Domestic Dispute

[Gaki]

I was on my way to drop off my father's car and pick up my own and I was on the highway with a speed limit of 65mph. There was quite a bit of traffic and I was in the right hand lane. Suddenly I had to SLAM on the breaks, making the person behind me swerve into the left hand lane because the ancient Buick in front of me had suddenly decided that 5mph was as fast as they were going.

...I ended up behind them for 15 miles because nobody would allow me to move over into the left lane. Every time I tried someone would honk and refuse to let me in. Understandable since they were going 65-75 and I was going...5.

It took me a little bit to realize that the reason this couple was going 5mph was because they were screaming at each other.

15 miles later...they got off on my exit. It took me 2 hours to make a 30 minute trip.

[PepperElf]

too bad there weren't any cops around.
that kinda shit is illegal ...

[LillFilly]

Wow. That does suck. I think I'd have called 911 to report them since they were causing such a dangerous situation. Isn't under 40mph without flashers illegal? At the very least, pull over to scream at each other.

[Andara Bledin]

I don't know about elsewhere, but in California, driving with your hazard lights on is illegal, except for the purpose of letting people behind you know of a potential hazard that you are approaching/passing.

^-.-^

[Solumina]

Going x (I think 15mph) under the speed limit is a hazard.

I can't believe someone would do that. I mean I have seen people going under the speed limit while fighting with someone in the car but not anywhere close to that extreme.

[Andara Bledin]

Going x (I think 15mph) under the speed limit is a hazard.

True. But if you can't keep your speed up, you're not even supposed to be on the freeway.

Highways are a bit different, but if there are other routes available, then you shouldn't be there, either.

And if you're going that slow because you're having an argument, then you need to pull your ass to the side of the road until at least the person doing the driving isn't recklessly distracted.

^-.-^

[wolfie]

True. But if you can't keep your speed up, you're not even supposed to be on the freeway.

In other words, you're saying that trucks with heavy loads should stay off freeways that have hills?

[Andara Bledin]

In other words, you're saying that trucks with heavy loads should stay off freeways that have hills?

Fun fact: Commercial vehicles have different rules than passenger vehicles.

I happened to be talking about only one of those rule-sets.

^-.-^

[Solumina]

True. But if you can't keep your speed up, you're not even supposed to be on the freeway.

Highways are a bit different, but if there are other routes available, then you shouldn't be there, either.

And if you're going that slow because you're having an argument, then you need to pull your ass to the side of the road until at least the person doing the driving isn't recklessly distracted.

^-.-^

I was commenting on the using your flashers thing, saying that in this case it would have been okay to do as there was a legitimate hazard

[PepperElf]

somehow though i doubt the couple would care about flashers
since they were too busy fighting to notice that there were other cars on the road to begin with

[Andara Bledin]

I was commenting on the using your flashers thing, saying that in this case it would have been okay to do as there was a legitimate hazard

California freeways have minimum limits as well as maximum. If you cannot go fast enough on the freeway that you're creating a hazard, you should be taking an alternate route.

And, still, it's against the law to drive with your hazard lights on except to warn the vehicles behind you that you are approaching a hazard. If you are a hazard, you need to be off the road.

^-.-^

[Igorina]

California freeways have minimum limits as well as maximum. If you cannot go fast enough on the freeway that you're creating a hazard, you should be taking an alternate route.

And, still, it's against the law to drive with your hazard lights on except to warn the vehicles behind you that you are approaching a hazard. If you are a hazard, you need to be off the road.

^-.-^

*sigh*
It would be nice if Mississippi approached that. Down here, if you're driving slow on the highway you put you're flashers on and keep going.

They are also used to increase visibility during the frequent torrential downpours.

[ShadowBall]

Yeah, I learned about the flashers needing to be on when going at least 15 under the speed limit during my road test....because I didn't do it. That's another thing I failed to learn when my mother was teaching me her breed of driving - she would make me go 15-20 under the speed limit because she felt 55 in a 55 mph zone was too fast. Yeah, you can imagine how happy people were when I was doing 40 on that road because my mother would not stop screaming if I tried to drive the limit.

In any case...wow, the couple in the original topic sounds just lovely. I don't get how you can possibly scream and drive, even slowly. Personally, I'd pull over and stop so I could dedicate my full attention to screaming at the person, or at least so I could make them get out of the car so I could drive the speed limit in peace.

[mikoyan29]

Here we have minimum speeds on the freeway and a truck speed limit. I believe the minimum speed is 45mph although lots of luck to you if you're going that because you might as well be stopped on the shoulder. Truck speed limits are 60. Highways are a different matter.

And if you're a truck that is that overloaded...chances are one of the nice little Truck Inspectors might be giving you a safe driving tip.

[wolfie]

Here we have minimum speeds on the freeway and a truck speed limit. I believe the minimum speed is 45mph although lots of luck to you if you're going that because you might as well be stopped on the shoulder. Truck speed limits are 60. Highways are a different matter.

And if you're a truck that is that overloaded...chances are one of the nice little Truck Inspectors might be giving you a safe driving tip.

Trucks don't need to be overloaded in order to be slow. My car (not a "high performance" machine by any stretch of the imagination) weighs about a ton and a half, and has around 120 horsepower - 80 horsepower per ton. My truck weighs about 10 tons (bobtail), and with a loaded trailer can be up to 40 tons and still be legal. To get the same horsepower to weight ratio as my car, I'd need 800 HP bobtail, and 3200 with a full load. Fat chance of that - it's got a 500 HP engine. Doesn't take much of a hill to slow me down, and most trucks on the road have less than I do.