Interstate Highways

Tennessee has fewer highway patrol officers than many other states  which means the odds of getting caught speeding are rather low.  However, they are very good at playing the game and tricking drivers into thinking they are not going to get caught by using spotters.

Most of the interstate highways in Tennessee have a posted speed limit of 70, but that does not seem to bother drivers who want to exceed that limit.  It is safe to say that most drivers like to top out at 80/85 but there are some that are at 90/95 and get really mad if you do not get out of the way and they have to slow down.

Personally, I don't care what other drivers think, especially those that like to tailgate the car in front of them in the hopes of forcing them to increase their speed.   When that happens to me, I typically either maintain my speed or slow down a tad.

Aside from tailgating, what really gets to me is that most of the drivers on the road today have no sense of DEPTH OF FIELD...  they will try to pass your car on the right hand side, not realizing the new car in front of them is not driving very fast, causing them to brake hard to slow down.  I always smile when I see that.

One of the first things they taught us in our drivers education class was how to judge depth of field on the interstate.  These instructors were also real keen of making sure we understood to slow down when we exited off onto another road or needed to stop at a rest area.

The other issue that drivers don't seem to care about much is how fast the car is going relative to fuel efficiency and arrival times.

• At 60 mph, it will take you 4 hours to travel 240 miles.  Between 55 and 60 is when the vehicle is operating at its most efficient.
• At 70 mph, it will take you 3 hours and 43 minutes to travel 240 miles, saving you 17 minutes of time but burning more gasoline.
• At 80 mph, it will take you 3 hours to drive 240 miles, saving you an hour of time, but you will be burning even more gasoline.

You can calculate the cost of driving fast by looking at the fuel efficiency of your vehicle...  or you can simply top off the gas tank before you leave and top off the gas tank when you get there and see how many gallons you purchased.

Remember a vehicle's miles per gallon goes down the faster you drive.

I have found that once my wife and I retired, we no longer had a need to get places quickly.  It may take us an hour longer but our stress was reduced and we saved money that we used for something else.  Living on a fixed income will cause you to look at life differently.