American Drivers Think Speeding Is Okay Because Everyone Else Is Doing It
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Can you tell these stories? I didn't think cops would pull you over for going the speed limit in the right lane.
You get pulled over for impeeding traffic, it's pretty rare to get a ticket and would fail in court. Usually it's a warning. A waste of tax dollars.
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In my US state of Texas, speed studies set the speed limit based on a 85th percentile rule. They assume that people will basically ignore the speed limit and drive the speed they feel is safe. That's why we have highways with 85 mph speed limits.
https://www.txdot.gov/safety/driving-laws/speed-limits/speed-zone-studies.html
That's not a bad strategy. Driving slowly on slow roads or in adverse conditions and fast on highways seems rational to me. What is the point of making a road that is specifically designed for high speed and then putting a limit on it? The speed limit is an incredibly blunt instrument for deterring bad driving, as if driving below the limit is always going to be the safest option. It also motivates law enforcement abuse. The vehicle-environment-driver complex is much more nuanced than a single variable threshold.
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Lol wtf is all these car lovers doing in /c/FUCKCARS
For real. As if my 30 year old car loves doing 80+ mph. I hate people justifying speeding. Instead of flashing my brakes lights if they're too close I just l clean my windshield and splash their car. Instead of brake checking I just barely slow down and force them to go around.
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You are right about American freeways. City roads tend to have a lower speed limit that is probably appropriate and it would be unsafe to go faster.
Rural America will have little roads with deer and intersections at blind curves and say 55 mph seems about right.
I have noticed the opposite, having driven in multiple countries. American urban speeds are dangerously higher while the highway speeds are set lower.
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That's because it is.
Try driving through I-5 in Los Angeles following the speed limit. I dare you.
I mean most daylight hours you'll be well below it
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You're not being safer by driving slower, your base premise is wrong
My base premise is faster drivers being the source of slower drivers being unsafe, not the other way around. Thus the slower drivers are the victims of this, and shouldn't be blamed for driving slower, and definately shouldn't be encouraged to driver faster, just because a bunch of assholes think they're more important than everyone else.
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If you don't feel confident driving the usual flow of traffic you shouldn't be driving
So many times I've had to slam on brakes to let an idiot get back in their side after a pass because some slowpoke idiot is doing 60kmph on a 100kmph road and a whole column is passing them
If you don't speed tf up you will get yourself or someone else killed
When you're alone on the road drive whatever speed you like
We're generally talking about people driving over the speedlimit on this post. Someone doing 60km/h in a 100 km/h zone isn't the point of discussion. Someone driving 120 km/h in a 100 km/h zone is the problem. You can't blame the people simply following the laws for the actions of people breaking the laws.
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i have gotten tailgated by a semi truck in a highway construction zone, one of the scariest things i have experienced while driving. i couldnt even see his lights in my back window he was so close
You should have brake check him /joking
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We're generally talking about people driving over the speedlimit on this post. Someone doing 60km/h in a 100 km/h zone isn't the point of discussion. Someone driving 120 km/h in a 100 km/h zone is the problem. You can't blame the people simply following the laws for the actions of people breaking the laws.
Is the law what's important or safety?
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It quite literally is.
If you don't keep up with traffic, people pass you, and that is much more dangerous than an extra 10mph
Iâve had people blow past me at like 20-30 over. Swerving all over through traffic. Only for me to pull up beside them at the stop light at the top of the exit ramp. Worth it. Not saying itâs always the case. But itâs funny af when it does.
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I don't think I'm autistic. But it tickles my brain that the speed limit is one USian law that is designed to NOT be followed literally.
If it were, it would be trivial to use automatic toll reader cameras to give everyone who speeds a ticket. They have a time stamp when you enter the toll road. They have a time stamp when you exit. They can calculate mathematically that if your average speed is higher than the limit, you broke the speed limit.
But they don't do this, because society does NOT believe in following this specific law (speed limits)... because why exactly?
There is an unwritten rule in society that the speed limit law is not meant to be followed literally?
I hate it.
