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I was an aggressive driver when I was younger. Always 5-10mph over the limit, pass at every opportunity, threshold braking at every stop, flooring the gas pull

I was an aggressive driver when I was younger. Always 5-10mph over the limit, pass at every opportunity, threshold braking at every stop, flooring the gas pulling away from each, generally ignoring warnings to slow down on curves, etc. I only ever got in one very minor accident (I hit a wooden sign that was so rotted it broke at the base and didn't even leave a mark on my bumper) but did have a few close calls (coming up to an exit with traffic too fast and fishtailing into a spinout on the interstate, thankfully not hitting anyone.) Then I decided to gather data. My daily commute was about 15 minutes, maybe 10 miles of mostly 2-lane highway, some turns I had a stop sign, some didn't, so a bit a variation and reasonable opportunities for my aggressive driving. I did an experiment for a few days where I would drive either as aggressively as I normally did, even kicking it up a notch for science, or just chilling out and taking it easy; and timing how long the drive took me with either style. After a few trials, I found that the super-aggressive driving did save time over the relaxed style; but it was less than 30 seconds, an amount that could easily be lost or gained by chance at the one stoplight on my drive. And as a bonus, with the relaxed style, when I arrived at my destination, I was actually more relaxed, with my pulse around 70 instead of 90. I've stuck to a more relaxed style ever since. There have been more than a few times where someone who was in a hurry passed me over a double yellow line and flips my the bird for having the nerve to drive the speed limit and zooms off, and then a mile or two down the road I pull up right behind the exact same driver at a stoplight or other non-passable thing, and I feel that I've made the right choice.

bradlys 5y ago
> and then a mile or two down the road I pull up right behind the exact same driver at a stoplight or other non-passable thing, and I feel that I've made the right choice. This is what we in the business call confirmation bias. As many times as that's happened - I'm sure there are many times where they also didn't get stuck at the traffic light. Yet - you never saw them. Thus you never thought about. Thus... we call it confirmation bias. Interesting.
- skybrian 5y ago
  Sure, but the rest of the post describes how they did a proper experiment.
  - bradlys 5y ago
    Eh. Idk if I’d call it proper. It’s no different than the “proper” experiments that have a trial of 5 people to test a new drug. Problem is that they only did it for a few days. That’s not enough time for the margin of error to be very good. We all know traffic varies a lot week by week and day by day. Variance in just timing of the damn street lights is enough to make 30 seconds easily. You hit the stop light at the wrong time where I live - you’re sitting for a minute or more and that’s a big sway on a 15 minute commute.
    - evilotto 5y ago
      Yes, I only did the experiment for a few days. (it was 20-odd years ago so I don't remember the exact details, but I think I did it maybe 3 times in each direction, less than a week total.) Is there variance? Sure. That's kind of the point - any amount of time I actually saved was more than swallowed up by the variances. In the end, the tiny amount of time I could save was not worth the heightened stress level. But in the end, the experiment was for me and me alone. If you'd like to run your own more rigorous experiment and show how much time you can save by weaving through traffic, go right ahead; I've found what works better for me.
- evilotto 5y ago
  Are you suggesting that there's lots of time that a driver passes me over a double yellow line, flips me off, and I never see them again? Absolutely. TBH, I never think about them, because they don't affect me. Neither do the ones that I pull up behind, but those make me laugh and feel good.

bradlys 5y ago

> and then a mile or two down the road I pull up right behind the exact same driver at a stoplight or other non-passable thing, and I feel that I've made the right choice. This is what we in the business call confirmation bias. As many times as that's happened - I'm sure there are many times where they also didn't get stuck at the traffic light. Yet - you never saw them. Thus you never thought about. Thus... we call it confirmation bias. Interesting.

skybrian 5y ago
Sure, but the rest of the post describes how they did a proper experiment.
- bradlys 5y ago
  Eh. Idk if I’d call it proper. It’s no different than the “proper” experiments that have a trial of 5 people to test a new drug. Problem is that they only did it for a few days. That’s not enough time for the margin of error to be very good. We all know traffic varies a lot week by week and day by day. Variance in just timing of the damn street lights is enough to make 30 seconds easily. You hit the stop light at the wrong time where I live - you’re sitting for a minute or more and that’s a big sway on a 15 minute commute.
  - evilotto 5y ago
    Yes, I only did the experiment for a few days. (it was 20-odd years ago so I don't remember the exact details, but I think I did it maybe 3 times in each direction, less than a week total.) Is there variance? Sure. That's kind of the point - any amount of time I actually saved was more than swallowed up by the variances. In the end, the tiny amount of time I could save was not worth the heightened stress level. But in the end, the experiment was for me and me alone. If you'd like to run your own more rigorous experiment and show how much time you can save by weaving through traffic, go right ahead; I've found what works better for me.
evilotto 5y ago
Are you suggesting that there's lots of time that a driver passes me over a double yellow line, flips me off, and I never see them again? Absolutely. TBH, I never think about them, because they don't affect me. Neither do the ones that I pull up behind, but those make me laugh and feel good.