theory816

True, people love to fill in the space. But it doesnt matter. The more they do it the more I slow down, the slower the better. Im 29 but I drive like a 50 year old. Only because I understand the consequences of speed.

GSteg

iTrader: (15)

If you keep doing that, you'll end up slowing down considerably. I drive at the speed limit but there are way too many people cutting in front of mebecause I'm going "too slow," and I'm in the far right lane. Slightly off topic, one time I got pulled over on the interstate for driving at the speed limit while everyone one else was going 5-10mph faster. The highway patrol asked if I was drinking.

scooky

When I was younger I had a 3 day driving trip where I was adamant about driving the speed limit. I had heard the police were going to be out in force, and knew I was driving right past the state patrol headquarters out and back. I found it to be a bad experience, and frankly unsafe. I stayed to the right lane and all. People would cut me off, flip me off, pass in unsafe passing zones, all kinds of stuff.

Related, I read an article in a popular motorcycle magazine that said the safest speed to travel was a few mph faster than surrounding traffic. Too fast is unsafe for fairly obvious reasons. Too slow was also unsafe. Increased risk of being rear-ended, passed aggressively, etc. Granted this was focused on motorcycles, but I expect similar principles apply.

So, I tend to go with the flow more now, sometimes a bit faster. I'm not a lane weaver, but will pass in safe zones. I know that means I could get a speeding ticket, which I haven't. I don't expect the police to accept any kind of story about unsafe slow driving experiences.

pman6

in driving school, they taught us to keep our distance.

but most people forgot, or don't care.

theory816

I get what yall are saying but this is what i think: their speeding and crashing is not your fault, even if you are the cause of it because you are doing the speed limit. Their ignorance is not because of you. If they do crash, it will teach them an extremely valuable lesson. Also doing the speed limit relieves a lot of congestion on inner streets.

scooky

I think that's a very fair point.
In my experience though (small sample size, and just my opinion), I was stressed out by people aiming their aggression at me. And while they may have caused the accident, I might have been tangled up in it. Like passing in unsafe zones. I feel like my safety and stress levels were better when I went with the flow. Motorcycle the whole thing is elevated even more because you are so much more fragile, although also agile enough to avoid certain things too.

I'm curious what self driving cars are going to do long term. Will they lock onto the exact speed limit. Speedometers are usually calibrated a few mph over, so that might mean they are going under. How with others around them react. Once there's enough of them, will the majority of people just fall in line. A few never will of course. It will be interesting to see how things evolve.

theory816

The goal is to make everyone drive at the speed limit. Theres a lot of factors at play that many people dont understand but it can be summed in by going the speed limit.

You and your car cannot escape the laww of physics. I doesnt matter how sturdy and fast ur car is.