But gawd, can you drive....
 

I sure love the way Americans drive. The combination of excellent roads & cheap gas seems to make for courteous, quick and fast drivers.

On 5000+ miles I averaged over 71.3 MPH according to the Garmin. I had the thing switched on whenever the engine was running, so that includes city stop & go plus interstate time. Very impressive number.

In California, the freeway traffic densities are so high - I don't know how it's even possible to get a speeding ticket. I cruised at 90+ from Del Rey to Palm Desert and didn't even notice that I'd forgotten to switch on the V1.

The RCMP would've had me for lunch in my home town.

Ah, driving in the US - almost as enjoyable as Europe.

I am guessing you were on I-10. I drove I-10 from Palm Springs to San Diego and was suprised not to see more Radar traps. I saw one during the whole trip back and forth.

Come to the southeast, Georgia and Florida are the kings of speedtraps.

I just got nailed again on I-95 between Jacksonville and Daytona. I was int he wifes Audi and had the cruise off = trouble. When you drive that car in your comfort zone you find yourself doing mid 90's, 70 MPH feels like your crawling.

I got nailed be a laser, so basically my V1 tells me to pull over.

I drove a rental from Miami to Marcos Island (sp?) last year and I'm almost convinced that I saw more cops on that everglades parkway than civilian vehicles. On that trip I wouldn't have sped anywhere for all the tea...

I was even looking sideways at the Hummers 'cause of (in the back of my mind) looking for that blonde peach from CSI.

But I never saw laser west of Arizona. Blinder sat mute this whole trip.

Re: But gawd, can you drive....
 

Dude! What drugs are you on? Must have been an alternate universe or dimension or something. I think I find courtesy in about 10%-25% of the drivers on the road and I'm trying to be generous.

Purrybonker, with all due respect, you have no idea what you're talking about. Perhaps you were out driving during the Superbowl, or maybe on Christmas, when most people are at home (either theirs or someone elses). But it's certainly not like what you describe the vast majority of the time. Either that, or driving in Canada is WAY worse than I ever imagined.

did you try and drive on 294 around lake michigan?

im gonna doubt that

Last time I drove to SF from LA, there was thick fog and VERY light traffic. In the clear spots, 100+ MPH was typical. In the dense foggy areas, visibility was 80-100 feet at best. I slowed to about 40-50 MPH. There was no way I could drive faster and still have time to stop it there was a car stopped in front of me.

Most drivers slowed to about 90 MPH and plowed through the fog. :eek:

You averaged 71.3 mph over 5000 miles including city stop and start?

I think you better check your garmin! Anyone who has driven any really long distances quickly or even done the math for that kind of mileage will discount that result.

My guess is you had your Garmin set to kmph.

I've averaged over 70 mph on long trips many times, but almost pure point A to point B freeway times with almost no stops.

when my dad dropped me off at school (oxford, ohio) and drove back to chicago, he averagd 75 mph including the country roads, but that was because he did the drive from like 10pm to 2am

Then that would be a very silly person.

You drive 1500 miles from Calgary to Vegas on open interstate, through open prairie and see what kinda average you make. This is a day & half drive through mainly flat country with pretty much no sign of humanity save Salt Lake and surrounds. An average of 85 is easy to do, even four or five gas stops would let you average 80 over that many miles. The speed limit is 70/75 - even my granny would average 80 with her '63 Valiant push-button automatic.

So, lets say 3000 miles at 80 mph (ha!) - that still leaves room for an average of around 60 mph for the remaining 2000 to average 70ish for a 5000 mile trip. And the rest of those miles are like Vegas-OC-Palm Desert? That's a slam dunk.

Freeway traffic in unclogged times in SoCal is exactly as PB describes. 85-90 mph flow in the left lane, and I have cruised @ 100 in relative safety many times just slowly overtaking the median speed drivers. Freeway driving rocks here unless you are in one of the places where critical mass has occurred, like the west side of L.A.

I'm with PB on this one. Trying to get an avg of 71mph on a drive that's 1000 miles is much harder than one that's 5000 miles. 5000 mile drives are probably going to contain many more highway miles than city miles which helps the avg. Imagine having 50 miles of city driving in a 100 mile drive, then a 500, then a 1000, then a 5000. Which one is going to be more affected by the city miles?

I drove from my house in Houston to my parents house in the pan handle of FL, 550 miles in the 911. It took me just over 7 hours, and that includes stopping for a burger once, to get gas once, and to take a leak once. I think that probably puts me at about 6.5 hours of driving. That's an avg of about 84 mph. I think I got 22 mpg on that trip.

>Also, there is almost NO radar used on So. Cal. highways. I don't think I've ever seen it, in fact. If they use it, it is very rare.

Yep. I drive on the 10 to Palm Springs all the time and I've never seen a speed trap! And yes, 85 is the norm and 100 isn't outrageous. You see, cops and HP here have REAL crimes to solve (car accidents, hit and runs, drug busts, murders, meth labs, school altercations, car thefts), while cops in sleepy towns in the south have little else to do besides write tickets.

I drove in Tennessee and NC for 10 years and got 12 speeding tickets (mostly defeated in court). Been in LA for 5 years, no tickets so far (knock on wood). I always drive fast but safe...no accidents ever, FYI.

One of the few things I love about SoCal.

Sorry guys, I don't believe it is possible to average 70+ mph over 5000 miles on the streets. Even allowing for lack of traffic and that PB was only measuring when he had the engine running.

I've been talking with Milu about this and I also have to express my reservations. I find it very hard to believe it is possible to maintain a 70 mph average over 5K miles. I just can't visualise not finding some situation that slows one down enough to significantly affect the average. We're in Europe, it is quite feasable to average 70 (including stops etc) from Milan to Paris. But we typically need to cruise illegally at 100+ and it only takes light traffic on the orbital roads to take the average right down. Over 5K miles the odds of finding a hindrance are almost certain - even on traffic free S. California highways I think, not forgetting that it can' all be highway milage. Perhaps Purrybunker could post details of the route he took and what times.

hell, it's easy on those large distances...
i once drove from Belgium to Alpes-Duez in FRance,
a cool 1100 km one way ,

and i did the whole trip to and from in under 36 hours, including sleep in hotel, breakfast, and a morning run on the mountain with my snowboard

no gps back then , but did the 1100 km in 7 hours flat
left at 12h30 arrived at 19h30, that's 157km/h
and that included crazy mountain roads, some short stops to stretch legs and refuel, and dense traffic around Lyon...
i was extremely lucky with tickets, be cause i had been speeding most of the way... and did not get any ( did see others getting tagged at the payages(french toll booths)

Both Isa and I frequently drive across Europe. We are very well aware of the average speeds that are possible and the ones that are realistic. I have a problem with the realities of maintaining a 70 average over 5000 miles, even if that only includes times when the engine was running.

I've frequently averaged 70+ here on the east coast over 500 miles (Greenbsoro, NC to north of Harrisburg, PA) including stops for gas, so i don't see any problem with his statements. If you avoid major cities or use the loops around the city, it can be very easy here in the states to average over 70