Are you a coaster?

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Burt

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I confess that when driving, I am normally aware of the stop light and try to adjust my speed to the cycle. If its red I try to slow down to time the red light and conserve momentum.I have no problem with creeping up. If I turn on to a road and see the light ahead is red, I don't accelerate and creep up to the light, too. I don't pull out in front of people, but this practice really p-o's some people that think you ought to come to a prompt stop and wait for the light to turn. Where do you stand? Are you a coaster, stop and go or don't care?

Likewise I wish in they would post an electronic message on freeways to the effect that "traffic jam ahead, suggested apeed 35 mph". No point in driving 70 mph to rush up to a slowdown.
 
If I'm on a road with infrequent lights and no traffic issues, I like to take my sweet time to slow down.

If I'm in the middle of the city in heavy traffic, I wait to brake as long as I reasonably can, just to do my part to decrease the odds of traffic blocking the intersections and streets behind me.
 
Yes. There is also a hill here where one crests, descends, and stops. I top that hill below the speed limit as I get the speed back (and then some) before I have to stop.
 
I'm in no hurry to charge a red light like I see so many drivers do . I'll let up and start to coast as soon as I see a light ahead go amber and most often the person behind me will floor it around me because heaven forbid I'm slowing them down . I take great pleasure in watching these idiots have to stop hard at the red light . I don't get it .
I'm not in any hurry , I just roll with the flow of traffic leaving lots of room between me and the car I'm following .
 
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if allowable I will come off the accelerator and downshift while decelerating to a stop light...unfortunately folks behind me sometimes gets too close and I have to speed up to open the gap again
 
Depending on the vehicle, many shut off fuel when coasting, which is a no-brainer for gas savings.

My 02 Volvo S40 shuts off fuel when the foot is off the accelerator, the car is in Drive, and the rpms are above 1500.

Even my 91 Marquis has this feature. I'm not sure if it completely shuts it off, or lowers the dribble below coasting. I'm told it at least feeds less fuel than it would at idle.

Some cars still dribble fuel while coasting to keep the catalytic converter warm for emission purposes.

I coast, sometimes to the point that antsy people behind me think I'm a slacker. I get to watch them pass me so they can hurry up to the red light.
 
I coast as much as possible. Im very careful with the physics of driving, and get nearly EPA highway numbers for city driving.

Of course stop light and traffic idling is out of your control, but how you deal with the momentum that you have or that you create when rolling is up to you. It equates to dollars, so I treat it as such. Idiots slamming the go pedal from a stop, and accelerating to red lights might as well be burning dollar bills.
 
I coast as much as I can and also try to get a few winks in too. :-)) Its okay to get on it every once in awhile and check out the 0-60 mph acceleration
 
Coasting gives me 1-2MPG over a tank. I do lots of city in a heavy MDX which is a fuel pig in city driving (17-19MPG). It does 25MPG on the highway at lower speeds.
 
I only let off the pedal if there aren't people immediately behind me.

And I'm the guy who would pass someone who was doing that if I was directly behind him. Usually, this is the same person who would take forever to get up to speed from a stop. Getting up to speed quicker usually lets me get through the next light while the slower people have to stop for it.
 
Sometimes.

I average 23 in mixed driving. The EPA freeway rating for my car is 25. I'll coast down on sections of road that the lights do not appear to be timed on. They aren't going to change until I get there anyway

On stretches of road that the lights are timed correctly, I'm trying to maintain the correct speed to "stay in the groove".(usually an indicated 2mph over the speed limit) Too fast and you bust out. Too slow and you fall out as well. Do it right and you will catch all the lights except the camera enforced intersections on green.

I still firmly believe that the camera enforced intersections are intentionally timed differently. I actually have to speed up before a camera enforced intersection to catch it on green.

I don't have any actual evidence to support this, but one morning, my son and I were observing our bacon egg and cheese bisquit and orange juice breakfast before his baseball game ritual at the McDonalds. (I know it's not the healthiest pre-game ritual but it fuels him up and he thinks it's "lucky") Every time a large group of cars approached the intersection, the lights would turn yellow before they got there. Every single time. The first two or three cars in line can catch the yellow. Everybody else is on red and the camera light flashes.

Profit before safety.
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I make a habit of coasting to red lights.
This does sometimes annoy following drivers, but I can't really help the fact that they appear oblivious of the red light a few hundred feet ahead.
I don't usually accelerate hard from a stop either.
This also irritates some following drivers, although I can't see the point of racing to the next traffic light.
People drive like they think.
Those who can't plan in their heads use both pedals hard.
Those who can use mainly the pedal on the right.
Those who can't plan don't generally drive three pedal cars, either.
 
Originally Posted By: fdcg27
I make a habit of coasting to red lights.
This does sometimes annoy following drivers, but I can't really help the fact that they appear oblivious of the red light a few hundred feet ahead.
I don't usually accelerate hard from a stop either.
This also irritates some following drivers, although I can't see the point of racing to the next traffic light.
People drive like they think.
Those who can't plan in their heads use both pedals hard.
Those who can use mainly the pedal on the right.
Those who can't plan don't generally drive three pedal cars, either.


Amen
 
I try to coast to stops. Assuming I'm not going to hold up a lot of traffic. Makes the brakes last longer: I managed 168kmiles on my rear pads before one hit a rivet (might have gone 200k had I bothered to make sure they were sliding properly), and 175k on the fronts (half worn, but one pad fell off). And while I do downshift to use what little engine braking I have, my clutch managed 249k before it died due to the infamous VW DMF design, with tons of material left.

I live at the top of a hill in a 30mph zone. What is bugging me at the moment is I have a friend who lives in a valley--in a 50mph zone. I feel like I'm burning off my brakes every time I go there, as it's the only place I go to that doesn't have a generous (and expected) slow down zone around it. I've tried coasting, but either lose little speed, or start holding up traffic.
 
As with Patman's Scangauge, my UltraGauge has tought me to drive very efficently. Coasting is worth 1 to 2 MPG as others have mentioned. Another thing is to learn the patterns of the traffic lights that are on your daily route, and take note of how long that they stay in a certain mode.
I truly think everyone is in a hurry to get to the red light to talk and text on the phone. Women put on makeup sitting at traffic lights. I am just so thankfull that my life is not so stressed, that I have to sacrifice safety while on the road.
 
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