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What if we all drove the speed limit? More

What if we all drove the speed limit?

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  • The leftmost lane is for passing, and even if one is moving at the speed limit (which is lower for trucks in most states), one technically should let them pass.

    But it's a cool proof-of-concept thing to do.

  • Fiance showed this to me some time last week, and I had tried to find the link to it directly to post in reply to another journal about driving.

    http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-536655206 7462745475&q=speed+limit [google.com]

  • Impeding the flow of traffic is against the law here in CA. The rule of thumb one is supposed to use is that when you have 6 or more cars backed up behind you, you're supposed to let the pass.

    If you pull this stunt of blocking all lanes at 55mph during rush hour, you can create a "standing wave" that lasts for a good deal longer than the time of the "event".

    So, IMHO, this is not only illegal, but also stupid and dangerous.
    • The rule of thumb one is supposed to use is that when you have 6 or more cars backed up behind you, you're supposed to let the pass.
      I reallllly wish there was a law like this in my state.

      Yeah it is dangerous and stupid (heck they even say that in the video) but it makes me wonder; if a cop pulls you over for speeding and gives you a ticket, it seems you could use evidence like this to weasel out of the ticket. It seems like this could also be used as evidence that speed limits should be raised as well. I do

      • When I went to traffic school here a few years back, the instructor (a CHP in real life), said that if a line of cars goes by doing 80, he can single out any one of them to stop and ticket; i.e., he can discriminate.

        As for raising speed limits, I don't know. I live in a very thickly settled suburban neighborhood. If you know your neighborhood streets, there's a shortcut you can take through my neighborhood that will eliminate a long red light for those turning left. Occassionaly we get total assholes bl
        • As for raising speed limits, I don't know. I live in a very thickly settled suburban neighborhood. If you know your neighborhood streets, there's a shortcut you can take through my neighborhood that will eliminate a long red light for those turning left. Occassionaly we get total assholes blowing through at 45-50mph. I don't think their recklessness argues for raising the speed limit.

          This is a lot like where I live and I agree with you very much. I live on a side street that really shouldn't be used by a
          • I have a 40-foot RV in my driveway. I've considered "accidentally" letting it back out into the street during rush hour. A few days of that and maybe folks would stop bothering. :) Then again, with my luck, I'd end up with a big ticket and a big towing bill.
            • I live on the corner so I'm probably in one of the worst spots because of people exiting to the street and others speeding around the corner. The neighbor on the corner lot parallel to me would park his truck on the street. I always thought that was weird and asked him one day why he did this when his driveway was wide open. He told me he hoped that maybe the inconvenience of having people slow down to get around it because two cars couldn't get through at once would deter people from using the street then.
              • My dad lived one house from the corner, and we had a kid who decided to use our neighborhood as a race track a few times. My dad happened to be in the janitorial business at the time. So the third weekend this kid decided to race, his first time around the corner, my dad jumps up, yells at us kids to drag the garden hose to the street, and goes to the garage. He pours a half gallon of floorwax into a bucket. Dad runs to the corner, and throws the bucket of floorwax onto the road just coming out of the turn
    • Impeding the flow of traffic is against the law here in CA. The rule of thumb one is supposed to use is that when you have 6 or more cars backed up behind you, you're supposed to let the pass.

      Of course, this isn't impeding the flow of traffic. Even if the car in the outside lane pulled in, if the other cars are already travelling at the speed limit, then it's illegal for anyone to pass them anyway. Thus the flow of traffic isn't impeded, in the eyes of the law, at least. Reality may be somewhat different,

      • Actually, acccording to Mr. Roadshow of the SJ Mercury News, you can be cited for impeding the flow of traffic even if you are driving the limit. Now, it's unlikely that it will ever happen, but much more likely if you and three of your friends decide to drive four abreast in the #1-4 lanes at 55 for any length of time, I'd bet a dollar to a donut that you'll get cited.
  • Not sure if you've effectively slashdotted it or if it's just my local proxy. But I've long been an advocate of physics-based offensive driving. Newtonian physics teaches us that it is not the absolute speed, but the relative speed and lack of ability to control your vehicle, that will kill you. Thus, following distance means a hell of a lot more than speed when it comes to natural consequences.
    • And rampant lane changes trying to get that much further ahead. Those are the ones that I used to put the effort into blocking. Ah back when I was CA driven' arse in the Bay Area. Good times, good, good times ;-)
      • Me, I stay with the offensive driving idea. I speed up to get away from such people- and if I can't, I get the hell off the road. It doesn't pay to block traffic- but it does pay to keep space between you and the other cars on the road.
    • Come on down to Virginia Beach sometime. Drive interstate 264, the direct link from I64 that passes through and the oceanfront resort area. Speed limit is 55, but I typically end up driving around 65 or 70 so I don't get run over by traffic. That just seems to be the speed everyone wants to drive that stretch. The majority of the people I actually see cops pull over are the ones that are driving 10 to 15 mph faster than everyone else, weaving back and forth through traffic. Which is how I think it should be
  • Wow. That was SOOO BAD. My friends in "Intro to Video Production" (where bad cliches are the norm!) could do a better job.

    That was horrible. Bad/inconsistent sound, horrible direction, bad video effects, constant bad lighting, horrible acting, hyping the "money shot" before the money shot, and screwing with the money shot, thereby reducing its impact exponentially.

    They should stick to driving and stop filming.
  • The speed limit is a law. Going over it is against the law. In a completely fair world, everybody who broke the law would be caught and punished. The idea that "obeying the speed limit is incredibly dangerous" makes little sense to me. It is the people breaking the law that are creating the dangerous situation. If they changed the speed limit to 85mph, then yes, everybody should drive 85mph in the fast lane, and when someone comes up from behind at 100mph and then tailgates you at 6 feet's distance, he
  • Higher and lower speed doesn't tend to be a real danger without other factors involved such as hitting slippery spots, not keeping tires properly inflated, turning too sharply, chattering on a cell phone, and riding someone's bumper, low light in the evening, and so on. The law I would love to see more enforcement of, particularly on freeways, is tailgating. This would help trim some of the worst speeders, too - the ones that roar up at 90 mph until they're about a car length behind the car ahead going 75

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