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Speed limits are indeed set like they are for a reason, but that reason is revenue enhancement. To say that the absurdly low speed limits are necessary for safety is just ludicrous.
Can you back that up with factual links from reputable sources?
To back up what I am saying, that speed limits are for safety, there are TONS of department of transportation research studies out there. Search google.com for the following words...
speed limit design safety
Also I suggest you take a professional driving course - like those semi-truck drivers, city bus drivers, and other public transportation drivers take. Quite a bit to learn about how speed can kill - driving conditions - speed and the design of roads - curves and various driving conditions, etc. (I've taken two of these classes.)
Basic driving safety will be covered in a regular driver's class (I took that in high school).
And AARP offers a driving class for older people, but younger people can take that too. I recommend everyone take that class as you will learn how to drive more safely around older drivers - understand their reaction times and eyesight is less than with younger people (give them space basically). (I took that class too.)
Note some insurance companies will give a discount if you attend the AARP driver's course.
So far I believe I'm the only fish out of water in this thread - with the exception of the poster who has had seat time on a race track, but seriously, I just don't get all the driving phobia being expressed here. I am 70 years old, and drive daily in the Los Angeles area. I am not nervous, I am not stressed, and I am not afraid. Driving hasn't really changed since I started doing it at age 16, and that was a VERY long time ago. Yes, there are dumb drivers; one must be continuously alert and aware.
There is such a gulf of incomprehension here. I really don't get it. Why are you all such nervous Nellies?
You're not alone, but we're just seriously outnumbered here ... I count about 3 or 4 of us. I started driving tractors around the farm when I was about 10 and I'm 64 now, and I don't get the phobia, either. Even surviving a rollover never made me afraid of driving ... only of falling asleep at the wheel, so I do worry about one of my friends who pushes herself to drive alone and virtually non-stop from NYS to SC in 14 hours!
My plans for retirement include driving across country with just my dog ... sort of a modern version of Steinbeck's Travels with Charlie, although mine will be Travels with Tucker ...
Can you back that up with factual links from reputable sources?
To back up what I am saying, that speed limits are for safety, there are TONS of department of transportation research studies out there. Search google.com for the following words...
speed limit design safety
Also I suggest you take a professional driving course - like those semi-truck drivers, city bus drivers, and other public transportation drivers take. Quite a bit to learn about how speed can kill - driving conditions - speed and the design of roads - curves and various driving conditions, etc. (I've taken two of these classes.)
Basic driving safety will be covered in a regular driver's class (I took that in high school).
And AARP offers a driving class for older people, but younger people can take that too. I recommend everyone take that class as you will learn how to drive more safely around older drivers - understand their reaction times and eyesight is less than with younger people (give them space basically). (I took that class too.)
Note some insurance companies will give a discount if you attend the AARP driver's course.
So, the main lesson you've taken away from the driving classes you've taken is that speed can kill? I think that you missed main point of the lessons you were supposed to learn in these courses. I've taken the NTSI's Defensive Driving course probably 7 or 8 times over the last quarter of a century (which in my state and many others automatically gets you a discount on your insurance for 3 years), and the main lesson taught in these courses is that your attitude is the primary means of avoiding or minimizing most accidents ... which means taking common sense safety precautions like wearing seat belts and not using the phone while driving to not insisting on having the right-of-way even if you have the right-of-way as well as adjusting your speed to driving conditions such as rain/snow/fog etc.
Going too fast can cause an accident, but so can going too slow in some cases. Insisting on driving at the speed limit on limited access highways when the traffic around you is going 5-10 mph faster, especially on crowded roadways, is NOT a safe driving practice. Driving below the speed limit on open two lane rural highways will aggravate drivers caught behind you for several miles. In both cases, these practices may get somebody else in an accident as he/she tries to pull out to pass you.
Someone almost hit me and then proceeded to honk because I slowed down
You're not supposed to slow down, you're supposed to speed up and move to the right. It actually annoys the people in the ambulance when you slow down.
I have this theory that how people drive is how they think about them self in life. There are those that drive like they own the road, and therefore, cut people off, speed, put others in danger- it doesn't matter to them because the whole purpose is about THEM getting where they want to be. THEM.
