Eight people killed on highways over weekend ! (photo radar, construction)

[PhxBarb]

Geez !!! Slow down people !!!!!

Police say no drugs or alcohol was involved in any of the 7 crashes.
They also said people are driving like its a raceway and are following too closely.

I still believe if you follow the speed limits and not "keep up with the traffic" you may live longer. Keeping up with the traffic usually means at least 20mph over the limit. Not a good idea.

[stan4]

And how many were on their cell phones? We drove from Dallas to Houston and back this weekend - lots of bad driving...when we passed people, there they were...on the cell phones.

[sassieb75]

My cousin was one of those killed in the deadly accidents this weekend. He was not using any alcohol or drugs. He was NOT onhis cell phone, nor was he following too close. He leaves behind a pregnant wife and two young boys...it's a horribly sad time for our family....

[ZonyPony]

Geez !!! Slow down people !!!!!


How about this?

Last night, I was driving next to one of those bumble-bee sounding vehicles, complete with scads of NASCAR decals "tatooed" all over his little red vehicle. He kept driving up next to other cars and revving his engine as if to invite them to a race.

Since there were no takers, he then sped off away from our little clump of vehicles, supposedly looking for someone else to race him...

Yep... just one more example of those "fast and furious, lane-changing NASCAR wannaBEES"!

Unfortunately, nary a cop to be seen.

[Finger Laker]

or speed up - my experience out here is just the opposite

many times it's hard to even touch the speed limit - when you have 3 lanes of traffic all going 55-60 in a 65mph zone it's every bit as dangerous

slower traffic stay to the right - that will cut down on a lot of the lane changing, etc as they are allowed to pass

driving is dangerous and you need to be defensive out there - stay focused, be aware of your surroundings, know if you have a car coming up on you, know if the guy next to you is weaving a little, know if it's possible to get right or left in case of emergency

do what you can do and then just hope for the best - because sometimes even if you do something 100% correct bad things can still happen without fault

[PhxBarb]

Sassie: I am very sorry for your loss. We don't really comprehend the seriousness of this issue, until it happens to someone we know. Thanks for sharing.

[mdtoaz]

Originally Posted by PhxBarb

Sassie: I am very sorry for your loss. We don't really comprehend the seriousness of this issue, until it happens to someone we know. Thanks for sharing.

Well put, Barb.

And Sassie, I'm also sorry for your loss. It's very sad, and truly senseless that lives are taken in order to save a few minutes.

[Rick Lee]

Speed does not cause accidents. Speed DELTA causes accidents. There's nothing dangerous at all about going 80 mph on the gigantic hwys. here. I've driven twice that speed in Germany, where the lanes are fewer and narrower. But people there have lane discipline, don't text or chat on cell phones, they signal lane changes, etc. As long as we have ridiculous speed limits, designed just to let the cops collect money when they feel like it and the law about slower traffic keeping right remains completely ignored and unenforced, we will continue to have a lot of accidents.

If you get passed on the right, you are in the wrong lane. If ANYTHING happens to you while you're on your cell phone and driving, it's your fault. Fixing these two things would do amazing things for driving in the U.S.

[miamiman]

The main problem here as people have stated is the people who basically sit in the passing lane. That causes some of the more agressive drivers to attempt to pass on the right, which on multi-lane freeways such as the 10 and the 60 can be extremely dangerous.

Another problem is the low speed limits. Why the speed limit is 55 on the 101 in the East Valley, I will never know. Why there are 45 or 50 mph speed limits in construction zones when no one is working and nothing is going on, I will never know. This again causes dangerous driving between people who actually obey the law by following the speed limit and people who travel 65 or 70 miles an hour down the same stretch.

The best system is to have people who are traveling at or below the speed limit to be as far to the right as possible. Let the speeders and people who are passing stay to the left. The worst idea is to think since you are already traveling the speed limit or because you want to fill your lifelong dream of being a traffic regulator that you can sit in the left lane if people are trying to get around you.

[jgunn72]

#1 cause of accidents is inattentive driving. Yet when you hear about a lot of accidents the first thing yelled is the speed kills fallacy. No wonder Janet is able to put a photo van on every mile of state highway. Photo radar doesn't seem to be working very well, now does it? Didn't work in the UK either but it made the government and the private companies running it rich.