My driving rant.....

[seedcorn]

It's a way to rid the human population of defective genes in human pool.

 

[Collector]

For the last two months the state patrol here is doing emphasis patrols on interstates for people camping in the left lane which is illegal except when passing. Another pet peeve of my driving rants.

 

[catjac1975]

In Florida I saw a guy pass in the dirt shoulder on the far right at a very fast clip, dust flying. Once saw a guy pass between 2 cars on a 2 lane highway-very fast.

 

[Zeedman]

I've found that the general driving of the population has degenerated into lawlessness and rudeness over the past 10 yrs.
...
Seems no one obeys the posted speed limits any longer.

In a nut shell, that's the real problem. People in general seem to have less respect for the law, and for each other. Wisconsin recently raised the speed limit on many of the freeways from 65 to 70. Now those who drove 70 when it was 65, drive 75-80... and there are more of them. The posted speed is not the issue; it is about disrespect for law. I'd bet if it was posted at 100 those same hotheads would drive at 110!

Several years back, I read a great article, can't remember the author. The discussion was about the breakdown of civility, and of respect for law. The author theorized that he could trace the beginnings of disrespect for traffic law back to the Federally-imposed 55 MPH speed limit, and its wide rejection by the public at large. I tend to agree that government probably had something to do with the lessening of respect for law... but by more than just an arbitrary speed limit. When those in positions of authority openly break the laws they expect us to follow, it doesn't encourage respect, or obedience.

 

[buckabucka]

My big rant is against those who text while driving. I've had someone wander over the line on my way to work, approaching me head on. I quickly moved into the breakdown lane. They other person looked up in time to veer back over to their side, fishtailing all over the place. I hope they learned a lesson. I'm sure it is not legal, but I see people doing it all the time.

I also once started moving into the breakdown lane to pass someone on the right (which is legal here) as they slowed way down with their left signal on, but they turned right instead. I was able to brake and swerve around them. I always wondered if dyslexia crosses those signals in the brain.

I hope I don't become one of those slow drivers if I am lucky enough to grow old. It is really hard to give up your mobility, especially out in rural areas. And DH and I did not have children, who would be sure to alert us when it is time to give up that driver's license. DH is holding out hope that there will be driverless cars, just in time to take over for us, but I am not so sure. So if you come to central Maine in about 20 - 25 years, watch out!

 

[seedcorn]

While speeding is breaking the law, I don't believe it is disregard for the law. How many people tell stories of getting pulled over and ticketed. It's almost a badge of courage. Now if you whine about speeding ticket-except in Ohio-here's your sign.....

Police officers are taught that the speed limit is not an absolute-except in Ohio-and as long as you are close, ignore. Indiana has on the books, if you were below, 3 cars behind you, pull over and let them by. It's rarely enforced. Too bad.

 

[Nyboy]

I have to turn my phone off when driving. I just don't have self control not to look at phone when I get tx alert. What drives me crazy are motorcycles that zip passed between lanes.

 

[Beekissed]

While speeding is breaking the law, I don't believe it is disregard for the law.

I don't think I agree with this statement. Intentionally breaking a law is indeed a complete disregard for that law. If one were to point a gun in your face and take your money, is it breaking a law or disregarding a law? There has to be a certain disregard for the law in order to break it, naturally.

Unintentionally speeding, where the speed kind of creeps up on you or you passed a change in the speed limit sign and didn't see it, can be an accidental disregard for the law...but to intentionally and consistently go over the speed limit is making a statement that you don't agree with that law and choose to disregard it in your driving habits.

 

[Ridgerunner]

I took a traffic course when in college. The professor said a good way to determine a safe speed limit is to not set one at first but let people drive whatever speed they wished, and study them. 80% of the people would drive at or below a safe speed for the road. So set the speed limit at the 80% mark. Of course that's not practical.

Something else that set that professor off was politicians setting a ridiculously low speed limit on a stretch of road just because they could. One of the purposes of setting a speed limit is to safely and efficiently move traffic. Too fast and too slow are both bad as far as safety and efficiency. The State recently did an upgrade to a state highway in this area. One of their requirements to get approval for the upgrade was that a neighboring city (small town) had to raise the speed limit on a certain section of that road. Just because the city limits stretched out into the country didn't mean inner city speed limits were needed out there.

Different cops and different traffic enforcement divisions have different philosophies for speed limit enforcement. Certain towns are well known to be speed traps. I can think if one (Golden Meadow) on Louisiana Highway 1 in the southern part of the state where you'd get a ticket for being over by 1 mile per hour. They'd do things like set the speed limit at 30 but put up a warning sign to take a curve at 35. You better remember that the limit was 30 and not get confused. A cop was practically always watching with radar. That town made about 80% of its money from tickets, mostly from people out of town passing through, headed for fishing, camping, or work. The end of the road (Grand Isle) had a beach which is unheard of in South Louisiana and was a port for people headed offshore to work on the platforms. Los of out-or-towners passing through. I was one but I knew about it and never got a ticket. A few years later I saw a national news story on that town being one of the worst speed traps in the country.

Some cops take the approach that people need to drive with the flow of traffic, even if it is a bit above the limit. People driving too fast and trying to beat traffic are dangerous so they need tickets. My thoughts are that people driving way too slow are also dangerous, they aggravate people to the extent they do stupid things. Of course people should not get aggravated and do stupid things but human nature is human nature. And when collisions happen innocent people are often the ones that get injured.

I remember a judge throwing out a ticket for speeding in East Tennessee when I was a teenager, it made the local newspaper. The person was just a couple of miles an hour above the limit. The judge said he'd rather have someone watching the road instead of keeping their eyes glued to the speedometer. Some radar guns are not dead accurate, especially back then, and speedometers are not necessarily dead accurate today. Some cruise controls can speed up or slow down a bit going up or down hill. It's not always easy to maintain precise control over your speed.

 

[Nyboy]

I was a kid when the nation lowered speed limit form 65 to 55 The slogan was 55 saves lives.