Cutting Corners when Driving

[neversay]

A good while ago, a Scottish former colleague went on some sort of nonsense professional development course. I forget the precise point of the exercise/example but his instructor talked about how much shorter a car journey is if you take the shortest path around a bend (e.g. by using the motorway lane that is on the inside of any curve) rather than the usual 'racing' line. Afterwards, this smart (but very tight) former colleague says he adjusted his driving behaviour to follow the same strategy apparently in a bid to save money. Has anyone here heard of other people following this driving strategy?

FWIW, to me, it seems rather pointless as the savings are minimal compared to taking the usual best line of approach for speed, comfort and convenience.

N.

[bungeejumper]

So if I'm going round a long right-hander on a dual carriageway, I should pull out into the outside lane for no other reason than that it'll save me a hundredth of a penny in petrol?

Whatever happened to lane discipline? The man wants shooting.

BJ

[Lootman]

So if I'm going round a long right-hander on a dual carriageway, I should pull out into the outside lane for no other reason than that it'll save me a hundredth of a penny in petrol?

Whatever happened to lane discipline? The man wants shooting.

I think the assumption was that there was little or no other traffic about. The chap suggesting this lives in rural Scotland.

I think it makes more sense to, say, be in the right-hand lane ahead of a big right-hand bend. And in the left land ahead of a big left-hand bend

But again, probably only at 4 am on a Sunday on the M9 in Perthshire.

[vrdiver]

I think it makes more sense to, say, be in the right-hand lane ahead of a big right-hand bend. And in the left land ahead of a big left-hand bend

But again, probably only at 4 am on a Sunday on the M9 in Perthshire.

I'd suggest sticking to the lane for your intended direction of travel!

[neversay]

I know, bonkers isn't it?!

N.

[didds]

This is somewhat reminiscent (to me anyway!) of the story about a chap being driven around a part of Ireland by an older Irishman.
The driver passed a sign for their destination, and the chap queried it. The driver said that he'd be taking the next turning, and it would only take five minutes more.

The chap said but if you took the previous turn you'd have saved five minutes.

To which the driver replied "And what would you be doing with that five minutes?"

didds

[kiloran]

Using the "inside" lane on a bend will reduce the distance travelled, and so theoretically reduce fuel cost, but I would think that driving on the inside lane would produce more tyre scrub which will use more fuel and create more tyre wear.

--kiloran

[vrdiver]

in the old gaff, there used to be a board for HyperMiling: where are they when you need them?

[Dod101]

But again, probably only at 4 am on a Sunday on the M9 in Perthshire.

Just to be pedantic, there is no M9 in Perthshire, sadly. It is all the A9.

Dod

[jfgw]

Using the "inside" lane on a bend will reduce the distance travelled, and so theoretically reduce fuel cost, but I would think that driving on the inside lane would produce more tyre scrub which will use more fuel and create more tyre wear.

--kiloran

If you straighten out multiple bends by driving inside-of-the-bend to inside-of-the-bend, you will both shorten the journey and reduce tyre scrub, at least, until you have to slam on the anchors because something is coming directly toward you on the correct side of the road.

If two cars were to circumnavigate a circular road with 12' wide lanes, one in the innermost lane and one in the next lane out, the one in the next lane out would have to travel 2pi*12' (approx. 75.4' or 22m) further than the one in the innermost lane irrespective of the diameter of the circular road. I suggest that polishing the car beforehand (to reduce air resistance) would save a lot more fuel.

Julian F. G. W.

[DrFfybes]

I think the assumption was that there was little or no other traffic about. The chap suggesting this lives in rural Scotland.

So what you're saying is that a Scotsman was suggesting a ludicrous scheme in order to save a miniscule amount of money?

in the old gaff, there used to be a board for HyperMiling: where are they when you need them?

I think the last post was about a year before the boards closed.

Paul

[moorfield]

FWIW, to me, it seems rather pointless as the savings are minimal compared to taking the usual best line of approach for speed, comfort and convenience.

I think so.

As a regular cyclist I find the largest gains to be made from any bike (£50 or £500) usually come from tyre pressure, weight (of the frame), and a looked-after drivetrain. I imagine similar principles might also apply to your Scottish colleague's car as much as his choice of curve.

[bungeejumper]

Don't know how it works in other parts of the country, but Somerset has a zero tolerance approach to lane wandering, at least on the M5. If the left hand lane has a long enough empty space, you're supposed to be in it. (Intersections excluded, obviously.) Get snapped by two successive cameras in the middle or outside lane, and you run the risk of consequences.