Then there are others, the minority, who proceed to follow the law, give people their right-of-ways, slow down to let others merge, don't tail gate, and are generally, just nice drivers. The kind where you want to make a big sign that says, "you're awesome" to let them know when you pass them. They know how to co-exist kindly with the others on the road.
With that said, i've never been a road rage driver. The worst thing I do is speed on highways - to pass slower cars, to generally make a 3 hour drive on a straight, boring, highway with no traffic go a smidge faster. I'm nervous of driving prior to the actual driving. IE: I know I'll be driving through Los Angeles in about 2 hours, and I'm nervous it'll be bumper to bumper traffic and that I won't see where the traffic begins so I can stop in time.... but once I actually hit the area, it's no big deal. I'm doing fine. The nervousness, however, didn't really settle in until some 16 year old once rear-ended me because he was texting and didn't see me stopped. I was staring in my rearview mirror totally aware this car was about to hit me at 45. Since them, I've had some post-traumatic stress regarding driving and feeling like any time someone is braking too slowly behind me, that I'm going to get hit. ALL THE TIME. Granted, no one has hit me in 8 years. So it kind've mellowed out. But still. So many horrible drivers.
I am thankful that I don't need to drive to work if I don't have to, and especially happy I don't have to drive on highways or in traffic. I can be a fast driver but I am also very aware and considerate. It just seems most drivers today don't know the rules (like yielding to cars in traffic circles, using turn signals, stopping behind the cross walk, going around left turners, maintaining safe following distance-ie being able to see the cars back tires at all times, etc) and are not alert.
Also it is very scary that so many drivers are talking/texting on phones, adjusting Ipods, on medication, etc. I know I probably sound old but I am only 27 and have noticed a difference in driving ability since I've been on the road 10 years. I first learned to drive on manual transmission and I think it would benefit a lot of drivers if they did too. I'm not a nervous nellie, as was alluded earlier in the thread, I'm just afraid of some idiot swerving into my lane or not stopping in time behind me (I've seen it happen and it's come close to happening to me).
As for speed limits being either reasonable and related to safety or unreasonably slow, shouldn't our common sense tell us that they are unreasonably slow? (At least in California). Why do you think they are so routinely violated? In any area where the prevailing flow of traffic is 10 mph faster than the speed limit, that is a pretty good sign that the speed limit cannot be justified on any rational ground (other than revenue enhancement). When you drive down a street 10 mph faster than the speed limit, and when you think about the sight distances, lane widths, and other factors that determine your ability to react, your common sense ought to tell you if you are driving safely. If it doesn't, there is something terribly wrong with your common sense and judgment.
As for speed limits being either reasonable and related to safety or unreasonably slow, shouldn't our common sense tell us that they are unreasonably slow? (At least in California)...
Actually you are correct so far as California and especially Los Angeles is concerned. That is a unique case in that most of the people driving on those freeways are very good and alert drivers. They can amazingly drive fast, tailgate, and have few accidents.
Also it is necessary for the freeways in L.A. to be fast flowing in order to handle the large volume of traffic. If all cars drove 55 mph 24/7, there would be a huge traffic tie up!
And in the case of L.A., I think they DO take advantage of the situation to make money from people driving over the speed limit. You are really darned if you do, darned if you don't!
Anyway so far as speed and design, that would be done by the state or federal traffic engineers. They are not known to make exceptions for a specific area.
(For people who have not been on a wild L.A. freeway ride, fly into Los Angeles airport, then take a shuttle van to say Orange County / Disneyland. You will get the ride of your life! (Might want to be wearing "depends" adult diapers! )
I saw that video a few days ago. Yes there was some Karma but I noticed that she was alone in
her car and using the cell phone video very well.
Quote:
Originally Posted by stan4
The idiots with cell pho s have really upped the dumb unnecessary danger factor, too.
The cell phone and texting is a big concern. When I'm driving, I see this way to often and had a few
near misses due to these twits.
Some more are people who;
-smoke, drink and eat while driving (see them do this all of this at the same time)
-open their doors (drivers side) when there is moving traffic
-bicycles who are in the middle of a busy street backing up traffic
and the other day I saw the girl tailing my car while she was reading a book and drying her hair with
a towel.
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