Yes you can't match the speed of everyone, but in general on a 3 lane highway you can just sit in the middle lane and go the same speed as most drivers. There is no need to constantly pass someone just to get at your destination ~1 minute sooner.

Also I'm not sure it is safer to be the one passing. The other guy can simply not see you and move into your lane anytime during the process. I'm not sure how you can think one person is safer than the other .. and you can never eliminate the randomness of other drives, so you can mitigate the effect of their randomness. Which is what driving with the traffic speed does.

[LarryLaffer]

Druff, how many speeding tickets have you gotten in the last 10 years.

this would be a great indicator on wether or not your theory is just a bunch of horse shit.

[limitles]

As someone who spent two years of his life researching the FARS database can say without a doubt the OP is correct about average speed relation to traffic being the safest. LOL at fastest car being safest. There is so much info to contradict this and truly hope people are not honestly taking this strategy especially if driving with young children or for that matter drives a motorcycle..

My point re: power/speed is, more cars nearby = greater potential hazard, and no you don't need a fast car to achieve this but they don't just build em fast. Bus, the safest, least satisfying.

[GringoStar]

Something about this theory reminds me of the counter-intuitive instructions we all receive during fire drills.

It has always seemed strange to me that, in the event of a fire, we are all supposed to calmly walk in single file out of the building without running or trying to get around people. Of course, I understand that the main concern is causing a build-up of people which can lead to panic, confusion, and trampling.

So, the main danger of running out of a building on fire is that you'll run into other people. Similarly, if you drive fast, the main danger is other cars. Therefore, separating yourself from other cars would make the most sense, in terms of eliminating the biggest hazard on the road, which is other dumb drivers (unless you live in rural PA and deer jump in the road every 15 minutes.)

There is probably an algorithm that could dictate the level of speed needed to separate from a pack of cars, but dictates that speed based on the density of cars, their average speed, as well as the distance and speed of the upcoming vehicles, etc.

On longer road trips, I try to accelerate out of groups of cars, but I will try to find what I call a "rabbit" which is a car that's also going faster than the pack and I let them lead me by several car lengths in case of any road pirates. I call them a rabbit, because I think of the rabbit in dog racing, staying just ahead of the greyhounds.

Oh, and here is an interesting article (albeit Canadian) about how merging late could be better for traffic in aggregate: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/globe...ticle33596301/

[FPS_Russia]

Druff's theory is horrible, over time there's a chance that one second you quit paying attn you're going to look up and all traffic has stopped. If your going to do that give yourself an extra long following distance. If you keep rolling the dice you'll eventually get snake eyes.

To each their own but I just want to remind people about the dangers of rear ending an 18 wheeler. Your air bag and seat belt won't save you and they're always going slow or stopped.




iirc Before the trailers were required to have extra beams to keep you from going under even low speed crashes were pretty bad.

Here's what scares me, red light runners and drunks. Gl out there folks.

[Dan Druff]

Something about this theory reminds me of the counter-intuitive instructions we all receive during fire drills.

It has always seemed strange to me that, in the event of a fire, we are all supposed to calmly walk in single file out of the building without running or trying to get around people. Of course, I understand that the main concern is causing a build-up of people which can lead to panic, confusion, and trampling.

So, the main danger of running out of a building on fire is that you'll run into other people. Similarly, if you drive fast, the main danger is other cars. Therefore, separating yourself from other cars would make the most sense, in terms of eliminating the biggest hazard on the road, which is other dumb drivers (unless you live in rural PA and deer jump in the road every 15 minutes.)

There is probably an algorithm that could dictate the level of speed needed to separate from a pack of cars, but dictates that speed based on the density of cars, their average speed, as well as the distance and speed of the upcoming vehicles, etc.

On longer road trips, I try to accelerate out of groups of cars, but I will try to find what I call a "rabbit" which is a car that's also going faster than the pack and I let them lead me by several car lengths in case of any road pirates. I call them a rabbit, because I think of the rabbit in dog racing, staying just ahead of the greyhounds.

Oh, and here is an interesting article (albeit Canadian) about how merging late could be better for traffic in aggregate: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/globe...ticle33596301/

So you're saying you agree with me?

You raise a good point, though. Often highway traffic will exist in "packs", where there is a group of cars traveling approximately the same speed, and then no one on the road for awhile. This is especially true when the front cars of the "pack" are traveling maybe 5 MPH over the speed limit, where most drivers don't see a need to pass them (even if they prefer to drive a little faster), and where other drivers don't want to bother navigating through the pack to get in front of it.

