Aggressive? Hostile? I speed (when road conditions safely allow) to get from one place to another as quickly as possible without risking a ticket - not to pass someone else. Since I don't race to get in front of or cut off other cars, no it doesn't seem hostile to me. What seems hostile to me are those who drive in the left lane at or under the speed limit with no traffic in front of them and/or keep pace with the car next to them to ensure they can't be passed on the right because they apparently feel the need to control everyone else's speed. :car:
I have noticed on trips that My Prius is pretty invisible to Law enforcement. I doubt that Prius drivers are singled out for ticketing on a busy road (even when they are at fault)...Meanwhile I often smile at the Corvette and Porsche drivers in the right lane going a few miles below the speed limit because they ARE singled out for even minor infractions.
Sometimes your the windshield; sometimes your the bug. Probably as the prius becomes more mainstream there will be less of a stereotype of a pulse drive prius, that you better pass because its going to slow down. I don't notice much of a difference, other than passengers now tell me to speed up, while in my last car they told me to slow down. The prius feels like its going faster than it is. Nowadays going below the speed limit is probable cause to pull someone over for DUI. Sick sad world. I don't see many vettes, there are a lot of porsches around here, and 1 tesla. I don't like to see anyone pulled over unless they are actually doing something wrong.
I'm not saying speeding is safer, I'm saying its safer to drive along with the flow of traffic, irregardless of its relationship to the speed limit. A speed limit is meaningless to safety, its just an arbitrary number thrown out there to try and bring order to chaos, and in a lot of places to give police reasons to stop people for revenue and inspection purposes. Speed limits are supposed to be set to the 80th percentile speed generally, that is the speed 80% of road travelers are driving...the flow of traffic. If the flow of traffic is 80...and the speed limit is 55...the limit is artificially low. In general, highway speed limits have been on an upswing over the last 15 years or so, and traffic fatalities and accidents are DECREASING. If I am driving 75 and keeping up with traffic and you are in the left lane doing 60...YOU are the one who is behaving dangerously, not me, whether the speed limit is 55, 60, 70, whatever. The same is true of someone weaving through the traffic on a roadway doing 85 when the flow is 75... Why do you think european roadways with high...or no speed limits are so much safer than our roads here? 1. Drivers are more educated and trained. 2. The roads are better maintained. 3. And the most important...there is a strict ettiquite system for when a certain driver can be in a certain lane, depending on their driving speed.
Per-mile traffic fatalities have been decreasing ever since the statistics started being kept -- 90 years ago. 10-15 years ago, as '55' was repealed, speed limits rose, and SUVs exempt from passenger car safety standards became extremely popular, the normal decrease in per-mile traffic fatalities slowed.
I find that all speed limits are very accurate, if it's a 35 limit...there's a very good reason it's 35 limit. In DC, the roads are non-existent. So, yadax wants all the Prius owners in DC to travel over the speed limit on roads with big craters/potholes/steel plates as long as there is no one in front of you. Will yadax also pay for the wheel alignment, tire repair, structural damage? Just today on my drive to work, pieces of road debris was hitting the underneath on all four tires.
Nobody is calling out those that go the speed limit in the right lane. It is those that go the speed limit in the left lane, it is courtesy not law. Obviously it is perfectly legal for you to go 45mph (or whatever the minimum speed is) in the left lane, but it is just plain rude. Even if I am going a bagillion miles an hour, if someone is behind me wanting to pass I will pull over to the right. You are not legally bound to open doors for other people, so does that mean nobody should do it? Just courtesy. All it takes is one inconsiderate person in the left lane to create a backup that stretches for multiple miles. This extremely poor driving decision of theirs makes other extremists make equally poor driving decisions such as passing on the shoulder, passing on the right, tailgating, honking, cutting people off JUST so they can get around the one person upfront causing the backup. If everyone was courteous enough to move over the extremists on the speed side would have little excuse to drive poorly other than maybe cutting in at the last second for an offramp since the right lanes are so congested with slower drivers...
The Dallas area not only has among the worst drivers but near the top in DUIs. I'll often be on a four-lane freeway pre-rush hour, yet experience tailgating or someone passing within inches of me...THAT'S hostile. And a few pass on the shoulder. Why the tailgating before it's congested? These speeders that are at least a bit reckless are not thinking...if you are not thinking/looking ahead, what good is speeding? Suspect a lot of these losers are DUI or just beat their girlfriend. I'm distinguishing these from speeders that are giving plenty of leeway and avoiding being "in your face" - does not bother me while I'm driving.
I'm not talking about surface streets, speed limits are set for good reasons on surface streets. I'm talking about highways.
Of note, in a number of places it actually is illegal rather than just rude to drive well below the speed limit in the leftmost lane. In my experience most places have a "slower traffic keep right" type of law. In the California driver's manual they even go so far as to spell out that that even applies if the car you are slower than is speeding. Even in that case not getting out of their way if you are in the right lane is illegal. Now how well it gets enforced is another matter entirely...
