Turbo DV8
Flashlight Enthusiast
gadget_lover said:I brought the EPA figures up simply because one needs a common measuring stick. If you want to go with best milage based on memory, I have several pictures of my trip meter showing in excess of 70 MPG over a 15 minute period on a busy LA area freeway. I have a 100 mile stretch going into arizona that used just over a gallon.
I am not basing my personal mileage figures on my Corolla or my motorcycle from "memory," or a "best case scenario" snapshot of a momentary value calculated by a trip computer, since neither my car nor motorcycle have such. The figures I mention are based upon my calculations at each full tank fill up. Gallons used into miles traveled. It doesn't get any more real-world than that. It averages everything out, the way it should be. Maybe if my motorcycle had a mpg computer, I could cruise in sixth gear at a steady 55 mph ... going down a slight grade ... behind a semi ... with a tailwind ... and the computer might show me 100 mpg for that spell, who knows? Is it meaningful? Hell no. Because when I head up the other side of the hill and have to downshift, and the wind changes direction, and the semi takes the next exit, the mileage will crash. Averages are the only meaningful value when it comes to mpg and emissions. On the other hand, to the average person who has no clue how their driving style affects their fuel consumption, I think having a real-time electronic mpg computer onboard every car would open a lot of eyes when they see how much their mpg plummets every time they drag race from light to light.
As an aside, I have another comment on how solo driver hybrid use in carpool lanes might lead to further congestion. This isn't their fault, since they are only doing what the law allows them to. But, if I were a traffic cop ... I wouldn't even bother to enforce the carpool lane anymore. How could I? In the good old days, he could hide on the side and wait to see a car passing him doing 70+ mph in the carpool lane, but with only one occupant. Fast forward to the days of allowing hybrids into the carpool lane. Oops, sorry, not any or all hybrids, but only certain makes and types. Oops, uh-oh, not just certain makes, but only those with a special small sticker on their bumper within that make. So now I am a cop, waiting along the side, and I see a car whiz by with no passenger. Better hit the lights and siren. Oops, hold on now, is it a Prius or an eligible Honda? Does it have an "Access OK" sticker? Nope, no sticker. OK, he's toast! Wait, maybe there's just two weeks worth of wet weather, rear wheel road gorp built up on his rear fender, obscuring the sticker. Hard to say, since he's already 200 feet down the road by now. Ah, hell, it's clearly a Prius, who cares if it has a sticker? I'm not going to chase him down, just to see if he has a tiny sticker on his bumper.
Point is, by allowing an additional certain type of car into the carpool lane, other than a multi-occupant car, I have to surmise it has made carpool lane enforcement very impractical, if not virtually impossible. If I had any cop friends, I can just imagine they would laugh at the mention of "carpool lane enforcement" anymore. And with little or no visible enforcement anymore, we've just opened the floodgates to carpool lane cheaters of all types, hybrid or otherwise.
I guess it is clear that I am kind of opinionated on this topic, but I realize that I have somewhat hijacked this thread with my rants, and possibly discouraged others to enter discussion on the original topic, so I won't add a whole lot more from here out unless it perpetuates the thread topic. My apologies if I irked.
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