this idiot pulled into the fast lane going about 35-45mph (he just got on the freeway so he was not upto speed and the slow/middle lane was going slow about 45-55mph) (posted speed limit is 70mph)
I was going about 80-85mph I had to brake hard because of this and nearly got rear ended my self. If your going into the fast lane at lest be going the speed of other drivers. Other wise you may cause a crash.
this idiot pulled into the fast lane going about 35-45mph (he just got on the freeway so he was not upto speed and the slow/middle lane was going slow about 45-55mph) (posted speed limit is 70mph)
I was going about 80-85mph I had to brake hard because of this and nearly got rear ended my self. If your going into the fast lane at lest be going the speed of other drivers. Other wise you may cause a crash.
If he was going 55mph and you were going 85mph, you were both doing a 15mph difference in the speed limit. Should he have been in the fast lane? No. Should he have sped up? Sure. But you shouldn't have been going that fast either. Both are ticketable offenses
You were speeding so your bitching is nullified as you were already in the wrong.
As they moved from the right lanes maybe the pace of traffic in them had slowed down due to the merging, and you were simply caught off guard as you were speeding, which is your fault.
The difference between going 60 and going 85 in a bad wreck is startlingly huge. Just as that idiot shouldn't have been in your "fast" lane (it isn't a "fast lane", it's a passing lane), he doesn't know how to drive. But you subjecting people to your driving 15 miles an hour (or maybe more and you're not saying it?) over the limit and endangering others on the road is just as bad. There is a good, scientific, engineering reason for speed limits, they don't pull those limits out of their ass. I never drive more than 5 or 7 over the limit at most, and only if it's to so that I won't be that "slow" driver to blame for an accident. How people can feel so entitled to speed and ignore the law is beyond me. The roads are EVERYBODY'S roads, we need to drive on them, IMHO, as though we are borrowing them from friends, and be respectful of the law.
A few days ago a guy ran a red light while I was legally crossing the intersection, and he drove his bumber right up to my leg while I tried to cross and motioned that he would run me over, so I had to step back. I hope that guy goes to jail for this sort of thing some day soon.
There is a good, scientific, engineering reason for speed limits,
And I don't care a wit for any of them.
Flow of traffic trumps a speed limit any day of the week. A speeding ticket won't cost me my life, but getting in an accident because I adhered to a stupid sign just might. If I find myself uncomfortable with the speed, I'll happily move over into a slower lane.
It's not a "stupid" sign, and the law might differ with you, might ticket you. A cop generally won't hassle over 5 MPH or even 10, but if you are going faster than that, you're making excuses, so you can speed, in my humble opinion. Once again, there is technology and science behind mostly behind speed limits. A road is designed to accommodate certain speeds. I'm not saying to sit in the left lane on a 4 lane lane (one direction) interstate refusing to drive over 5 miles over the limit, what I am saying is, DON'T speed then, stay out of that lane unless you've got a good reason.
My father was an emergency responder. I responded with him to calls and saw how speed maims and kills. I was a law courier/process server/etc in Houston, I witnessed a half dozen fatal (at least) "accidents" (IMHO, is it an accident when you ignore laws?) I've witnessed cars and semis FLYING, literally 20 feet up in the air (one time OVER my own car). I've seen reckless drivers cause death, I would put a few hundred thousand miles a year down (average of a few thousand miles a week). I've almost been killed several times. I've had people threaten to run over me as a pedestrian.
I don't call road laws stupid, they are important. Laws are a very important part of a civil society.
and yet there are roads in europe far safer than US roads but without speed limits. are you telling me those roads are engineered somehow for unlimited speeds or the laws of physics dont apply in europe ? the speed differential is what kills -- not speed itself. if two cars are moving at 100mph and 101mph they are safe. if one car is moving at 35mph and the other at 50mph it is far more unsafe. blindly following ridiculous laws is the same as not thinking for yourself. somehow europe trusts its citizens to think but america does not.
Just don't get in the left lane, if you're not prepared to match the flow of traffic. In fact, don't get on the highway at all unless you're prepared to match the flow of traffic. And for the love of god, accelerate to highway speed on or before the entrance ramp.
Roads are built to accommodate a given speed with a given car. The difference in speed between cars is only ONE element in the hell from an "accident". Losing control of a car due to a flat or sudden slow down from a car in front of you, or an animal, or garbage in the road, has nothing to do with cars speeds in front of you are even behind.
