Does Anyone Drive the Speed Limit Anymore??

*raises hand* I do.
And, I did when I drove my Buick, and when I drove my Malibu, and now with my Prius. Just as many people pass me as ever!

I laugh, though, because I'm getting better gas mileage than the lot of them...

Besides, who really wants to get to work FASTER?

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(spideyman @ Jun 1 2007, 02:07 PM) [snapback]453470[/snapback]</div>

I do!

It is a rarity though. I wish people would slow down a little.

I was highway driving at night last week when someone flew by me. I was thinking "slow down...slow down" When I crested the next hill, they were on the shoulder with a county mounty with the disco's on behind them. I guess they didn't pick up on my telepathy.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(tanglefoot @ Jun 1 2007, 01:10 PM) [snapback]453476[/snapback]</div>

Yay! *cue theme song* Another one bites the dust....

Those speeders do make it hazardous out there. I feel very little sympathy for them when they do get caught.

 

I hear using Cruise Control on the Prius reduces the MPG. You may want to research it though, as it was Prius Chat hearsay.

I also drive the speed limit, although it's 70 mph on the highway I use to go to work. Most importantly, I avoid getting behind big trucks, so my car hood doesn't get damaged.

It's amazing how much road rage I see daily. Drivers use the right lane to speed past other cars, they cut other people off, get into car fights...heck...one car even stalked a guy down and killed him!

I know this happens in cities all of the time, but I live in Arkansas!

 

I don't, at least not on the highway. There is just no reason for a 55MPH or even 65MPH speed limit on controlled access highways. I do obey them in town and especially in neighborhoods.

What really bothers me is people who do drive the speed limit in the passing lane. It seems like some folks are self-appointed traffic monitors and think by driving the speed limit in the passing lane that they will slow everyone else down. Do us all a favor and leave that job to the police. All you are doing is causing people to pass on the right which is much more dangerous.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Swanny1172 @ Jun 1 2007, 03:19 PM) [snapback]453487[/snapback]</div>

That drives me nuts! The left lane is intended to be a passing, not traveling lane. ARGH!

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Rae Vynn @ Jun 1 2007, 04:12 PM) [snapback]453480[/snapback]</div>

Wrong.

Several studies have shown that slower drivers cause more accidents than do speeders. A comprehensive review of accident studies by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration showed that fast drivers had fewer accidents than slower drivers. On a freeway, the safest speed found was 10 mph over the average traffic speed. That's over the speed of the traffic, not over the speed limit. Traffic speed is already aver the limit, and maximum safety occurs faster than that. Why? Accidents happen to people who drive their cars into something. Those people who are good at driving, drive fast. Those who are poor drivers, drunk, drugged, inexperienced, drowsy, slow-witted, nervous, scared, or otherwise impaired, drive slower. Their slowness does not save them. The slow drivers have about 10 times the accident rate of the fast ones.

"The accident involvement rates on streets and highways in urban areas was highest for the slowest 5 percent of traffic, lowest for traffic in the 30 to 95 percentile range and increased for the fastest 5 percent of traffic."
Samuel C. Tignor and Davey Warren. "Driver Speed Behavior on U.S. Streets and Highways." Institute of Transportation Engineers: 1990 Compendium of Technical Papers, 1990 August, p. 85.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Swanny1172 @ Jun 1 2007, 03:25 PM) [snapback]453496[/snapback]</div>

Help me understand this. Are you saying that if the "good" drivers drove slower they'd get in more accidents? Or are you saying that if the "poor drivers, drunk, drugged, inexperienced, drowsy, slow-witted, nervous, scared, or otherwise impaired" drivers drover faster they'd get in less accidents?

I'd agree that driving drunk, drugged, drowsy, or otherwise impaired would cause more accidents regardless of the speed, what I'm curious about is if having more reaction time available, a faster stopping time, a shorter stopping distance, and a smaller turning radius (all effects of driving slower) would make a good driver even safer?

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(thebrattygurl @ Jun 1 2007, 04:18 PM) [snapback]453486[/snapback]</div>

This is mostly an issue on hills. Over flat roads, the cruise control does just fine. On hills, it tries to maintain constant speed, often at the expense of good mileage.

Tom

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Swanny1172 @ Jun 1 2007, 03:25 PM) [snapback]453496[/snapback]</div>

Then explain this...

I have never caused an accident by driving the speed limit; however, just about everyone I know who has was speeding and/or not paying attention. Hmmmm...

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Swanny1172 @ Jun 1 2007, 04:25 PM) [snapback]453496[/snapback]</div>

I'm with you Swanny. While I definately drive a bit less speedy in my Prius than past sports cars, I do travel with the flow or however it feels right. In some states the left lane is used for passing only - but certainly not all - it is not necessarily illegal. I also get quite annoyed when a couple of good doer's team up and cause a rolling road block for the rest of the world to suffer behind their 52 mph demo of . Errrrrrr :angry:

When I moved from So Cal 5 years ago, the going speed (without traffic) was 80. And honestly, I have to say that Orange County drivers are among the best performing asphalt ballet. Put them in snow and that's another story. To paraphrase the VW ads, there are drivers and there are passengers on the road of life. I prefer to drive.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Danny Hamilton @ Jun 1 2007, 04:36 PM) [snapback]453504[/snapback]</div>

The whole point is that you minimize accidents when you travel at the speed of the traffic around you. Don't drive faster and don't drive slower, just maintain the same pace. However, if you aren't going to travel at the same pace as traffic, you are better off driving faster because statistically speaking, you are less likely to have an accident than someone traveling below the pace of the traffic.

 

My 1990 Ford Probe had a speed warning device. You could set the speed you want to be warned at and it would give a beep (with a message) when you exceeded it.

I used it when I first owned the car and then I turned it off. Now I use the CC to maintain speed.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(thebrattygurl @ Jun 1 2007, 04:41 PM) [snapback]453510[/snapback]</div>

Maybe you just know a bunch of crappy drivers!

Actually, I think you answered your own question when you said, "and/or not paying attention". That is what probably caused the accident, not the speed at which they were driving. Speed may have been a contributing factor, but speed alone was not the reason for the accident.

 

I do! If somebody wants to blow by at 90mph that's his problem.

 

Highway - I drive the same speed as everyone else (ie, I speed, but I'm not insane). Except for the first snowstorm or two during the year in New England, or first rainstorm or two in the Bay Area. Most folks forget you're supposed to slow the hell down when it's slippery. Most folks can be found at the side of the road with unhappy expressions.

City - drive speed limit. Usually, way under speed limit, thanks to bumper-to-bumper stop-and-go traffic.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Swanny1172 @ Jun 1 2007, 02:25 PM) [snapback]453496[/snapback]</div>

There might be something wrong with their data, like people lying about the speed they were going when they crashed. It used to be impossible to get accurate data. Now, with the flight recorders in almost all cars.... time for another study!! I'm sure all those teenagers who have the highest insurance rates really are going 10mph

 

We need a national computerized traffic monitoring system, let computers monitor traffic instead of police so they can do what police should be doing.

Use revenue generation from traffic tickets to fund the project (severely large fines for speeding), reduce emissions and gas use by slowing down traffic and reward drivers for driving slow with less stop and go to get to destinations quicker in city driving.

I know that sounds like a pipe dream, but all the Hoover public works projects got america working with physical infrastructure projects.. now america could have a national technical infrastructure large scale project and there is the brain power to do it.

<stepping down from soap box>

Yes I drive the speed limit, and take surface roads which double my commute time (over 25 miles) to get better mileage.