How To Take Getting Cut Off
Ever have that relaxing drive down the 405 Freeway at 5PM, full of smiles and friendly drivers slowing down to give you space and time to find your exit?
If you answered yes, you probably haven’t ever held a steering wheel before, or hail from downtown New York. It’s more than likely that you had to picture the aforementioned scenario with your car dancing to show tunes, a la Roger Rabbit—it’s just not realistic.
Photo from article by JOSH MAX Daily News Auto Correspondent | Tuesday, May 27th 2008
The sad reality of the daily commute is that there will be always be people violently cutting you off, because apparently you’re burning daylight if someone has to follow you at 70MPH (which, mind you, is 5 miles above the average California freeway speed limit.) Or worse, you may even subconsciously be one of these I-gotta-be-one-car-ahead-of-you-just-‘cause perpetrators.
So whether you’re in back breaking traffic, or just happily enjoying the scenic drive down the beach on a Thursday morning—why is it that we as drivers feel the need to battle each other like a heated Mario Kart match? Whether it’s Hollywood’s love of car chases, or video games that promote the idea of “get from point A to point B in x seconds or you’ll die!”, our minds are, in one way another, poisoned with the notion that urgency and feeling like you’re ahead of the game 24/7 will help you with your daily life.
Here’s a different, more realistic scenario to think of. When Daddy Warbucks in the 2009 Porsche 911 GT Turbo cuts you off, instead of getting offended by his wordlessly obvious statement of “you’re too slow noob,” it’d help to be aware of just what’s happening to his and your vehicle. Your vehicle’s gas pedal controls the amount of gasoline that is injected into your engine so it can burn and create energy. So a slow depressing of the pedal will slowly inject fuel into your engine, increasing speed at a slow, productive rate. Therefore, every time you smash the accelerator into the floor, you’re essentially injecting almost twice the amount of gasoline into your engine in that instance in order for your car respond and go faster in a shorter amount of time.
…What? Twice the amount of gas? That’s like, more money.
Yup, so when it boils down to practical thinking, the moment you get cut off, you’re immediately become the smarter, more cost-efficient person out of the bout. Not only that, there’s a really high chance that it won’t really do the cutoff guy (or gal) any overall good.
And thus, the endgame scenario: let’s say you’re both trying to get to The Lab for lunch. You’re in the fast lane, but saving mental energy by relaxing and driving at the speed limit. You get cut off by some cat trying to show off to his girlfriend in the passenger seat that his spoiled ass can go 95MPH.
Truth is, our bully will probably still be trying to find parking by the time you get there comfortably, and now you’ll be a couple more bucks richer than he is in terms of gas expenses. We have a tradeoff: self-gratification for one minute Speed Racer awesomeness versus potentially adding to your gas bill over time and simultaneously adding to someone else’s daily stresses. Sounds like all that Short Term vs. Long Term gain mumbo jumbo from Econ class is as applicable as they say it is!
One tidbit of knowledge we should all learn from is that even many experienced, professional racers and drivers take it easy when they drive in the city. This is because they’ve been around cars long enough to gain an understanding of how important it is to take care of not only their everyday vehicles, but other people on the road and how to minimize the balance on their bills as well. Tests prove it; you realistically save literally hundreds–sometimes thousands of dollars–just by being aware of your driving habits.
So here’s some piece of mind promoting peace of mind: Think twice about cutting someone off, and think twice about getting riled up ’cause someone gave you the Prince stare as they overtook you on the freeway. If you keep in mind the bigger picture, then you’ll always deserve a quietly confident last laugh. After all, if you weren’t encased in all that pretty metal, would you really willingly be a jerk to someone just having a good day? 
KM
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Sources: Edmunds.com
http://www.edmunds.com/advice/fueleconomy/articles/106842/article.html
