**Moved** Imagine a 55 mph Speed Limit

Re: Imagine a 55 mph Speed Limit

ditto.

 

Re: Imagine a 55 mph Speed Limit

i am sure there are many ludacris and riduculous laws on the books.
but this one is also incomprehensible. how is the first car in line to know what the "normal' speed for traffic in the area is other than the speed limit? it's a limit! not mandatory!

 

Re: Imagine a 55 mph Speed Limit

It simply. If you want to drive at the speed limit, stay in the right lane. It would also help if you put a slow moving vehicle triangle on your back bumper.

 

Re: Imagine a 55 mph Speed Limit

In texas, signs telling you to "drive friendly" used to be everywhere. Now they are mainly up at roads leading into the state. One of my friends visiting remarked, that it must mean you wave back to the person you just cut off. Well the old friendly was more than that. On two lane highways slow cars would pull to the shoulder to allow others to pass, you didn't tailgate, and yes you would wave back when you passed a slower car. Driving in other places people think its their right to drive in the left and middle lanes slowly to enforce that great speed limit law, or tailgate those going slower in the left lane. Not very friendly.

Read the wikipedia page about why states sometimes set low speed limits, and IMHO the main one is to collect revenue. Texas has a primafacie speed limit and the signs are mainly a guide line. Normal speed is the normal speed of the road, but you can definitely get a ticket for exceeding it. Just drive friendly and others might too. You are perfectly within your rights to go slower than the speed limit. If a line of cars are dangerously passing you and cutting you and cutting off drivers to get around, it might be a good idea to speed up. Those extra few miles per gallon aren't really worth ruining someone's day.

The talk has gotten political, with public humiliation proposed for speeding or fines so high you might miss a mortgage payment. Just remember that your rights end when you start taking away the rights of others. Somehow just because I drive a prius, everyone needs to tell me about some idiot prius driver that was going 40 in a 65 slowing everyone down.

Just remember the 55 mph speed limit did not save much gas. Driving a hybrid savea much more gas than a government mandated lower limit. The raised cafe standards and cash for clunkers are likely to have a much bigger effect than a failed nixon policy.

 

Re: Imagine a 55 mph Speed Limit

It's one of the best laws on the books and minor variations of it are on the books in many states.

If there are 5 or more cars behind you on a two lane road, you are definitely driving below the normal speed for that road at that time. Obey the law and pull off the road to let them pass at the first safe opportunity.

Note that the Washington State statute says nothing about speed limits, the California one doesn't either.

 

Re: Imagine a 55 mph Speed Limit

Is it wrong to do 55 in the right lane? I certainly don't think so. People who are tailgating you are wrong because they can perfectly go around you. I still think it's dangerous to go that slowly, even in the right lane, because I think even I'm still in the minority on this one. I'd wager that most people would think it's wrong to do 55 at all.

In the left lane though, it's just inconsiderate. You can get on the high horse and go on an on about the limit, but EVERYONE knows the left lane is the fast lane. Even if you're not technically wrong, it's just selfish to be willfully ignorant about the unwritten rules of the road that we all know about. Not to mention it probably far more hazardous to go slow in the left lane, where tailgaters are going to be even more prevalent.

The signs posting the speed limit are just signs. They don't prevent anyone from going faster, so all the moral theory in the world means nothing when everyone is doing 75. In that case, the *safest* thing to do is keep up with traffic. If you're doing 55 and that somehow contributes to an accident, it might not be technically your fault, but is that really the main thing on your mind when you're spinning out of control?

 

Re: Imagine a 55 mph Speed Limit

Austingreen, please don't take this as me picking a fight with you, I quoted you because it really touches on one of the core assumptions and misconceptions.....

Rule #1 from driver's ed - driving is a privilege, not a right.

The speed you drive is 100% completely under YOUR control.

Don't do the crime if you can't pay the fine.....seems to me that this is a reasonable justification for keeping to/around the speed limit. "Sorry honey, I'd love to drive 83 mph, but if I get a speeding ticket, the fine will be astronomical (especially in this "double the fine" construction zone) and we'll miss our mortgage payment and lose the house, guess I'll stick to 65 mph. Besides, I might lose control, crash into that bus filled with Nuns and Orphans, and send it hurtling (in flames) over the side of this suspension bridge that is 300 ft above the rocky chasm below, filled with rattle snakes...."

 

Re: Imagine a 55 mph Speed Limit

1) you are allowed to go as much as 30 MPH under the limit, legally.

2) If you are on a two lane road and 5 cars back up behind you (no matter what your speed is) you have to pull over to let them go by. Do so.

Then everybody is happy. You are going the speed you feel safe, everyone else is going the speed they feel safe.

Let us assume 5 vehicles are stacked up behind this motor home, when he gets to the end of the guardrail, he should pull over. A Motorhome will take this curve about 30 MPH slower than a car.

[ame="http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=Lilliwaup,+WA&sll=47.442486,-123.137169&sspn=0.146053,0.356712&ie=UTF8&hq=&hnear=Lilliwaup,+Washington&z=15&layer=c&cbll=47.463092,-123.114728&panoid=Tabh8ALiy7lPbbxfIZjwOA&cbp=12,27.03,,0,5"]Lilliwaup, WA - Google Maps[/ame]

 

Re: Imagine a 55 mph Speed Limit

By all means!

 

Re: Imagine a 55 mph Speed Limit

Sorry if this has already been covered--I don't have time to read through 72 posts right now...

