After reading everything you have said I have to assume one of two things, possibly a combination of both. 1) There is an epidemic of slow drivers in Ohio not seen anywhere else. B) You move faster than the majority of traffic/are exaggerating.
I may be exaggerating a bit. As for going faster than other drivers, it depends. I will explain below.
On a daily basis I run across the one guy doing something like 60 in a 70 zone. But rarely is there more than just one. The rest of the people that appear slow are actually doing the speed limit. As traffic in general is moving faster they aren't doing the "safe speed" but I'm not about to raise a fuss over people obeying the law.
There is scientific evidence suggesting that people will drive what they feel like driving, not matter the law. In my experience this is typically
over our 65 mph speed limit, more likely between 70 and 75. Some laws are stupid and without a general refusal to obey them they'll never be changed to fit the "norm". If anything over 65 really is that dangerous, then
everybody is a criminal, and that is totally unreasonable.
But I wonder what your average highway speed is. You make it sound like you have to swerve around slow drivers like its an obstacle course. If that is the case then it is you not doing the safe speed.
Average smaverage. As you all know, I like my cars loud. It just so happens that when you can hear your engine you can judge how fast you are going and when your speed changes. I'm constantly taking mental note of my engine's sound, thus rpm, thus speed, and very rarely deviate even when going up and down hills without cruise control Most other people simply cannot hold a constant speed.
I love the theory of "average highway speed" so much that my cruise control is usually engaged the very second I get on the highway, provided it's safe of course. What do I find when I do this? Well, I find that obviously nobody else is using cruise control, of course. Sometimes they're accelerating away from me, and the next thing I'm suddenly barreling down on them, requiring a swift lane change to avoid their stupidity rubbing off on my bumper. Does that make me crazy, simply doing a constant speed on the highway? Am I crazy for "swerving" around people too distracted too keep track of their speed?
I also plan ahead quite far so I rarely get stuck in lanes behind slower traffic or any other annoying situations. Efficiency and smoothness is the name of the game when I'm driving, especially on the highway. Usually when I spot a person's speed changing I switch lanes with plenty of space in between, but when traffic gets tighter and people are jumping on and off the brakes like a bunch of fools, I take advantage of openings quickly and decisively, but not dangerously.
The other thing I feel I should point out is that you complain about people not accelerating to their car's full potential. Because I like my gas mileage to stay above 15 mpg I don't either. I don't need all 150 horses when leaving a traffic light. I'm not in a race. If you leave a traffic light and see everyone else is behind you by something like 20 yards by the time you reach your cruising speed, you are the one being a D-bag.
I'm not complaining that they aren't flooring it, I'm complaining that they don't get up to highway speed by the time they get to the highway. A 240 horse Camry is plenty powerful to be going 100 by the end of the ramp - I'm not asking for that. I'm asking for 70. I do it without using full throttle and only using the usual 4000 of my 8000 rpm sweep. If 4000 sounds high, keep in mind that a pseudo-diesel 5 cylinder and a 1.3 liter rotisserie have very different powerbands and special needs.
I also don't try to match my minimum braking distance at every stop.
I certainly don't do this either. I do however have an uncanny ability to press the brake pedal
once, just happening to pick the perfect amount of braking force, and hold that constant force all the way until I stop almost dead nuts at the white line. Whether I'm braking from 25 for 60 I can do this and hardly anybody else can. Again, efficiency and smoothness.
In fact, when I drive normal I shift gears before I hit 3,000 RPM. My full power range is up over 4,500 RPM, but even here I still tend to pull away from the rest of traffic a bit because I do have decent low-end torque. If I am trying to conserve fuel for some reason I have been known to shift before hitting 2,000 RPM.
I dull side effect of rotaries is that carbon buildup is a problem while chugging along at low rpm. On surface streets I normally accelerate with light throttle up to 4000 rpm, then shift smoothly onto the next gear. It's a good compromise between creating enough compression to avoid power-sapping carbon, and shifting before my auxiliary ports open up (think secondary carb jets) that devour fuel for high rpms. My car will never achieve city mileage approaching what I would call good so that's about the best I can do.
To be honest, what bothers me more than the guy driving slow is inconsistent drivers. Some alter their speed during sections of the interstate, going slower than the speed limit in one area and faster in others. Then the squeamish drivers that slow down as they pass trucks and ride beside them for a few miles, only to speed up again after they are past them. And the cell phone driver. They fly by at 80+ only to suddenly start doing 55-60 and when I pass them I see they are on the phone. Then they fly by me again and the phone is gone. I'd rather a single fixed obstacle that I can see how to avoid than a guy that can't decide if he is an obstacle or a projectile. And guys that are always a projectile are problematic too, as not only are they outside the safe speed range but they distract other drivers by intimidating them.
Bingo! You've just described pretty much everything I try to remove from my own driving. Nobody has to be a race car driver to hold a constant speed on the highway. All they have to do it pay attention to something. Anything. If they can't hear their engine then perhaps they could glance at the speedometer occasionally.
Frustration leads me to exaggerate a bit, but when I'm driving I'm always level-headed and forward-thinking. I bitch at people, don't get me wrong, but I don't get riled up. I think we could convoy surprisingly well.
