[adhesive_wombat]

Obvious non-transport analogies aside, this was absolutely my experience when commuting across London by bike. Rushing just stressed you out and didn't really get you anywhere.

The same goes for driving. On a highway, you can go as fast as you can (70 in the clear; whatever the vehicle in front is doing when not, so probably averaging low 60s on a moderately busy motorway). This requires a lot of concentration as you need to constantly plot a way forward through the traffic.

Or you can sit behind an HGV in lane one and just do 55 all the way. Listen to music or an audiobook maybe.

Total journey cost is a few minutes, but you arrive able to function rather then needing a coffee and a calm down to recover from the drive.

The benefit is even less in the city as you can aggressively tailgate all you want, but at best you'll get through only a small handful of lights one cycle earlier over the entire journey.

[drewlander]

I completely agree. Every time I rush I get stressed and I realize if I would have just relaxed I would have gotten there just fine

[BonoboIO]

Stressful driving is the worst … I try to avoid. It costs so much energy, is dangerous and risky.

On long distance drives with my car I enjoy driving fast. In Austria the speedlimit is 130kmh, driving 145kmh kill the monotony … casual overtaking, nothing worse to drive 3 or 4 hours with the same pace. In Germany 80% if the highways are unlimited, 160kmh is really nice traveling speed.

[Tarsul]

Found 80% too high, so I looked it up and it's around 60% (would be 70% if there weren't temporary limits), which is still a lot.

[stemlord]

Its hard to not rush on my commute where arriving at the station 10 seconds too late could result in waiting 10 more minutes for the next train, which could be the difference between being considered late to the office or not

[adhesive_wombat]

I've thought about this quite a bit (while driving and using trains and buses) and it seems to me that if the schedule of the train (or bus or traffic light) is independent of your journey, such that you arrive at the station, stop or light at any point in the cycle with even probability, then arriving 10 seconds later will on average translate to a 10 second delay in the journey.

It's just that maybe 9 times out of 100, you didn't miss the train (or got through the light on the same cycle) and the other 1 time is the one where you miss the train or the light goes red just before you arrive.

Of course, being on time on average (i.e. 10 seconds ahead for 59 days, 10 minutes late once) doesn't cut it if your boss is "that kind". I'm fortunate in that my start times aren't strictly policed. If they were, you can bet if be there at 8:59:30 (sitting in the car reading if necessary) and out of the door at 5:00:30 (and probably again reading to let traffic dissipate).

Also doesn't take into account non-idenpendence: if you usually leave so that you arrive just in time, only a small delay can cause a disproportionate effect (a feature of systems with nonlinear feedback loops).

[mbrodersen]

I recommend working for a company that care about your results not whether you sometimes arrive 10 minutes late for work. Managers that focus on arrival time are in my experience incompetent.

[InCityDreams]

>The benefit is even less in the city as you can aggressively tailgate all you want, but at best you'll get through only a small handful of lights one cycle earlier over the entire journey.

Or even: one *bicycle earlier over the entire journey.