I want to take a moment to address something that has become a growing scourge. It regularly impacts not only my professional life, but it is a hazard on the open roadways. Ladies and gentlemen, when you are able, turn on your cruise control.
As a part of my job, I regularly need to drive long distances. There is nothing more frustrating than seeing the same car over and over. I pass them, they pass me, I pass them, and on and on for miles. Just turn on your cruise control.
On long distance journeys, it helps both the flow of traffic, and your general comfort. Having your foot constantly hovering over the pedals to try to maintain your speed, or to brake or speed up to try to maintain some sort of equilibrium is much more physically and mentally taxing than a simple trek through the prairies needs to be. Turn on the cruise control.
Maintaining a constant speed, and I don't care if it is fast or slow, gives you a bit of predictability. Faster vehicles know that they should stay in the left lane, and slower vehicles know that they need to stay out of your way. If you have, say, slowed down a bit, and a car you passed 30 seconds ago is passing you again, your inclination would be to speed up again. The car passing you is now hung out to dry in the left lane, you are now probably speeding, and the steady rhythm of traffic flow are disrupted. Having a reliable rate, moving to left lanes when passing and otherwise driving in the right lane on more rural or lower traffic highways makes things predictable, and therefore safer.
And also, it's better for gas mileage, and won't annoy all the other drivers who ARE using cruise control. You get to manage your speed, and you don't have to focus on the speedometer, but rather the road in front of you and respond to the various hazards as they come up. The actual, real hazards like weather, deer, or other drivers that can't maintain their speed.
Turn on your cruise control.
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