>>I've noticed one peculiar behavior with the drivers of these armored transportation devices - at the lights, I'm the nimble one, ready on the green, no cell phone surgically attaching the arm to the ear, manual shift, not shy with the pedal... if I'm the first on the line, I'll probably escape these guys by a good 50 or 100 meters. Then I reach the speed limit within seconds, and keep it - but they don't. Inevitably they'll try to make up for being slow at the start by being too fast on a straight stretch.
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>"Not shy with the pedal" is a very interesting way of putting it :o) I tend to get very impatient with drivers of stick-shift cars (having spent years driving those myself) who take forever (or so it seems) to get on the ball when the light turns green :o)

:)

There are drivers and drivers (*). It's that the drivers of vehicles of heavier persuasion often shorten time at the lights by phoning, daydreaming or just being gentle with the pedal when green comes, so they think they waste less stew. But when they see a straight stretch of a road, they just speed up, unable to resist the adrenalin, perhaps.

IOW, it's not the shift, it's the reaction time and general habits. I may need to drive in Europe again someday, and I don't want to lose the reflexes which may once be handy.

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(*) today is my day of speaking Serbian English, avoiding unnecessary words, so not "..and there are drivers"