But, a speed limit is supposed to be just that--a *limit*. In most parts of the civilized world other than the US, drivers who want to go slower than others--be that at, below, or above the speed 'limit'--stay to the right. Here in the US, it seems that (a) on the one hand the speed limit is considered by most to be the absolute minimum speed you should drive, traffic and other factors be dam'd--and (b) few have the courtesy, common sense, lack of self-absorption or whatever it takes to PULL THE <insertverybadwordhere> OVER AND LET OTHER TRAFFIC PASS. I say this as someone who often wants to drive at (sometimes under) the posted limit. When I do so, I get over to the right. Sometimes I elect to drive at a speed above what in most cases is an arbitrary, round number. Sometimes I even pass people (in a Pious!).

Generally, people will drive what speed they want to and feel safe doing so. I'm all for speed enforcement in actual school zones and the like (not the 1/2 mile buffer zone MD has decided to put around school zones), and I'd love to see the police do things that truly increase public safety, e.g. ticket people who ignore pedestrians. But as someone old enough to have experienced it, I don't think a 55mph speed limit would do much more than generate a little more police revenue, engender a lot of animosity and distrust toward the police and the government, and irritate most people in general.

Peace from the outside lane,
~T

 

Re: Imagine a 55 mph Speed Limit

And what if you have 4 cars that trail a slowpoke for miles and miles? Sure they arent obligated to pull over, but really they should. People should be polite enough to do the correct thing irrespective of what the law says you are required to do.

Having lived a few years in the states, I can say with a general certainty that people around here do what they are forced to do seldomly and nothing more than that. Of course there are exceptions, but in this part of the country it is hard to find.

 

Re: Imagine a 55 mph Speed Limit

i have/will never pull over if i have 5 cars behind me on a two lane road (like i would ever try to count them) if i am going the speed limit. sorry. stubborn, i guess. and sometimes, when we go around a corner and there is a speed trap, i feel like i've done them a solid!

 

Re: Imagine a 55 mph Speed Limit

You're never doing anyone a favor by imposing your beliefs on them, even if your belief is that people should drive the speed limit. Because most people around where I live simply do not share that belief.

If by two lane road, you mean one going each way, and you're essentially forcing everyone to drive at your slow pace, it's incredibly inconsiderate. It doesn't matter what the letter of the law is...it's still inconsiderate. Pull over an let them pass.

If by two lane you mean two in the same direction, you should be in the right lane, end of story. There's absolutely no good reason to do the speed limit in the left lane. There are reasons, but no *good* ones.

 

Re: Imagine a 55 mph Speed Limit

To OP.

As you can see people are not going to easily give up on our "non-negotiable way of life" - which includes so called "law abiding citizens" breaking the speed limit traffic law. Consequences be damned.

BTW, the best way for CA to fund their budget deficit would be to strictly enforce speed limits

 

Re: Imagine a 55 mph Speed Limit

just curious, what other laws are do we feel free to beak? how many don't wear seatbelts? coast thru stopsigns? cheat on taxes? perhaps someone can post another link to an arcane law that says you should break the law in certain circumstances?

 

Re: Imagine a 55 mph Speed Limit

You are not law enforcement. The police generally dont appreciate citizens doing their job for them. You're not doing them any favors either.

If people want to speed, let them speed. People break the speed limit because they feel safe doing so, and as long as theyre a competent driver, and theyre not going at a completely absurd speed, they probably are perfectly safe doing so.

I regularly stop and then go through a red light nearby me at night when no one is around. Its 3 way intersection near a mall parking lot. You can see virtually a mile in every direction. You mean to tell me you'd really sit at that red light the whole way through when theres absolutely no one around?

 

Re: Imagine a 55 mph Speed Limit

I would. That light should be on a timer and go to flashing mode when it's not needed. Or better yet, make it a smart light. This can be your personal crusade to get this light fixed so that you no longer need to break the law.

As for why people speed, that's easy. People speed because they are self centered, impatient, and think laws apply to everyone else but them. "What's in it for me" drives most human behavior.

Tom

 

Re: Imagine a 55 mph Speed Limit

You're right. It should be on a timer or a smart light. But it isnt, and I dont need to go on a personal crusade. I can use my brain and a little bit of discretion. I dont mind if I'm breaking the law, as long I'm not hurting anyone, and the intent of the law isnt really being violated. You have to use your mind here - the red light law is intended to protect you and others from you. If there's nothing there to hit you, and nothing there for you to hit, then what's the problem? No harm no foul. I'm not advocating running red lights. I certainly stop to it every time. But I dont feel the need to obey a glowing light when it serves no purpose other than to waste my time.

They speed because people can generally judge how fast they can drive safely, which is often above the speed limit. I'm not advocating doing 90-100 in a 55. That's dangerous to everyone. But doing 70 is not being selfish. Thats ridiculous. How are they hurting you?

 

Re: Imagine a 55 mph Speed Limit

Mind you, in Washington state, it is legal to exceed the speed limit to get around slow moving vehicles. So you can 'break the law' if passing slow vehicles.

RCW 46.61.425: Minimum speed regulation (someone in the WA legislature really hates going slow)

I am told this is also true in Minnesota and Montana, but I never took a driving test in Minnesota or Montana.

 

Re: Imagine a 55 mph Speed Limit

Not if, only "while". But on a 60 road, if I drive at 60, nobody can pass me legally.

ps : Here is a hardcore advocate for reducing max speed.

http://maxattainablespeed.blogspot.com/