If you can't drive the speed limit, get off the road

[BookstoreEscapee]

Was on the highway, two lanes, 50 mph limit. Car in front of me is going barely 35, for no apparent reason. I pull into the other lane to pass, but there was some traffic and then got stopped at a light, so I ended up next to him. Little old guy hunched over his steering wheel...when the light changed it took him several seconds to move, even after the cars in front of him had gotten pretty well ahead. Ended up stopping at the next light, as well; I was still next to him and we were the first two cars at the light. Again, when it changed, he didn't move right away; I pulled ahead and pulled back over into his lane, since I would need to be in it and I wasn't sure how much further up my turn was. I was barely going the speed limit and he was so far behind me ... I just get the feeling the man shouldn't be driving anymore.

[Food Lady]

I have to admit I do it. My brakes are going and my wheel bearings are shot, but I can't get it fixed right now. I stay on surface streets, but very occasionally I give my friend a ride home to the next city down the highway. It's 2 to 3 lanes, depending. I stay in the far right lane and go 50 to 55 instead of the 70 everyone else goes. It probably doesn't make a difference in risk, but it makes me feel better. It's late at night & others can go around me. I don't risk it but once every couple of months.

[Seshat]

It probably doesn't make a difference in risk, but it makes me feel better.

It makes a huge difference in risk.

In an accident, the delta-V (difference in velocity) is speed-of-travel/fractions-of-a-second.

So if you're travelling at 70kph and your car comes to a complete screeching halt in half a second, you have to lose all that speed in half a second. And that happens in three distinct phases: first, your car hits the concrete barrier. Then your body slams into your seat. Then your internal organs - including your brain - slam into the surrounding bone, and your bones slam into the muscles that surround them.

Travel too fast, and you're pulped. Literally.

Delta-V (aka acceleration, also 'deceleration') is the change in distance-per-second, for every second. Mathematically, it's written as m/s2 or metres-per-second-squared.

Translating into English, a small change in velocity becomes a huge change in acceleration when you crash into another car or concrete barrier.

At normal, legal driving speeds, five kilometres per hour can be the difference between bruises and broken bones. At higher speeds, it can be the difference between broken bones and dead-of-pulped-organs.

(This is one of the reasons legal driving speeds are typically kept to below 100kph. It's also one of the reasons airplanes have such long runways - we could make more effective braking systems for airplanes, but there's a huge difference between the breaking point of an osteoporosis-ridden bone and the bones of a healthy jet-pilot serving on an aircraft carrier.)

[Aethian]

The minimum speed on the highways in Michigan is 55. Since I get 39 mpg at 55, I'll continue to go 55. I have the cruise set and people coming up on me fast don't need to assume I'll be going any faster so have no reason to be shocked when they are suddenly right there and could have moved over earlier.

Sucky of me? Yes I'll say it is to those who go 70 or faster. I don't feel safe at 70 and 65 is the highest I can stomach. 60 Is okay for me sometimes but I like my 55 and since I'm not breaking any laws...be the defensive one and don't crowd me.

[blas]

Throw whatever you want at me, but I have to agree with the title of this thread.

I understand not everyone has the same options like where I live (there's a freeway and an older highway, sort of backroad way to get between cities), but I can't stress it enough. If you don't feel comfortable going the speed limit on the freeway, or your car can't handle it or you're driving something that can't even go near the speed limit, DON'T use the freeway. You are going to cause a pile up or even worse, a crash, if it's a certain time of day!

It's so damn irritating when I'm passing person after person, and I'm going 65 while doing it.

[Aethian]

Between 55 and 70, again in Michigan, IS the speed limit. The ones who would be causing the crashes are the ones who would be going much faster then the 70. At least in all the reports I've heard on the news it was the ones who were going much faster then the posted limit.

Going under 55 around here is cause for a ticket just as it is for going over 70. A couple days ago I was driving a friends car and she had one of those dashes were you see the actaul number. I was doing 57 and was still catching up to people pulling trailers and the like.

[MergedLoki]

I agree with you 100%. Also depending on HOW much slower someone is going it can pose a danger to other drivers (just as someone driving too fast can come up suddenly on you, someone driving WAY under what everyone else is going can cause YOU to come up to quickly on them.)

once there was a time (long before my day as i'm only in my 20's) that you could get pulled over for going TOO slow. Lil thing called impeding traffic.

I've never once seen or heard about that happening IN MY LIFE.

But my grandfather who's friend was a cop pulled someone over once for going too slow (say speed limit was 60 they were going 30 or something at a snails pace like that).

Gave the guy 2 choices. He could either give him a ticket for impeding traffic OR, since he wasn't in a hurry to go anywhere he could sit and chat with him by the road for a few hours.

Mr. slow driver decided to chat with the cop for an hour or two and be on his turtle-like way.

[protege]

Between 55 and 70, again in Michigan, IS the speed limit. The ones who would be causing the crashes are the ones who would be going much faster then the 70. At least in all the reports I've heard on the news it was the ones who were going much faster then the posted limit.

That's the whole "speed kills" idea that the media constantly pushes. Granted, the *chance* of an accident increases at higher speeds. However, they never show stories of people going well under the speed limit, who are not only a danger to themselves, but to people who *are* doing the limit. Think about it--have you ever come up behind some idiot doing barely 45mph in a 65mph zone? Have you ever had to slam on the brakes like that...because you're in the middle lane, and people are passing you on both sides?

Trust me, it's pretty damn scary--I had some old woman in an Escort station wagon do that to me one night. She'd merged onto the highway and then moved into the middle lane doing less than 45mph, forcing me to slam on the brakes...and then swerve around her. Luckily, nobody hit us.

My feeling has always been, if you can't handle higher speeds...stay off the damn highways. Also, if your 1978 VW Rabbit can't handle 55, get off the highway.

[BookstoreEscapee]

Think about it--have you ever come up behind some idiot doing barely 45mph in a 65mph zone? Have you ever had to slam on the brakes like that...because you're in the middle lane, and people are passing you on both sides?

Yes. Not in this case, but yeah.

Yesterday I was on a 2-lane highway (one in each direction), no-passing zone, 50mph limit, behind someone doing 35. No one in front of them, and while the road was not quite dry, it was not raining (drizzling on and off but not enough for water to actually collect on the road) and there were no dips or anything to collect puddles. I was already in a bad mood and I just wanted to scream.

[Hyndis]

Roads are safest if everyone is going roughly the same speed.

If there is someone going significantly less than the speed limit this is extremely hazardous. Its like coming up upon a parked car in the middle of the freeway. You're going to have to slam on your brakes or you will hit the slow driver. And then everyone else behind you in your lane will also have to slam on their brakes and it only takes 1 person being distracted for a few seconds for a pileup to occur.

Lets say you have a kid in the car, kid makes some noises, you look at the kid to try to calm said kid down assuming that everyone else on the road will be maintaining roughly the same velocity. Well...they might not be! Because there might be a slow car on the road.

You really do only have a few seconds to respond on most freeways, as unless these are way in the middle of nowhere they are not completely flat and so you will not be able to see around corners or hills.

If you are moving much faster or slower than the average speed of traffic, then simply put, you are a safety hazard.