If that happened people would avoid toll roads which means there won't be enough toll income.
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Depends on where. Iâm going the speed limit through town or less where there are people. It saves lives.
But highways are built for fast driving and cars continue to get safer and more performant. Fuck the speed limit set for 1970âs death traps and hasnât changed.
The real problem as always is local roads designed like highways. Stroads seem to be one of the underrated evils of modern society
Cars might have gotten better, but a lot of highways haven't been improved enough for those higher speeds. For example, there's a lot of on ramps in older cities with very short merge zones, and you need to hammer the throttle and pray that there's a spot for you by the time you hit the end.
This is especially true if the person in front of you refuses to accelerate to highway speeds to merge safely, simply hoping that people will be nice enough to let them in.
There's one near me where I've almost been in accidents just about every time I use it.
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Can you tell these stories? I didn't think cops would pull you over for going the speed limit in the right lane.
My mother-in-law has been pulled over for doing the speed limit three times in her life. Each time given a warning and told by the cops she's making everyone else less safe.
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My base premise is faster drivers being the source of slower drivers being unsafe, not the other way around. Thus the slower drivers are the victims of this, and shouldn't be blamed for driving slower, and definately shouldn't be encouraged to driver faster, just because a bunch of assholes think they're more important than everyone else.
They should be encouraged and enabled to not drive at all.
Slow drivers are a big reason why I want free and abundant public transportation.
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the real answer to question "why people speed" is someplace closer to "why was this neighbourhood road designed like a freeway". Another is "why is it safe to have virtually no speed limits on Autobahns?". I mean people act on environmental queues - from the size of lanes to what speed fellow motorists are observing. Just pinning it on individuals is incorrect. HOWEVER there are entitled arseholes out there who will totally ride jour read bumper at high speed because they need to pass you only to turn off at nearest exit.
âwhy was this neighbourhood road designed like a freewayâ
The stroad by my house is five lanes wide with a 45mph speed limit but still has crosswalks that nobody can use because it's a five lane road with people doing 45mph and many people have already been killed crossing. So many that children are bussed from the school across the road because it's too dangerous to even have a crossing guard.
You read that right: Kids who live less than 200 feet from the school can't walk there because the road is too dangerous.
And we can't get the speed limit lowered because it's a state highway and the state says it has to be 45 and the local community has no say in it.
And people wonder why I hate authority.
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There are roads where speeding is so common you will in fact be dangerously tailgated if you drive the speed limit
German standard.
And don't dare to drive lower, although of course you'd be legally allowed to.
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I don't think I'm autistic. But it tickles my brain that the speed limit is one USian law that is designed to NOT be followed literally.
If it were, it would be trivial to use automatic toll reader cameras to give everyone who speeds a ticket. They have a time stamp when you enter the toll road. They have a time stamp when you exit. They can calculate mathematically that if your average speed is higher than the limit, you broke the speed limit.
But they don't do this, because society does NOT believe in following this specific law (speed limits)... because why exactly?
There is an unwritten rule in society that the speed limit law is not meant to be followed literally?
I hate it.
Another factor that hasn't been mentioned yet is it gives cops pretty unilateral right to pull you over if they feel like it. IANAL, but in many places it's illegal for a cop to pull you over just for "being suspicious", but because of speeding and various other traffic laws on the books that are almost universally ignored, they can pull you over for speeding, then decide you seem suspicious and search your car, breathalyze you, etc.
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Are there workers? If there are workers, slow the heck down, keep them safe. If there are workers, it shouldnât even be a question
I live in Pennsylvania where the roads are always under construction because there's never anyone actually working on them.
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For real. As if my 30 year old car loves doing 80+ mph. I hate people justifying speeding. Instead of flashing my brakes lights if they're too close I just l clean my windshield and splash their car. Instead of brake checking I just barely slow down and force them to go around.
I've modified the rear sprayer on my car to squirt directly at the car behind me. It's a lot of fun.
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Lol wtf is all these car lovers doing in /c/FUCKCARS
I thought fuckcars meant that you wanted to fuck cars....
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