You are WAY over simplifying a very complex and highly technical issue, one that has already had engineers and scientists and others professionally calculate what is acceptable.
now, IMHO, highways should post minimum speeds along with maximums, and old people that are too frail to handle those speeds should be barred from being on those roads, in fact, I don't think they should even drive.
But don't over simplify a very complex issue as an excuse to blow off the law. Laws are one of the most important components of a civil society, and there is a reason for them.
In Germany where there isn't a limit, there still IS a limit. You can still be ticketed for going faster than your car on that road, should go. If your driving an old Ford Tempo on the autobahn and think you can legally max out, you''re wrong, and it is unsafe. A brand new model E class is a safer car better suited for that highway.
The engineers make a best effort for a no limit situation, and design those roads to standards that we, here in the USA, cannot duplicate. Their pavement is nearly twice as thick and laid much better. Turns and surfaces, hills and corners are much better.
Out in the SW USA we've got places where the limit goes over 80MPH, but if you are driving a clunker, a cop might still ticket you for driving that fast if your car isn't meant for it.
Laws are NOT ridiculous. Tell the cop that. Tell your insurance agent that. Tell the claims adjuster that. Tell road workers that. Tell the engineers that. They wiil all laugh at you. And you use the word "blindly". Just exactly how is following the law being blind?
Sorry, you are dead wrong, and your own driving may be the cause of some accidents I imagine...
this idiot pulled into the fast lane going about 35-45mph (he just got on the freeway so he was not upto speed and the slow/middle lane was going slow about 45-55mph) (posted speed limit is 70mph)
I was going about 80-85mph I had to brake hard because of this and nearly got rear ended my self. If your going into the fast lane at lest be going the speed of other drivers. Other wise you may cause a crash.
If he was going 55mph and you were going 85mph, you were both doing a 15mph difference in the speed limit. Should he have been in the fast lane? No. Should he have sped up? Sure. But you shouldn't have been going that fast either. Both are ticketable offenses
CHP's don't care about: I15/I215(local loop) most users go 85 to 130mph
issue he went from slow lane to fast/passing lane without going the correct speed.
85mph was the going speed for the lane i.e forced flow of traffic
Roads are built to accommodate a given speed with a given car. The difference in speed between cars is only ONE element in the hell from an "accident". Losing control of a car due to a flat or sudden slow down from a car in front of you, or an animal, or garbage in the road, has nothing to do with cars speeds in front of you are even behind.
Last month a truck (pickup) blew a rear tire(passenger side) going about 75mph he was able to maintain complete control we did pull over also to check for damage to our car since his tire was hitting our car . I really saw the tire explode too, as I looked over right at the same time it blew.
ng faster than that, you're making excuses, so you can speed, in my humble opinion. Once again, there is technology and science behind mostly behind speed limits. A road is designed to accommodate certain speeds. I'm not saying to sit in the left lane on a 4 lane lane (one direction) interstate refusing to drive over 5 miles over the limit, what I am saying is, DON'T speed then, stay out of that lane unless you've got a good reason.
My father was an emergency responder. I responded with him to calls and saw how speed maims and kills. I was a law
I alway keep a decent buffer between me and the next car in front of me.The buffer was eliminated by the car that pulled in to my lane. another issue is a lot of them don't use the turn signal at all or turn it on at the last second.
Roads are built to accommodate a given speed with a given car. The difference in speed between cars is only ONE element in the hell from an "accident". Losing control of a car due to a flat or sudden slow down from a car in front of you, or an animal, or garbage in the road, has nothing to do with cars speeds in front of you are even behind.
I didn't want to quote the entire thing. But you make some valid points, and then you make some awful points.
The equation they use to produce the speed limit for a given road is fairly simple, they do have quite a few considerations however generally they use the 85th percentile way. The wiki actually has a great writeup on it, under Maximum Speed Limits.
As for germany I cannot say if thats true or not, however it makes sense that a junk car would not be allowed to go as fast.
