If you’re really that important, people will wait.
I’m sure there are people so insecure in their own self worth they feel that way. It’s not that I’M being selfish and rude, it’s the other guy who thinks he’s better than me.
Look inward first…
No doubt people do feel superior to others but they’re no more prevalent than the clueless or those exercising the only power they can muster to make up for what little control they have in the rest of their existence.
Is it really so hard to just move over? I do it all the time and arrive much more relaxed and stress free. You want to go faster than me? No problem, have at it. I love having a cop filter ahead of me.
One last thought. Among all those narcissistic morons out there, there could could be one person who truly has a bonafide emergency, sick/injured child/spouse etc. Wouldn’t like that person to get by.
It reminds me of one time when my wife was taken by ambulance to an emergency room. I was in a big hurry to get there that I was going down the freeway at a high rate of speed when I came up on a black car that was only doing 85. I got right up on his bumper and “pushed” him to over 90 while we past a line of cars in the right lane.
We got to the front of the line and he pulled over to let me pass, but we were at the off ramp I needed so I pulled in behind him and then up the ramp, thinking at the time, boy he sure has a lot of antennas for a regular car.
Rice funnel demo. Notice it the solution was basically a tax? Yea you already paid tax to have it built you pay tax to maintain it, and now we want to charge you to use it. I’m all for use taxes, but don’t charge me a tax to build and maintain it then a use tax to use it, pick one not both.
There seems to be several driving philosophies and some are very difficult to deal with. And although the slower drivers are annoying I can deal with them much more easily than the drivers who feel compelled to pass the car ahead of them. And once past it they are compelled to pass the next. And then the next. As though there is some great honor in getting ahead of whoever they are currently behind. These drivers seem to be in a perpetual state of road rage. What a shame to have such a troubled existence. How do they deal with personal and business relationships?
While I agree with you Rod Knox, I also would say that being stuck behind someone going excessively slow is like being forced to take remedial reading when you have a college degree because someone didn’t pass the test. I try to be tolerant, and I don’t tailgate, but I have to admit that it improves my day when I can get around someone that’s slowing things down and leave them to live their slow sad life, preferably far, far from me.
I wonder whether Rod Knox would see my driving that way. Its hard to tell, exactly. I pass a lot of people. But I don’t pass them because I have any interest in passing anyone. I also sit behind slower cars - in the left lane - being quite annoyed if they are not passing anyone. And its not because I want to pass them. I don’t “want” to pass anyone. It simply isn’t my intent.
I enter the highway, reaching approximate highway speed by the end of the entrance ramp. I pick my speed (this is anything from 5-10 mph over posted which is pretty normal). I set my cruise control and settle into the right lane. When I am coming up on anyone I choose the appropriate distance, signal, and pull to the left lane. Maintaining my speed I wait for appropriate distance (usually both headlights visible in my rear view), I signal and pull back to the right lane. Repeat…
All I want is to choose my speed and maintain it. If that means I pass someone, then so be it. If it means that others pass me then so be it.
I’ll bet that to people who don’t know how to use a highway they sometime see me as “weaving” or driving aggressively or just “wanting” to pass people, or whatever. What it is, is orderly, rational, and predictable. It keeps the traffic flowing. If everyone did it the highways would be much safer and more efficient places.
Cig, you and I drive pretty much alike, except that i don’t use the cruise control. But then, I prefer a stick to an automatic too.
It seems that we are very similar in our driving styles, oblivion and cigroller. I can’t say that I drive any differently than you two. Yes, I often find myself quite aggravated driving 5 mph below the speed limit following a somewhat disconnected driver who is determined to stay locked in the lane despite my flashing him at a distance closer than I prefer. In those instances I pass on the right and hope the driver makes it home safely. On the other hand, I have driven in heavy traffic watching for an exit on the left not knowing what to expect and watching local traffic stack up behind me in varying stages of rage but, such is life. It is those people who are prone to road rage, those unable to accept that there are inconveniences to be put up with, who make their own lives miserable and for a few minutes make those on the road near them miserable that need a few weeks in anger management class. Traffic would flow much smoother and life would be much more pleasant if they could get a grip.
I remember the federally-mandated 55 mph speed limit.
It was horrible. You don’t want it to come back.
Highway travel at 55 mph is sleep-inducing, which is why most modern highway traffic moves at 70-75 mph, or higher, regardless of the legal speed limit.
The 55 mph speed limit was rescinded because people hated it, and It didn’t work.
Please don’t suggest that a 55 mph speed limit is a good thing.
Been there, done that. It doesn’t work.
Double nickels was a terrible mistake but there could be some adjustments to the current limits to make driving somewhat less stressful and dangerous. Reducing the speed limit for tractor-trailer rigs to 5 mph below that of passenger cars and strictly enforcing them to remain in the right lane except to pass would possibly improve the situation. It appears to be helpful in states that currently have such policies.
lowering the speed limit misses the whole point of the rice funnel demonstration. In the rice funnel, access to the funnel was metered so that the rice could go through the funnel fast.
It’s like people in church exiting one row of pews at a time instead of all at once. They actually can walk down the main hallway at a normal walk instead of spending most of the time standing waiting for the people ahead to move. The result is the church clears out faster.
To apply that to traffic, we would have to have waiting lots on the entrances with cops waving a group of cars onto the freeway only fast enough for the freeway traffic to run at posted speeds.
Lowering the speed limit does not solve the problem, when there is congestion, the traffic is already going far slower than even the 55 speed limit.
The biggest problem safety and congestion wise when traffic is at it’s worse, is speed difference. Too many cars, too much variation, too many problems. Higher speed limits naturally generate this variation. That’s the reason for multiple lanes. IMO, two lane highways should restricted to 55 mph.
The worse traffic accidents, in my experience, were on two way undivided roads with 55 mph speed limits. The closing speeds of 110 mph even when drivers are compliant, but occasionally distracted and traffic has no limited access from homes and business, makes those roads a " death wish". All should be lowered to 45mph.
y. The far left lane is a passing lane and driving in it blocking through traffic is against the law. Fortunately, the majority of people understand the laws and adhere to them under normal conditions.
Where in MA do you drive…I drive in MA (495, 93, 128) every day…The VAST VAST majority drive in the LEFT lane on those roads…Those highways would be far less congested if people would adhere to that law and drive right.
Although I wasn’t driving back when the national speed limit was 55 MPH, I agree, going back to a 55 MPH speed limit would be a terrible idea. However, in many congested urban areas, that is already the speed limit, and to relieve congestion, I think a rolling 55 MPH roadblock could help many of us all get where we are going a little faster.
Whitey, are you the one in charge of highway safety in Nashville? They put city trucks out on the highways, driving side by side slowing down the flow of traffic. It does NOT help. I think they finally realized it as I haven’t seen one lately.
It amazes me that driving in the mad house atmosphere is a twice daily sentence for residents of most metropolitan areas. How often do those trapped in the bumper to bumper Hades consider packing it in, moving to Key Largo and buying a shrimp boat?
Or moving to Baron Rouge and hunting alligators. Reality t.v. has made that appear to be a lucrative and exciting career.
Nope, I am not in charge of anything.
How you do you know it doesn’t help? Has anyone conducted any studies to see if people, in general, get where are going any faster with the rolling roadblocks? That’s the whole point of that article that this thread is about, that where they have done it, and tested it to see if it is working, it is working.
You might not think it is working, but that’s hardly conclusive since we are talking about the overall average. Some people who drive fast would get where they are going faster without the rolling roadblocks, and some people get there faster with the rolling roadblocks, but the goal is to increase the average, not necessarily your personal commute.
If you look at the above examples, like exiting a church, a school, or an airplane, it does work better overall in some circumstances to slow everyone down so they don’t stand in the isles waiting to get to the door. Slowing people down in these circumstances I mentioned does speed up the overall process of moving people, but for the guys in the back row of the church, or the front row of the airplane, they, personally, might get out faster without using this process. For these few people, it takes a little longer to exit in an orderly fashion, but for the whole group, the orderly process works faster.
So, yes, I admit, for the fast aggressive drivers, the rolling 55 MPH roadblock may make them arrive home a few minutes later, but the rest of the population can benefit from driving in a lawfully governed manner. I’m sure you don’t like it, but does it really “not work?” Until I see some evidence, I will withhold judgment.
BTW, what’s the posted speed limit where they do this rolling roadblock? Whether or not it gets people where they are going faster, it is still a good way to enforce the law without punishing anybody. The posted speed limit is the MAXIMUM legal speed, not the minimum.
Whitey, if the alleged goal is to let everyone get to their destination faster, and the safety engineers say that the real problem is differences in speed, perhaps instead of making everyone go 55 we should make everyone go 75. That would make more sense. And, frankly, it would reduce road rage.
Whitey, the theory you espouse is based on a false premise. Its true goal is to make everyone go 55 on the theory that that will “save the earth”. You commented that you were not driving back when the feds forced all the states to reduce their speed limits to 55. I was. It was a nightmare. Trying to do it now, with even more capable vehicles, more capable highways, and much more congestion, would be an absolute disaster. Foolish ideas like this are dangerous, and should not be promoted.