I agree that carefully getting by the pack lowers your chance of being hit, as the greatest hazard on the road is indeed other cars, as you said.

A lot of the opposition I'm seeing in this thread doesn't apply to the points I've made.

How many tickets do I get? Irrelevant. We're talking about safety from injury, not avoidance of tickets. However, I can tell you that my driving record has been 100% clean with 0 points for many years.

Am I creating a danger regarding traffic in front of me abruptly stopping? No. I am not talking about doing this in heavy or moderately heavy traffic or slow-moving surface streets, but rather on relatively open highways. (Think the drive from LA-Vegas, for example, once you get past the traffic jams in southern CA.)

Am I simply living in denial by saying that it's okay for me to be the fast car passing people, while I don't feel comfortable with others passing me? No. I don't drink, don't do drugs, don't drive recklessly, pay attention to the road, and have good reflexes. If I knew all drivers behind me were this way, I would feel fine, but clearly that's something which isn't the case. Even if you want to say that I'm overestimating my own abilities, the fact is that I've driven for 29 years with zero accidents over 20 MPH, so that should say something.

[limitles]

Something about this theory reminds me of the counter-intuitive instructions we all receive during fire drills.

It has always seemed strange to me that, in the event of a fire, we are all supposed to calmly walk in single file out of the building without running or trying to get around people. Of course, I understand that the main concern is causing a build-up of people which can lead to panic, confusion, and trampling.

So, the main danger of running out of a building on fire is that you'll run into other people. Similarly, if you drive fast, the main danger is other cars. Therefore, separating yourself from other cars would make the most sense, in terms of eliminating the biggest hazard on the road, which is other dumb drivers (unless you live in rural PA and deer jump in the road every 15 minutes.)

There is probably an algorithm that could dictate the level of speed needed to separate from a pack of cars, but dictates that speed based on the density of cars, their average speed, as well as the distance and speed of the upcoming vehicles, etc.

On longer road trips, I try to accelerate out of groups of cars, but I will try to find what I call a "rabbit" which is a car that's also going faster than the pack and I let them lead me by several car lengths in case of any road pirates. I call them a rabbit, because I think of the rabbit in dog racing, staying just ahead of the greyhounds.

Oh, and here is an interesting article (albeit Canadian) about how merging late could be better for traffic in aggregate: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/globe...ticle33596301/

So you're saying you agree with me?

You raise a good point, though. Often highway traffic will exist in "packs", where there is a group of cars traveling approximately the same speed, and then no one on the road for awhile. This is especially true when the front cars of the "pack" are traveling maybe 5 MPH over the speed limit, where most drivers don't see a need to pass them (even if they prefer to drive a little faster), and where other drivers don't want to bother navigating through the pack to get in front of it.

I agree that carefully getting by the pack lowers your chance of being hit, as the greatest hazard on the road is indeed other cars, as you said.

A lot of the opposition I'm seeing in this thread doesn't apply to the points I've made.

How many tickets do I get? Irrelevant. We're talking about safety from injury, not avoidance of tickets. However, I can tell you that my driving record has been 100% clean with 0 points for many years.

Am I creating a danger regarding traffic in front of me abruptly stopping? No. I am not talking about doing this in heavy or moderately heavy traffic or slow-moving surface streets, but rather on relatively open highways. (Think the drive from LA-Vegas, for example, once you get past the traffic jams in southern CA.)

Am I simply living in denial by saying that it's okay for me to be the fast car passing people, while I don't feel comfortable with others passing me? No. I don't drink, don't do drugs, don't drive recklessly, pay attention to the road, and have good reflexes. If I knew all drivers behind me were this way, I would feel fine, but clearly that's something which isn't the case. Even if you want to say that I'm overestimating my own abilities, the fact is that I've driven for 29 years with zero accidents over 20 MPH, so that should say something.

Well thanks for noticing. No algorithm needed either. Today almost all cars can delivery enough speed to separate yourself but you can do the same with your brakes. The Puddin has also picked up on the "rabbit" idea, perhaps using an algorithm, for those with a lead-foot. If you're going to pour money into a fine vehicle you bloody well might use it now and again.

[Zap_the_Fractions_Giraffe]

There is no safe driving. We were all born into a nightmare world.

[MrTickle]

[gauchojake]