I remember when my old dad got hold of the idea that you should "use the road" (as he put it) by always going for the apex on a bend, etcetera. The problem being that, on a country road, you couldn't always tell in advance whether the road surface and camber were going to be up to it. And you were, of course, also assuming that any oncoming drivers would appreciate the reasons why you were nudging the centre white line. (And that they weren't doing the same thing from their own direction .) It took several near misses before he was persuaded to desist.

BJ

[Clitheroekid]

Has anyone here heard of other people following this driving strategy?

Yes, I've used it for years, though it's only really practical in very light traffic, which usually means late at night.

I don't do it to save fuel - as has been said, the savings would be infinitesimal. But I do find it helps me to concentrate on my driving.

The biggest hazard of driving on an empty motorway late at night is sheer boredom and the consequent tendency to drift off to sleep. But actively steering the car from apex to apex is a good antidote.

[JohnB]

We seem to be conflating two things here, cutting across the centre-line on winding roads, and picking motorway lanes.

The former seems obvious, it gives a straighter, faster, smoother line, and is safe if you pick the corners with full sightlines.

For the latter I will pull in to the LHS later when overtaking on a RHS bend, but always with an eye on the traffic behind me. I'd not move out to a RHS lane just for the distance saving.

[Nimrod103]

We seem to be conflating two things here, cutting across the centre-line on winding roads, and picking motorway lanes.

The former seems obvious, it gives a straighter, faster, smoother line, and is safe if you pick the corners with full sightlines.

For the latter I will pull in to the LHS later when overtaking on a RHS bend, but always with an eye on the traffic behind me. I'd not move out to a RHS lane just for the distance saving.

I drive like this as well.
The OP reminded me of many years ago, when I used the B road from Exeter up to Moretonhampstead. It had been re-tarmacced and widened at the edges and several small bends caused by old trees, bushes etc had been ironed out. However the person responsible for renewing the white line, had just gone over the old one. The result was a relatively straight road in many places, with a white line that meandered back and forth.

[DrFfybes]

The OP reminded me of many years ago, when I used the B road from Exeter up to Moretonhampstead. It had been re-tarmacced and widened at the edges and several small bends caused by old trees, bushes etc had been ironed out. However the person responsible for renewing the white line, had just gone over the old one. The result was a relatively straight road in many places, with a white line that meandered back and forth.

Exeter you say?
Probably the same person responsible for this...

https://goo.gl/maps/n2P8TQGG35s

Paul

[XFool]

Exeter you say?
Probably the same person responsible for this...

https://goo.gl/maps/n2P8TQGG35s

That's nothing! A long time ago, probably the '70s, I tried to go down a narrow suburban road in N. London. So narrow you could only get two vehicles side by side in the road. There was a car parked to one side of the road. Somebody else had also parked a car in the road. Guess where they had parked it.

I don't know if they had anything like 'Driver Awareness' courses in the '70s. Though I guess just about any kind of 'Awareness' course would have done...

[bungeejumper]

So narrow you could only get two vehicles side by side in the road. There was a car parked to one side of the road. Somebody else had also parked a car in the road. Guess where they had parked it.

I don't know if they had anything like 'Driver Awareness' courses in the '70s. Though I guess just about any kind of 'Awareness' course would have done...

We live at the disappearing end of our village, opposite the church, and it's a pretty regular thing to find little old ladies parking on both opposite sides of the road at once, so as to close it off completely. You couldn't get a bicycle down the road, never mind a fire engine or an ambulance.

I am generally inclined to tut-tut and put it down to little old ladydom really - if we really needed them to shift their cars, we know we could always find them inside the church, cramming for their finals. I am less enamoured of the school-run mums in their Rangies and their big Audis who do exactly the same thing to our road every morning, and then vamoose up the lane in a wheel-spinning hail of gravel that shot-blasts the neighbourhood.

Oh, and they cut corners too. Mornington Crescent.

BJ

[DrFfybes]

Yesterday morning a Glazier was parked on our narrow no through road, facing down the hill with the read door wide open and only a few feet away from a car on the other side, so you couldn't get through.

I waited a few moments to see if anyone appeared, pipped politely, waited, then closed the door myself.

There was nobody in site, so I jumped in the front and moved it down to outside the next house.

This morning it was parked more carefully, so I think they got the hint.

Paul