Slow Drivers cause majority of accidents--BS

"People who put their money in banks cause majority of bank robberies!"

 

spot on, evan. just another excuse for the american driving public.

 

I don't even want to read the article. What a stupid conclusion. Corwyn is right.

 

It's a UK survey and you're reading it with American views, experiences and laws.

With the high cost of petrol over here ($8+ a US gallon) many drivers who cannot afford fuel are driving ultra slow in the wrong places. Examples of cars doing 40 or 50 mph on the motorway or 25 mph on a congested 60 mph two way main road - I was stuck behind one the other day. The problem arises in that our roads are very congested and also quite windy (as in bends) with few overtaking areas or few safe overtaking areas. If you know that you have another 25 miles of windy roads stuck behind some 75 year old doing 25 mph or a long HGV truck doing 40 mph or often a tractor going 20 mph and you're late for work you might take a risk - and many do.

So do not assume this article is meant for wide, straight, open two way roads as you often get in the US where you can quickly pass the slow car. Try a google maps search of Ripley A61, and follow the road to Ripon A61 (A61 is the road name) and tell me where a safe overtaking spot is when oncoming traffic is doing 60 mph. They're few and far between. You might also notice from the google street view image that their camera car is following a convoy of slow vehicles with a truck stuck behind a small car.

OK we have a legacy road system which is inadiquate for the 21st Century but drivers going to slow is an issue and one that could be resolved or legislated against. I'm sure you must have minimum speed limits on American freeways?

 

It is a press release from confused.com. That said it all.

 

It's funny how "news" sources (or peer-reviewed articles) that disagree with your own preconceived notions are always moronic, but anybody that publishes an opinion that you agree with is held up as a highly regarded, unimpeachable "source".
Common examples in PC:
Any article about the Volt.
AGW.

I didn't bother to read the article either.
It's pretty obvious that slow drivers do not cause "most" or even many accidents. It's also pretty obvious that a vehicle that's lumbering along below the posted speed limit, in the left lane of a limited access highway represents more of a safety hazard than a vehicle that's at or slightly above the limit.

Pretty simple stuff really.
How we manage to muck it up as often as we do is probably a result of our always blaming “the other person” for being “wrong” on roads that we all have to share.

George Carlin had it right.
Anybody that drives slower than I do is a moron, and anybody that drives faster than I do is an idiot!

 

George Carlin was a genius.

 

Concur.

He may have been "just" an entertainer, but he had a phenomenal (albeit somewhat jaded) grasp of the human experience, coupled with the ability to explain it in a simple and entertaining format.

Too bad he was a devout atheist (IIRC.)
If he did (or does) make it into heaven, then he and Samuel Clemmons would be two very entertaining folks to get into one venue...

 

Another gem to live by:

My stuff is stuff, your stuff is crap.

 

I'm trying to find a study a while back that showed that while faster driving was correlated to a relatively small increase in traffic fatalities, a much greater correlation was due to those driving a significant percentage above or below the typical speed on a road. I guess that sounds like common sense, but it certainly gives the potential for people to find whatever result they want if they ignore the other half of the data.

 

I didn't see where the article said slow drivers cause the majority of accidents??
Like you say 143/200000- maybe 1/1500-

Grumpy- yes we have minimum speeds on interstates.They aren't posted "a lot" but frankly folks in the USA RARELY drive really slowly on interstates. It just isn't a problem here in the USA.I think it is 50 mph on a 70 mph interstate.No one drives 50 mph on a 70 mph interstate- never seen it never will.Just isn't in our nature.

Here most of the annoyed folks are probably annoyed by someone driving 30mph on a 35mph city street- or maybe 45 mph on a city freeway with a 55mph speed limit.
Annoyed impatient drivers- yeah they are a problem. They will go nuts over losing a very few seconds.

Folks in the USA will stupidly stupidly stupidly ACCELERATE to a red light and then jam on the brakes.Wth ???
We could probably save 0.5% of petrol 1/200 by just telling folks-some sort of public service campaign like stopping smoking- "take foot off gas when the light in front of you is red"

Yeah we have a poorly educated public
Driving too slowly isn't a problem in the USA.
Charlie

 

Not at all. That was part of his genius.

