Having driven over 175 thousand miles in the last 8 or so years, I’ve noticed some patterns regarding the type of people on the highways. It seems to me that a lot of my commutes are made up of people that can be grouped into some loose set of characteristics. Here’s a list of some of those groups and their associated traits:

Indecisives – A type of driver that’s not really sure which lane they want to be in or how fast they want to drive. If you keep a steady pace, you’ll see these drivers time and again as they pass you, then slow and get passed by you. I can’t decide if these drivers go through their life like this or they’re just like this when they drive.

Blinders On – The reasons can be many, GPS Naviagtion, Phone Calls, Apathy, Blackberries, deep thoughts, whatever the case, these drivers aren’t REALLY driving. Sure, they’re sitting behind the wheel, but mentally, they are somewhere else.

Panicker – If anything appears ahead that may might affect traffic, these people will switch lanes, hammer their brakes, even accelerate if it means getting in their perceived optimum position.

The AFK (Away From Keyboard) guy – Yeah, I know this is a computer term, but it describes a group of drivers quite well. You can tell a AFKer is out there when you see someone drifting or slowing for no apparent reason. This sometimes can be related to drowsiness. Whatever the reason, they’re AFK.

Tailgaters  – I get the feeling these drivers see themselves as some type of victim in life…As if everyone else on the road is somehow holding them back, intentionally.  Many times these people are so close, you can’t even see their headlights. Following too closely is a factor in about 40% of all collisions. Remember the two-second plus rule to keep a good distance.

Erratic – For overall effect on traffic flow, these drivers are the worst. It’s my belief that a car with fluctuating speeds can cause waves of congestion that appear to have no clear cause. Traffic congestion caused by this type of behavior has no place in the commuting world.

Multitasker – This is the “I’m just too busy to ONLY be driving” They feel their car is the perfect spot to catch up on makeup, shaving, eating a steak, reading, or all of the above. They may be somewhat of an Erratic (see above) driver, but only because they, for the last 3 minutes have only kept the road in their peripheral.

Supportive – I think possibly this is the type of driver we should strive to be. This driver is helpful, friendly, gives others the benefit of the doubt. They take driving seriously and realize that anger is something we choose.

There are several dashboard computers on the market, some for the extreme car enthusiast, some for the rest of us. The new kid on the block is the PLX Kiwi. It’s a dashboard computer that plugs into most cars through their diagnostic port (OBDII).

Unlike others on the market, KIWI’s goal is a somewhat game-like experience where you try to obtain the highest “Kiwi Score”.  You get a higher score when your driving style is optimized for fuel economy.

Let me list what I think are the top three advantages and top three disadvantages of the Kiwi:

Top three advantages of the Kiwi dashboard computer:

• Saving gas is almost a game that may help keep your interest over the long –haul.
• The interface seems extremely simple and even tells you how much money you saved.
• Appears to 26 individual pieces of sensor information from your car’s ODBII port.

Top three disadvantages of the Kiwi dashboard computer:

• Almost too much like a game, with a somewhat overly distractive interface.
• Fairly expensive (MSRP of $299). It would take a considerable amount of gas savings to pay for it given a gas price of $1.53 (what I’m currently paying for a gallon of gas).
• The “Fun Mode” makes me think they needed to fill some unused space on that big, bright display.

I’ll look into a few more of these dashboard computers…I’d eventually like to pick up something like this for my commuting.

Maybe the best thing about the KIWI is that it try’s to train you for better driving habits…Something we could all use a little of.

Sure, I take my time and obey the traffic laws, but it’s still an incredibly dangerous thing I do, and I do it everyday.

Just a quick post on some nice tips UPS had to say about driving safely:

1. Look as far down the road as possible to uncover important traffic information to make appropriate decisions.
2. Maintain the proper following distance so you can comfortably determine the true hazards around your vehicle. Don’t tailgate others.
3. Scan – don’t stare. Constantly shift you eyes while driving. Active eyes keep up with changing traffic conditions.
4. Be prepared. Surround your vehicle with space in front and at least on one side to escape conflict.
5. Communicate in traffic with your horn, lights and signals to establish eye contact with motorists and pedestrians. Be reasonably sure of people’s intentions.

For some time, I’ve recorded the measurements discussed in the previous post (which I will be presenting in a future post), but I thought it might be good thing if I tried to gather some vehicle data as well.

For a long time, I’ve been looking into the ScanGuage by Linear-Logic, but it currently offers no data-logging. Although I have read they are working on a new version with this feature. In the mean time, I’m thinking of purchasing a Davis Instruments CarChip Pro. It doesn’t log all parameters possible, but it does give you the ability to choose which 4 parameters to log.

ScanGuage II

CarChip Pro

Currently, I’m hooked into Progressive’s MyRate program and although you can achieve up to a 25% discount on your insurance, I drive far too much to get anything but the minimum 5% discount for my car by just being in the plan. I tend to agree with Arron Landry about the data being worth far more than my 5% discount. I guess I’d be far less skeptical of this program if I had access to all the raw data I believe they are capturing about my driving habits.

MyRate "Device"

I might even run a combination of these devices using a y-splitter for my obd II port from OBD2Cables.

OBD II Y-Cable

I’ve created this spot on the internets to document some commuting experiments I would like to try and see where they take me.

My current current commute takes me from Big Lake to Eden Prairie, MN almost everyday of the week. I drive a 2008 Chevy Cobalt that has about 9000 miles on it. So far, I’ve tried to use the hypermiling techniques but I don’t go crazy. This may or may not be a part of the experiments I would like to attempt.

Don’t get me wrong, I do not plan on doing anything illegal or that would irritate my fellow drivers out there. I’m more focused on observing the dynamics between cars and the social interactions between drivers based on how they drive and perceive the world (road) around them.

For the record, I try to be an extremely courteous driver…I find that I arrive at my destination in a far better mood.