Why doesn't speeding significantly decrease one’s commute time? I've done a lot of road trips and driving and have experimented by increasing speed by 10–20%, but somehow this never equates to arriving 20% sooner, even on clear roads.
07.06.2025 19:32

It took just a couple of days to figure out that even though the speed limit was 50 kmph, the lights were set to 55 kmph. If you set the cruise control on 55, you would catch every light perfectly. If one car was on the road in front of you, you could change lanes. If three cars were on the road in front of you, you had to slow to what ever speed they were going. Then you hit red light after red light. The streets were 4th ave, a one way going west, 5th Ave a one way going east, 6th ave a one way going west.
But, if I set the cruise control 12 km faster, we have more than an extra month, when we can visit her mother.
I drive to my mother in laws three times a year, its 825 km, of deserted two lane black top. If I drive at 100 kmph, it takes 8 hours and 15 minutes driving time, plus 15 minutes stop at a gas station, and a 15 minute stop at a fast food place, plus two 15 minute stops to let my dogs run in the field. Making the drive a minimum 9 hours and 15 minutes.
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Saving me almost an hour. But again, you save almost no time, if you have to slow down behind cars.
Of course even if you ignore the 12 minutes I sat at lights, I never really managed 50 kmph. Because when you are accelerating from lights, and only going a block before you have to stop, you are only going the speed limit for a few meters.
A 10 percent increase in the maximum speed I drive, cuts commute time from 25 minutes in normal traffic to 8 minutes, on deserted streets.
So essentially it means that we can't visit her mother from Canadian Thanksgiving, until about February 20th.
It really depends on traffic conditions, I find that driving in the city with traffic lights, you can make really great time.
I was driving every morning to the office, and it took me 25 minutes, then covid hit, and I had the streets to myself.
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This made it hard to synchronize the lights. But 55 kmph was the sweet spot. I had 6 weeks of 8 minute commutes. It was amazing how few cars it took, to make you hit every red light. So it crept up to 15 minutes, after 6 weeks, and 20 minutes after 10 weeks.
The reason that this is important to me is that my wife has post concussion syndrome, and gets violently ill, if she rides in a car after dark. She stays ill for a couple of days after.
If I set my cruise control to 112 kmph, it takes 7 hours 20 minutes driving time, and the total drive is a minimum 8 hours and 20 minutes.
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On Dec 21, just before Christmas, where I live the sun rises at 8:43 and sets at 4:25 , we only have 7 hours and 42 minutes daylight. So we can't visit her mom for Christmas, and doing 100 kmph we can't visit her mother between Nov 5 and Feb 5. That's assuming, no delays, and that we are packed and ready to go at Sunrise. That never happens, we are always a half hour late, or have a delay on the road.