A Meditation On the Speed Limit - Google Video
Tue, 02/28/2006 - 11:06am — micah
Four lanes, four cars, one speed limit.
I would have to say that the makers of this short video truly proved at least one of their points. They may not have proven that the speed limit is too low, but without strict enforcement to protect those who do follow the law, following the law is truly a dangerous stunt.
Note: Video should be considered PG for some mild profanity.
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Comments
speed limit versus safe driving
Very interesting video. Years ago I read in a AAA magazine that there are no speed limits on the autobahns in Germany (I just double-checked that -- see below). Instead, the law, which is rigorously enforced, is that you must always pass on the left, never on the right, and you *must* move to the right if being overtaken. What this does is eliminate weaving in and out of lanes to pass on either the right or left which actually causes more accidents than speeding. I just looked up current speed limit laws in Germany on the Internet and learned that this is true for the most part on the autobahns except for a few areas. They do have rigorously enforced speed limits on other roads.
This just makes so much sense to me. Among other things, it makes it so much safer to drive at 55 per hour if you choose to in order to save gas -- you just need to stay as far to the right as needed to be out of the way of any overtaking vehicles.
Speed limit - Google video
This was interesting and frightening. I really try to drive the speed limit or about 5 mph faster most times. There is one freeway here in Detroit (Southfield) that is posted 55mph the whole way thru for the freeway. I decided one day to drive with traffic, I was stunned to see we were flying about 75-80 mph; 20-25mph over the speed limit! Fast drivers are a problem on our street too. I would say most drivers average about 30-40 mph on a residential street with a 25 mph speed limit. Don calls it the "NASCAR effect", I just think people are in too much of a hurry and they don't pay attention.
This Test Would Not Work in Detroit
I was reflecting on this video during my commute home last night. This test never would have worked in Detroit. I don't think they could have found a freeway at any time of the day or night when there wasn't some hammerhead driving 5-15mph below the speed limit in the left or left-center lane. There's no way they would have been able to get around them without breaking their chain of control.
I do appreciate that outside the city limits, most metro Detroit freeways are now 70mph. It is generally possible to drive near the speed limit without getting plowed under, as long as you stay out of the leftmost lane except to pass.
One thing that really irks me is the people who drive below the speed limit but refuse to move out of the left lane on the freeways that have only two lanes in each direction. The other is the complete morons who jam their brakes and drop to 55mph every time they see a cop, even if the posted speed limit is higher. Get a clue, people.
?!?
WHERE DO U FIND THESE THINGS?!
Speed limits
Rebecca here, I think I am logged in as Hallie, one of the side affects of shareing a computer with the more tech savy. Car Talk did a thing about aggresive driving. They were comparing differnet cultures. Americans drive fast and furiouse because they are in a hurry to get some where, thus the stress, rage, and speeding. Itailians on the other hand drive fast becasue they enjoy the journey. They don't seem to worry much about being on time but just love driving fast. Some one also wrote in about Egypt and their love of honking, it was very funny. They pretty much honk the whole time they are driving.
International driving styles
When friends from California came to visit me in Washington, DC, I always had to remember to tell them not to assume that drivers behaved like California drivers who, for the most part, stop for pedestrians in the zebra zones. That's becoming less true, however, for the same reason that it wasn't true in DC 10 - 15 years ago -- more drivers who learned to drive in other countries where such niceities are ignored. One friend I forgot to warn came with inches of getting hit by a driver speeding down Wisconsin Avenue even though she was in a very clearly marked zebra crossing. Anyway, it's a funny coincidence that Car Talk mentioned drivers from Italian and Egypt, because in my tutorial to California friends about being a pedestrian in DC, I used to tell them to just assume that all the drivers in the cars around them had learned to drive in Rome or Cairo, not in the US.