cruise control

[houseelf]

Do you use cruise control? In an effort to curb my lead foot (and keep my most recent traffic ticket from being reported on my record ) I used cruise control for my most recent road trip. I didn't like it. Do you use this feature?

Kelly

[Sheherezade]

No. I hate it. I don't like feeling out of control. Sometimes, I put it on if we are on a late night long haul with empty roads. I hate the guys that leave it on and just try to steer around everyone to maintain the speed. Heaven forbid they have to brake!!!

I wish it wasn't commonly used.

I never use it. I think it feels weird.

I totally use it. Mostly on long road trips (roads don't get any straighter than when they run across KS or MO). But I'll also use it on the freeway in light traffic. I obsess about speeding tickets.

I liked it the best I ever have on a recent long drive. I finally discovered what all the buttons with it do - like slow down, speed up, temporarily turn it off and turn it back on again to the same speed it was previously set to.

It seemed really really easy and nice. Also, my H and I were each driving a vehicle and that way we were at the same exact speed - even when we had to slow down or speed up - I could resume quickly to the same exact speed as him for the longer stretches with no other cars around us. Cool!!!

[migirl]

I use it, but only on highways. And not really as a means of speed control, but more just so I can easily maintain a constant speed. I hate, hate, hate people who don't maintain a constant speed on the highway.

I'm so surprised to hear people don't use it and/or don't like to use it. I've never heard anyone say that before.

[poky]

I totally use it. Mostly on long road trips (roads don't get any straighter than when they run across KS or MO).

Sure they do - across Wyoming and Nebraska!

I <3 cruise control, but I only use it for long highway stretches when there aren't many other vehicles around. Our recent trip from Portland to Cleveland would have been a nightmare without it.

What pissed me off was when we'd run into (not literally) people who would *camp* in the left lane going about the same speed as the trucks in the right lane. Of course, once I managed to get around them, they'd speed up and go around me (because I was curteous enough to get back in the right lane after passing the truck) and I'd have to deal with them again at the next truck, because of course by then they'd slowed down again. Idiots. When the freeway's that sparsely populated there's no excuse for staying in the left lane or for not going a reasonably constant speed. Stay to the right unless you're passing, and when you do pass, do it quickly. Period. People going faster than you *are* going to pass you on the left. If people are weaving around a lot just to maintain speed, then the road's probably too crowded to be using cruise control anyway. When it's best is when it's just you and the truckers (who know the rules!), and maybe a few other cars. Wyoming and Nebraska were great for that.

[Urowife]

I absolutely love cruise control. I don't think a day goes by where I don't use it. Granted, I drive on country roads and highways to work. I mostly use it to make sure I'm not driving *too* much above the speed limit.

I would never take a long road trip without it.

I will say that some cars have better controls than others, and some actually don't maintain the speed as well as others. But, for my car, I give it an A+.

I do hate it when people are passing other cars, but end up doing so only about 0.01 mph faster than the cars in the right lane.

[SuzySunshine]

I LOVE my cruise control but of course only use it on the highway. I just laugh at people that pass me and then I pass them and then they pass me again b/c they're speed is all over the place. You get better gas mileage when you use it.

I also hate people that camp out in the left lane when they're going slower then those in the right.

[medpedspouse]

I am a cruise control fan. Not just for highways but for controling my speed. I live at the bottom of a hill and every now and then a cop hides behind a tree at the bottom to catch people going over the 30mph limit. So, I have just become used to turning it on as soon as I turn on the street with the hill. I also have the buttons on my steering wheel to turn it on/off, accelerate and resume, etc...so I still feel I am in control.

[DCJenn]

I don't have it on my car- it's the cheap-o car after all but I do use it on long drives on the highway when I can- it does a remarkable job of helping to save gas by reducing unnecessary acceleration.

I don't LIKE it, but I use it.

Jenn

[mommax3]

I totally use it whenever I am on a highway. When I drive, I am either listening to music (loud! ), lost in thought (if I am by myself), or (if I am with the kids) I am carrying on three different conversations simultaneously and refereeing. Lots of room for distraction.

So cruise control is pretty much essential for me. The suburban has its drawbacks, but it has enough power that I can easily be going 80+ mph without realizing it....yikes! I haven't ever gotten a ticket and would like to keep it that way.

Sally

[MDPhDWife]

After my last $150 ticket from a stupid speed van, (does anyone else have those in their cities?) I use it down this stretch of road where the speed limit is too low. The course of traffic is always faster, so I easily speed there without realizing it.

I also use it on the highways, but usually only during road trips. The highways in the metro area I usually travel are too busy to use it.

The most irritating thing are the slow drivers in the fast lane.

[poky]

I am a cruise control fan. Not just for highways but for controling my speed. I live at the bottom of a hill and every now and then a cop hides behind a tree at the bottom to catch people going over the 30mph limit. So, I have just become used to turning it on as soon as I turn on the street with the hill. I also have the buttons on my steering wheel to turn it on/off, accelerate and resume, etc...so I still feel I am in control.

Huh. Mine (12yo car) won't kick in at all if I'm going below 40 or 45 MPH - is it a new thing for cars to have cruise control that will work at such low speeds, or just a domestic vs import (mine's an import)?

[Vanquisher]

I love cruise control, especially for long stretches of highway. It bugs the crap out of me, I have to say, when people don't use cruise control. Much, much, much more annoying. Pick a speed people!