For Squirrels

[terrible_greg]

One of the happy, coincidental benefits of "hypermiling" (see here) is that you drive pretty slowly through residential neighborhoods. It's by design; you don't take off fast, and as soon as you see a stop sign (or a traffic light turning red), you put it in neutral and coast. In my part of town, there are lots of trees, parks, bushes and little

Comments

[noiretblanc]

Eh, I've had some that were damn suicidal, running in front of the car just a scant 10 feet away. I think I've only actually killed one due to this, but the rest I've either swerved to avoid or thanked my surprisingly awesome 10+ year old brakes.

Incidentally, what are you getting for mileage now that you're hypermiling? I will likely follow suit if/when I start driving daily again, but for now my car's had the same tank of gas in it for about four weeks so I'm good.

[terrible_greg]

I had the exact same thing happen to me with a skunk a few years back. Here I was, slowing down to a red light, not going more than ten miles per hour at this point, and this skunk comes out of nowhere and proceeds to THROW ITSELF UNDER MY TIRES. I couldn't stop in time, nor swerve out of the way. And I tried.

And my car stank for weeks, even after a regimented cleaning. Just awful.

As for the hypermiling, I have to be honest and note that I've had irregular driving schedules since I started. I've been on vacation and not driving as much, except to make a run to Cedar Point which is a good 130 miles away. So I haven't been able to gauge it just yet. When I start back up at work, I'll share my findings.

Standard mileage for me is 350 miles on one 10-gallon tank of gas. If I can get that to 400 or more, I'll be pretty happy.

[jagreen79]

You're not doing that idiocy where you turn your car off while driving at highway speeds, are you? Cuz THAT is suicidal.

[terrible_greg]

No, no no. Those people are NUTS.

[terrible_greg]

Of course not. Obviously, I wasn't referring to big rigs in my post. More like all the WT and other various assholes who drive like maniacs in my neighborhoods (some streets are so bad that there are neighborhood campaigns that have hit the local papers and have residents putting signs on their lawns for people to slow down).

And, yes-- the title was a reference to that band, who, ironically enough, were killed in a tour bus crash. Their one hit song, "Mighty KC", was about Kurt Cobain's suicide.