charts, farts.

ya know, as one of the early interviewees described as a hypermiler, in an article in which the reporter took liberties with what he heard about drafting semis, i am SICK TO DEATH of this dead horse being constantly whipped.

POINT ONE: has ANYONE on this board, or anyplace else for that matter, personally seen ANY hybrid car close enough to a semi to be a danger to either of them? this whole concept is totally ludicrous, grabbed onto by the media for it's senationalistic sound and thrown ***** nilly into just about every article about getting better mileage than i have seen, with no documentation that it's been done. by now we must all know better than to believe everything we read.

for one thing, and i know we have been accused of this also......most of us drive slower than 99% of the semis on the road. i have an 80 mile daily commute, made on a major truck artery through central minnesota, with a speed LIMIT of 65. i see a TON of semis, mostly going by me at a lot faster than the 60MPH i generally travel in the right lane. how do all of you who are so against this concept that has been created by the media suggest that i catch up with one of them to draft them? turbocharge? perhaps hook on like on a aircraft carrier? the only vehicles that i have EVER seen that close to a semi are generally in a conga line of speeders in the left lane. however, i DO feel the result of the draft CREATED by every semi that passes me for a while until he gets far enough ahead of me for the air turbulence to pass.

POINT TWO: hypermiler is a term. if you don't like, don't refer to yourself that way. it's just fine if you don't. however, it has been put out there and the media has picked it up, so we need to live with it and prove that what we are doing increases our mileage, and when done correctly is not dangerous. what IS dangerous is are these types of things i HAVE seen:

- speeding
-tailgating
-being told to get out of someone's way because they are in a hurry, they have the right to try and force us to speed as well, and accuse us of interfering with their apparently god-given right to speed
-driving tightly spaced in the left lane, usually a high speed, rather than using that lane as the passing lane
-rushing up behind a slower moving car, and waiting until the last minute to change lanes and pass. try looking ahead a little farther, eh?
-passing on a double yellow line, even though i am doing the speed limit. i experience this a LOT! or how about on a curve? up a hill? this is a heck of lot more common than hypermilers drafting semis
-passing at high speed, and then turning a quarter of a mile down the road, which goes along with being tailgated for a half mile, and then having them turn.
-this one is something i have seen frequently, and on two lane rural roads - pulling out from behind 3-4 cars (or more) and passing the entire flippin line in front of them. what in the world is this type of lunatic going to do if the first person in the line decides to turn left? if a deer runs across the road (which is not uncommon in the rural area live in)? how crazy have we become?

_did i mention speeding?

and by the way, there are other hybrids out there than the prius.

 

This thread really is getting pretty hostile, so I'm going to have to go ahead and close it. Sorry, guys.