Semi-related anecdote, I’ve driven pickup trucks belonging to my army unit between Montreal and Quebec numerous times and I use the cruise control if its available, except on one particular truck after I noticed I was getting slightly nauseous. Close (but careful) scrutiny of the tachometer showed the engine was revving slightly every few seconds. I had to go back to regular driving. Since I’ve observed few other members of the unit bothering to use the cruise (or even seeming aware it existed), I doubt anyone else noticed or cared.
My car has cruise control that I use occasionally as a way of keeping to the speed limit. It’s uncomfortable, exhausting and puts me on edge – I can’t stay on cruise control for more than a few minutes. I’d describe the sensation as standing still on a moving walkway – something I also can’t do that well.
That’s kinda how I feel when I try to listen to our most senior polititian give a speech. My solution; just don’t do it. 
How does something that relieves you of the duty of constantly monitoring your speed and keeping your ankle muscles flexed in a certain position, make you uncomfortable and exhausted?
I’ve met a lot of people in my life who are uncomfortable being picked up and carried, even though it relieves them of their duty of constantly keeping upright. The car is an extension of me through my hands and feet. Just like I do not walk by thinking “Ok, left foot, right foot, left foot, right foot” but rather “I am walking over there.” Similarly, I do not drive by thinking “Ok, gotta turn left on Main St., that means foot on the brake, and steering wheel half-turn to the left.” I drive by thinking “Ok, turning left on Main St.”
Taking my foot off the accelerator makes me uncomfortable. Also taking my hands off the steering wheel even if the car is going perfectly straight makes me uncomfortable. I also do not like being bound, blindfolded, pushed, led or carried. I am most relaxed when I feel in control.
Taking your hands off the steering wheel is a safety hazard; your reaction time is hampered if you suddenly need to steer.
Using cruise control is not a safety hazard. Your ability to brake is not changed. One tap on the brakes and the cruise control is disconnected; and you’re always free to accelerate when the cruise control is on, and then let it drop back to cruise control.
Not true, having your foot on the gas and moving it to the brake is a very quick natural movement. if you use CC your feet are probably resting on the ground and will take you a split second longer to hit the break espically if your feet have been inmobile for a long time.
Yet highway accident statistics show that using cruise control results in fewer accidents.
Cite?
N. Stanton, P. Marsden, “Drive-by-wire systems: some reflections on the trend to automate the driver role,” Proceedings of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, Part D: Journal of Automobile Engineering, Volume 211, Number 4 (1997), 267-276.
I can only speak from experience. And even though this is GQ, it is only my opinion.
In 2000, I moved from Denver to Tucson. Most of my drive was south on I-25, and west on I-10, with the exception of Highway 26 southwest from Hatch to Deming, NM. I used my cruise control all the way and must say it made my driving most comfortable. It would have been more tiring for me if I had not used it.
If you don’t like to use CC, and you like to drive above the speed limit, you can still use it as an "oops’ device. Say the limlt is 65. Set the CC at the limit, then accel up to 80 or whatever with your very own foot and cruise along in great happiness. If you see, or think you see, a cop, just take your foot off the gas and the car will take you to the limit while you concentrate on the man.
The CC can’t brake, nor does it check my rear view mirror. How would that work? The deceleration would be way too gradual not to be clocked.
You’ll never even come close to maintaining a constant speed with your foot compared to cruise control. I drive 800+ km along the highway between two major cities twenty times per year, and I wouldn’t do it without cruise control. I save on gas, and I arrive much more fresh and alert. Not having to monitor the speed, and not having to keep my leg fixed in position making constant slight alterations results in a much easier trip. The road I travel also has many speed traps. I haven’t received a ticket since I got cc.
I used to do this route without cc and found it quite exhausting. With cc, it’s much easier. Obviously, not everybody has the same reaction.
We had cc installed after the car (Honda Civic) was manufactured. It took about a day and cost… $200? Can’t remember, but it was certainly no big deal.
You check the mirror!
And you don’t want to brake if the cop’s behind you. Tha decel is pretty quick, just like if you let off the gas without CC. At least it has been in my cars.
Still the split second longer it will take you to hit the break is not worth is IMO
Cruise Control can brake.
As Rick will surely attest, the newer Volvo’s have intelligent Cruise Control that scans the road ahead and warns of slower moving vehicles/obstacles and will reduce your speed then hit the brakes to prevent a collision.
It will also maintain a fixed distance between you and the vehicle in front.
BMW and Mercedes offer a similar system. BMW had this on their old 635 years ago.
Volvo also have a sensor on the wing mirrors to warn of anything approaching in the blind spot.
Of course if he’s directly behind you pacing you then yeah, but if you see a cop at 400-500 feet behind you, how would braking be less than prudent?
Actually, my original post on this was semi tongue-in-cheek. Semi because if you did see a cop way back you could take your foot off the gas. Sometimes if your not going way too fast, and you do slow down and hold your speed at the limit, the cop won’t bother you. Or maybe just warn you.
You don’t want to hit the brakes anyway, even a little bit, just to slow to the limit. And also because doing so could attract the attention of the cop who’s looking at the guy a ways behind you.
Believe me, if you’re doing 80 and lift your foot off the gas, it won’t take long to drop down to 65. Then CC will take over and you’ll be cool and at the limit. 
A Red 2000 BMW M5 with all the goodies just showed up on our company classified today, and I’m lusting.
And resisting.
:eek: