We had one particular straight residential street on the outskirts of town that was somewhat of a speedway… The residents demanded lower speed limits and speed bumps… The got both. Then the realization that speed bumps are loud when someone does not slow down for them and it did not take long for them to complain about the noise especially at night… They still have the speed bumps, and as one local newscaster remarked, " You have to be careful of what you wish for…"
Well yeah blind entries are dangerous. I remember once on the highway a kid sped out of his farm driveway and just about hit me. From his face he just had a family disagreement. Another is angled intersections making it hard to see cross traffic in both directions. Dot seems to be trying to eliminate these.
One thing that has been interesting to me is that the two lane roads back in the 50s were all 65 day and 55 night. Yet with modern cars, they were reduced to 55 day and night. Kicking and screaming they finally have allowed 60 now. Really makes little sense. Open stretch, few cars on the road and you’re supposed to drive 60 for safety.
Round abouts are the latest craze until the money runs out. Stop signs are expensive. One road here that was 40 now goes to 20 for th3 round about. Coming the other way it is 60, then 40 for half a mile, the 20 for the round about, the 40 again into town.
In my town, I frequently drive on rural roads which run past farm fields and state parkland, and which have a clear line of sight for at least 1/2 mile. And yet, the speed limit on some of these roads is 30 mph.
Nobody actually sticks to that snail-crawl speed, and luckily there isn’t any place for cops to hide with their radar guns. The prevailing speed is ~40-45 mph, and it is perfectly safe to drive at those speeds.
Then folks will have to just go around me - passing or no passing zone. 30mph means 30mph max. Not 35, or 40, or whatever one imagines.
The diagram in post #13 was drawing attention to the established outbound lanes, and how one driver completely disobeyed everything (which lane to use to exit, and which direction turning out of the lot was prohibited). The supermarket parking lot is ‘below’ the entry/exit point I illustrated, and the main road is across the top of the diagram.
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Another more relaxed drive is to take I-77 north past Charlotte to I-81, then continue to New York. A bit boring, but it’s quick compared to rural roads.
You might be impressed that I’m stating the obvious, but the fact remains, the majority of drivers treat posted speed limits as a minimum speed, something to exceed, maybe in fear of being shamed for traveling at or under.
Just stop ! Do what you want but expecting to influence anyone else to your point of view is getting tiresome.
I’m sorry that the truth seems to bother some of you.
I see how other others around me drive on the highway. When I do the posted speed limit, be it 50, 55, 65, or other, drivers are warping by me on my left.
When I have, in the past, blended in with, or matched their speeds as an experiment, I looked at my speedometer and realized I was going anywhere from 60 to 75mph.
I quickly, and as smoothly as possible, moved back over to the right lane and resumed travelling at or a couple mph below posted, and no feathers were ruffled.
Not opinion. My scientific findings.
Just to add to Mr Volvo’s post, do you think at anytime we will ever influence your way of thinking so you will speed up and do the prevailing speed??
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Well I think I already know your answer…
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So think about this, you will no more influence us to your way of driving then we will influence you to our way of driving…
That is my scientific findings…
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Nobody, here in CarTalk community or any other forum, or out in the world, could convince me to drive in a manner which breaks the law, and is wrong in other ways as well.
So I hope you all don’t take what I’m saying and promoting personally.
I do however, sincerely believe that if at least half of all drivers adopted my driivng method - consisting keeping right where applicable, and driving at or 1-3mph below posted speed limits, and most importantly, leaving even just 5 minutes earlier for our destination, - could reduce, at least somewhat, this phenomenon called ‘traffic’.
It would spread everyone out, and during peak drive times, everyone could be driving - moving - 10-15mph below posted speed limits, instead of jamming the brakes and coming to a stand-still every 15-20 seconds, then having to apply the gas again to repeat the whole cycle of stopping again.
I guess you didn’t read the whole post…
I don’t know about all states, but here in Washington you can get an impeding traffic ticket for driving below the posted speed limit.
If traffic is moving at 5 over the posted limit and you are doing 5 under the posted limit, the car doing 5 under is the one that will get pulled over for impeding the flow of traffic.
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Fuel sales? Insurance data? I suspect they claim 2-digit accuracy, at best. It may be that they’re including truckers and other commercial drivers.
Albuquerque has installed pylons on 2 streets I travel often. People ran them over, the city put them back up, after a few years people stopped running them over. The same happened with roundabouts: people drove the wrong way, or over them, but eventually started obeying. I think this works better than punishment, which would rouse antipathy.
Look at Northeastern, just across from Luthy. Imagine you’re exiting, want to turn left:
People learn to slow down for them - at least here.
If that’s the case, then what I have been, admittedly, stating over and over again, that posted speed limits really are interpreted, even by those who are supposed to enforce them, as the minimum speed to be driving.
Even in cases where both a “Speed Limit 65, Minimum 40” are on the same signs.
Yes: local and state law enforcement are complicit, by pulling ‘slower’ (obeying speed limit) operators over and warning them essentially to exceed the speed limit so as to keep up with the prevailing flow.
Overall, it’s a prevailing culture of speed at work here. One which I am perfectly willing to buck. And you know what?
Doing so adds no more than 5-10 minutes to a GPS-determined 1 to 1.5 hour drive somewhere. As long as I keep right, use “slower traffic” lanes if provided, and so on. Basically, don’t be a left or middle lane camper.
Additionally, by driving slightly under posted on interstates shared with trucks, I’m not as likely to ‘blow the pants off’ a semi-driver addressing a tire issue in the breakdown lane, in cases where I am at that time unable to briefly move over a lane to grant said tire-changer a wider berth.
We don’t have those in this state, in parts there is Speed Limit 70mph, Trucks 60mph
In such a case, I’m sure everyone, on anything from Kawasakis to Kenworths, would be doing between 70-80mph.
They have a couple speed bumps in front of harbor freight. No they’re doing but the mall they are in. You just drive around them. They are so severe even at a couple miles an hour my hitch bottoms out. Senseless unless kids are playing.
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So that makes two people who still call them speed bumps.
The other being moi.