Driving: highway driving: cruise control, part0

Self-tutoring about highway driving habits: the tutor mentions cruise control.

I don’t use cruise control; my wife does. My understanding of it is that it maintains the vehicle’s speed, so you don’t have to. You can even remove your foot from the gas pedal and the car will maintain speed until you unset the cruise control.

On the highway, you can tell if someone’s on it because their speed stays more or less the same. A driver not using it will display more change in their speed, and may recover to a different one after navigating an obstacle, such as a bend in the road or a stop light.

For me, one interesting part about cruise control is deciding which other drivers are using it. The other day, driving the highway, I was surprised by the consistency of some vehicles’ speeds, until I remembered about cruise control. (I seldom drive the highway, and have never used cruise control myself, so I forget about it sometimes.)

The occasional driver would pass me smoothly, then continue to pull away in that same manner. If they weren’t driving too much faster than I, sometimes I’d decide to adopt their speed. Perhaps, sensibly, they were reading the road conditions better than I was, knew the appropriate speed, and had set it on cruise control.

Some drivers might have consistent speed for 20 miles or more, so I’d get used to following them. Yet, all of a sudden, their speed would start to undulate, even on the open, straight road, in the middle of nowhere. Why, in that scenario, did they suddenly unset cruise control?

As I say: I never use cruise control. However, on the highway, it’s fun to observe others’ use of it:)