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Not all states have the law on the books. But Right lane is for driving. All lanes to the left are for passing. Granted, when you get into 4-6 lane freeways, you can adjust a bit. Nothing worse than people who camp in the middle of a three lane either. They impede traffic as much as left lane idiots. People like to hang out in the left lanes so they don't have to think and drive whilst dealing with merging traffic.
I frequently drive to Los Angeles (since my father/family lives there), which is about 350 miles. So if I'm driving just 10mph over the limit, which is perfectly safe and will NOT get you a ticket on that highway, I'd save like 30-40 minutes... yep, totally worth it.
On shorter trips around town, though? Not so much.
The 55 mph was to save gas. We are driving the same speed that we were driving with death boxes. I'll admit, most American drivers cannot handle any speed due to distracted driving (phones, passengers, tail gating, billboards), but interstates and many good, 4 lane highways could and can be driven safely at 80 mph plus. If people would learn how to stay off the phone, not tailgate and stay out of the left lane, we would be fine.
Exactly. Most were 70mph before the gas crisis of the 70's.
Unless you’re just a poor driver, the best policy, IMO, is to go with the flow whatever that is, don’t speed to excess such that you’re weaving in and out to overtake and don’t obstruct traffic.
This is what I do. Whether it's San Francisco, Milwaukee, Denver, or whatever, a universal rule is that speed limits are usually ignored because they are not set properly. I have yet to find a part of the country where they are fully followed, though some areas such as Minnesota seem to have a culture of slower drivers. I've had comments by Iowa drivers about how fast South Dakota drivers are, things of that nature. Slower speed limits do work for people who follow all laws black and white.
Besides when I'm not used to busy roads I'm not sitting there focused on what speed I should be at, I'm focused on all the traffic around me and what I need to be doing. Yes, I'm aware the limit is 50 when bumper to bumper traffic is going 70, but I just go with it. To do otherwise is create a traffic hazard when it's as busy as some of the roads are.
"Lousy drivers" are folks who don't pay attention and/or don't maintain control over their vehicle. A fixed speed number controlled by politicians (rarely with engineering input) cannot logically determine that in such a blanket way; you have different capabilities of both the car and the driver. For example, if the speed limit is 70 mph, but you go 70.1 mph....how does that make one go from being a good driver to a bad driver? A (group of) politician(s) said so from their "studies"? Or is it actually at 71mph that defines your driving skills as sucking? 75mph? 80mph?? What about states that raised their speed limits from 70 to 75 or higher? Did those drivers who were previously in the 70-75 range magically go from sucky to good again?
Remember folks, start challenging the logic our lovely politicians are using, instead of just saying "well the gub'ment said so!!!" You are not morally righteous for blindly agreeing with the government.
It's not the speed limit that dictates whether or not one is a lousy driver. A lousy driver is one who insists that THEIR (in their own mind) capabilities/vehicle are just awesome and should be what dictates the speed limit (or the speed that they, personally, are allowed to drive on roads they share with others) rather than those of all of the people and vehicles that they are sharing those roads with. Period. It is a self-centered viewpoint of entitlement based on nothing more perceptive or paying of attention than "I wanna". It also usually (not always, but 90% of the time) means that they are nowhere near the quality of driver on the roads that they are in their own minds.
Except that it's been proven that an accident at a high rate of speed is more likely to have fatalities than one at a lower speed. Those pesky, pesky, PESKY laws of physics that don't care how special you think you are or how much you NEED to speed in order to prove it.
Except that it's been proven that an accident at a high rate of speed is more likely to have fatalities than one at a lower speed. Those pesky, pesky, PESKY laws of physics that don't care how special you think you are or how much you NEED to speed in order to prove it.
Yes, we get it. If we all drove 15 mph all the time, fatalities would be very low. Even then it would be fatal in 2% of pedestrian-car accidents. So I guess even that is too fast. Maybe it should be 5 mph? Would that be safe enough for you?
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