As far as the engineers deciding the limit over here. No engineers actually create speed limits. Officials(politicians) actually decide what is posted for that road, NOT THE ENGINEERS. While the engineers do the leg work, figuring out what it should be, they have no actual say in what the speed limit becomes.(This could change in areas across the country, however I doubt it)
Lastly, the speed limit laws ARE ridiculous. There is no uniformity, I've seen speed limits that make perfect sense, lots of blind curves etc, and then I've seen 6 lane divided with dedicated offramp/onramp lanes highways that are 45. Saying the 45mph speed there is a good decision is just simple ignorance.
The problem is, it depends on your area, and it depends on who is driving. They lump all drivers into the 'meat stick' category, with brains and reaction of a spinning thimble trying to somehow land upright. Someone who is a skilled driver could easily do 20+ the 65mph speed limit, even in semi-heavy traffic. Realizing that skilled drivers will often raise/lower their speed depending on traffic situations ahead, for instance a driver that looks like they may try to make a lane change without checking their mirrors/rear.
My favorite thing about speed limits? In most states, they are the same for tractor trailors, and cars. So they are basically saying a 70foot, 75,000lb truck, is safe to drive at the same speed as a car, which is insanity in it's truest form.
This is just a simple understanding of how speed limits work, and how flawed they are. Studies show that drivers drive at a speed they feel comfortable at, and that goes for the guy going 80+ in a 65, and on the same road, the guy going 55.(Hint, the 55 guy is an idiot)
For the TL;DR version, I recently watched this video, which pertains to canada, but still covers the same problems we face in the US. It's 15 minutes, and a good watch.
Best part of that video? The officer saying just because a road has been upgraded, widened, and fixed up. Doesn't mean it's safer to drive faster on it. :P
I've seen far too many people who don't give everyone else enough space when going fast. In Washington the speed limit was 70, or 75 I believe, however everyone including the truckers were doing 80+ with no more than 1.5 car lengths between anyone. If you left more than that some asshole would cut you off to play frogger in traffic.
What was worse was trying to get through the truckers to get in the right lane if you actually had an off-ramp coming up. You couldn't really just speed up to get ahead of people you had to slow down to find the spot you could possible change lanes into. Nobody except the truckers, and a few grannies were in the right lane so then you had to try to find a hole between them, or stayed behind one of them for a very long distance if you actually knew when it was coming up. The cops see that the speed limit was being ignored by everyone, and we saw them move up the left lane to get through traffic as they couldn't pull everyone over.
If just one person on that freeway were to hit another person out of control, hit a barrier, or slam on their breaks you would have a multiple care pile up. The morons were not leaving enough room between cars to slow down safely even when doing 85. 1.5 car lengths at 85mph is just stupid, and again if you left more than that some asshole could take it possibly leaving you less than half a car length at the most. If they were to hit their breaks you might rear end them when it would be their fault for cutting you off.
Roads are built to accommodate a given speed with a given car. The difference in speed between cars is only ONE element in the hell from an "accident". Losing control of a car due to a flat or sudden slow down from a car in front of you, or an animal, or garbage in the road, has nothing to do with cars speeds in front of you are even behind.
My favorite thing about speed limits? In most states, they are the same for tractor trailors, and cars. So they are basically saying a 70foot, 75,000lb truck, is safe to drive at the same speed as a car, which is insanity in it's truest form.
that is because the trailer becomes progressively more unstable as the speed is increased over 55mph (this applies to pickup trucks as well that are towing )
this idiot pulled into the fast lane going about 35-45mph (he just got on the freeway so he was not upto speed and the slow/middle lane was going slow about 45-55mph) (posted speed limit is 70mph)
I was going about 80-85mph I had to brake hard because of this and nearly got rear ended my self. If your going into the fast lane at lest be going the speed of other drivers. Other wise you may cause a crash.
So you were both wrong, by your own admission. He was creeping into the passing lane. You, however were speeding AND driving in the PASSING LANE. You do know that you aren't supposed to drive in that lane, right? It's for PASSING only. There is no such thing as a "fast lane".
I've seen state troopers come flying up the passing lane, clearing out all the traffic in front of them, forcing them to move over. Hint: not supposed to be driving in that lane unless passing.
Not always actually, but it's marked here when it's the case usually only when there is two lanes in one direction only. We have many freeways, and highways with multiple lanes per direction, sometimes you'll see the truckers passing each other at glacial speeds in the two right lanes so all the cars shift the the left lane(s). Our freeways actually require you to be in the left lanes for different destinations, and some rural/old highways actually make you come to a complete stop, and make a left turn.