On topic....there was an article in the local paper yesterday, describing a reporter's experience with driving the speed limit everywhere he went, just as an experiment. He was not treated kindly, nor did most other drivers respond in what could be called a safe manner.

 

Slow drivers in the left lane are a hazard.

 

slow drivers that don't know how to merge are the real problem... so.. yeah.. slow people create problems.. as you guys have said, this is no excuse for speeders.

i experienced the carmageddon last weekend.. it was wonderful... 45 and 50 mph highways/freeways going at 70+mph.. yeah.. it was a little fast for that road.. but anyone doing 45 at the time would have been a hazard... i wanted to cruise at 50 but it was a hazard to do so.

if people want to cruise pinned right as speed, at least they need to learn to let mergers in... or don't stay in the very far right hand lane... stay one lane over.

slow people are a problem.. but not as much of a problem as the real speeders cutting back and forth who create gridlock.

in the end... anyone not at a perfect speed... or anyone who constantly raised or lowers speed.. or anyone who can't merge or let in mergers... and for that matter, most of the people on the road are a problem... or maybe it's just the highway system that's a problem.

maybe the real problem is the people who would rather jump on the highway instead of taking faster city streets... just so they don't have to hit lights. (huge problem in Los angeles)... i never take the highway unless i'm leaving the city.. i just see that as responsible. (it's longer distance to drive on the highway while staying in the city)

 

I think I agree with you but unless the right lane is packed solid the merge is the responsibility of the merger not the people in the lane. The (wonderful people)* around here have the idea that I am supposed to modulate MY speed so they can get onto the highway...not my problem.

*insert derogatory term of your choice here.

 

I can't get the link to work. So admittedly I haven't read the article. But I'd say the concept that drivers driving slowly can cause other drivers around them to become frustrated and make unwise decisions is sound.

I don't know about "majority" of accidents, but in general I find it much more frustrating to be behind a putter...than passed by a speed demon..and I'd say becoming frustrated with your surroundings is a good first step to making a bad driving decision.

It's all P.O.V. and ultimately "accidents" cause "accidents"...but I CAN buy the premise that slow drivers cause more potential accidents. A lot of people will react agressively if they perceive they are "stuck" behind someone not obeying or keeping up with the flow of traffic, where conversely most people simply ignore the vehicle that disappears over the horizon because it's going too fast.

Yes, ideally we should always drive perfectly and not let our emotions dictate our driving style or approach...but this simply is not reality for a majority of humanity.

 

When I'm in the right lane I will always speed up or slow down if necessary in response to cars entering the highway, even though it is their responsibility to merge. It is really a shared responsibility to keep the roads as safe as possible.

 

I've spent a LOT of time driving below PSL on expressways. On CT's 65mph interstates the minimum speed is 40mph. I don't cruise that slow. I use 50mph as my target speed because I don't think people driving 75mph (speeding) can handle anything lower than that. My speed may drop lower when there is no traffic behind me, or in a climbing lane on a steeper uphill.

Some people assume the right lane (or especially a climbing lane) is their own personal passing lane, and get a little fussed to find me there.

Also most traffic completely ignores lower speed limits in construction zones, freeway merge areas, etc. Even though speeding fines are doubled in these zones. They swoosh right through at 65mph or even more. In CT there is almost no enforcement in construction zones, just a symbolic cop car parked there.

It is very helpful to pop on the hazard flashers and ease over towards the right side of my lane when a semi is coming up behind me. I do it when the truck is WAY back, 1/3 mile or more, so it usually has plenty of time to find a slot to move one lane to the left. Then, unless it's a dump truck dribbling pebbles, I flash my headlights as soon as they are clear of me to move back into the right lane.

What this does is to keep traffic flowing smoothly past me. Cars can see the truck moving over so they move over too.

Drivers engrossed in conversations on their handheld cells sometimes get trapped behind me, but I have no sympathy for them

On two lanes secondary roads I try to at least do the speed limit if anyone is behind me. If they're unhappy with the speed limits it really isn't my problem.