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[charlequin]

They should all be in the right lane unless overtaking, no exceptions. They should also move into the right lane when someone comes up behind them.

I... said both of those things? The problem on the two-lane roads is you get jammed up on the right, so "passing" often winds up being driving past a big string of tightly-packed slow-moving vehicles, and then people who want to pass the passers get mad.

That's a damn lie. Anybody who has ever had to speed to work knows this.

Oh, it's definitely true. Most major urban areas have lights and traffic patterns that basically erase the gains you can get from speeding. Even on highways the time improvement you get per MPH decreases the faster you're going, so most people have commutes that don't change all that much between, say, 65 and 75 MPH.

 

[Clearos]

I naturally drive fast, be it with the flow of traffic or just my comfort level. Sometimes my speed slowly creeps up, I don't feel in control and go back down.

I wish cops would worry about people not using the left lane to pass and people entering the highway who drive pathetically slow and make no attempt to match the speed of the right lane before entering.

 

[PflargBlarg]

Haha funny, but he's right. If someone is right up behind you are legally obligated to move over to the right lane and let them pass.

Yesterday my brother was going ten miles over the speed limit on a two-lane road and a guy in a giant pickup came roaring up behind us, doing at least ten miles faster than we were going. When he finally got around us he flipped us off and proceeded to do an illegal turn. I don't understand people sometimes.

This is partially your fault, why didn't you move to the right lane? It's the law.

 

[jdouglas]

Correct me if I'm wrong, cuz I'm just guessing, but aren't speed laws designed around the lowest common denominator? ie. old, first generation americans that have little/no idea about how to drive...

 

[Alchemy]

What I hate are the dicks who speed and pass on the right, weaving in and out of traffic trying to get ahead of everyone and fucking up the flow of traffic.

 

[Loki]

This is the basic problem of why two-lane thoroughfares are awful (as anyone who's ever driven through New York State can attest.) When you have 3+ lanes, you have room for olds and 18-wheelers in the right lane, normal people slightly speeding in the middle, and crazy nuts with fresh new sports cars in the left; traffic doesn't get tangled up until the road gets really full.

On the two lane roads, you get the exact dynamic described here -- the right lane is (correctly) full of slowpokes, but people who want to go 75 get dangerously tailgated when they move left to pass by the people who want to go 90.

If you think that's bad, you should see what the impact on traffic has been (read: traffic is now way worse) in Brooklyn and NY since Emperor Bloomberg decided it would be a good idea to make 3-lane roads into 2-lane roads, and 2-lane roads in Brooklyn into single lane roads. What a nightmare it's been.

You'd think there was an epidemic of people dying in the street left and right with all the ballyhoo over "safety," which is what spurred these and other nonsensical changes (such as NYC's recent lowering of the prevailing speed limit to 25 mph on all roads unless otherwise posted - note that we now have roads with 2-3 lanes in each direction for which the speed limit is 25 mph. It's insanity). Instead, what we have in a city with nearly 9 MILLION people, probably more than a MILLION cars, and MILLIONS of intersections and millions of pedestrians spread geographically over an enormous swathe of land (5 boroughs) is...<wait for it>...250 traffic related fatalities each year. That strikes me as VERY low all things considered (especially when you account for the fact that probably half of these accidents are caused by pedestrians disobeying traffic laws and not cars disobeying them). Sorry, but I fail to see a crisis here which warrants such an irrational response. But then again, I'm not a new-age pansy nanny-state loving hipster.

 

[thelatestmodel]

What I hate are the dicks who speed and pass on the right, weaving in and out of traffic trying to get ahead of everyone and fucking up the flow of traffic.

Believe me when I tell you that in Canada this is sometimes unavoidable. I'm not being a dick - let me paint the picture for you.

Guy in front of me is in the left lane doing 90 on a 100 road. I wait patiently for him to move over. Nothing happens. I flash my lights. Nothing happens.

What do you expect me to do? I'm going round on the right, sorry.

 

[Derekloffin]

Well, it is 'acceptable' because it is what near everyone does. Once a law reaches that level of nonobservance it really loses its teeth at shaping what is seen as acceptable or not. Now, the question then becomes how did we reach this point? My only guess there would be that because the speed limits seem rather arbitrary and people generally don't see the direct correlation between a bit of extra speed and increased risk that it just felt 'okay' to speed up some.

 

[crazygambit]

I fucking hate it when I'm already going 85 mph on the left lane in a 60 mph freeway, and the guy behind me is tailgating me hardcore and trying to take every opportunity to pass me.

If you hate it so much, then fucking move to the right lane.

I hate guys going 5 over on the left lane thinking it's somehow acceptable.

 

[Ganhyun]

What kind of redneck cops are writing tickets for <10? That's like a $50 ticket.

edit: here's the code. Not sure if it's still in effect:

Treutlen County is known to be dicks about speeding. So does the city of Pooler right by Savannah though too.

lol yeah

I don't ever see anyone stick with that though. I take 285 to work every day and especially after they bumped it up to 65mph in some areas, 80mph seems like the average speed in the fast lanes.

Man, drivers on 285 and Ga 400 scare me with their idiotic and reckless driving.

What I hate are the dicks who speed and pass on the right, weaving in and out of traffic trying to get ahead of everyone and fucking up the flow of traffic.

Never drive in the Atlanta area. This is common place.

 

[Ganhyun]

sorry for the double post.

 

[Redd]

Believe me when I tell you that in Canada this is sometimes unavoidable. I'm not being a dick - let me paint the picture for you.

Guy in front of me is in the left lane doing 90 on a 100 road. I wait patiently for him to move over. Nothing happens. I flash my lights. Nothing happens.

What do you expect me to do? I'm going round on the right, sorry.

Ah well he's breaking the law and impeding the flow of traffic. You're supposed to pass on the left but some drivers get mad at people trying to pass them and break the law.

 

[Renzoku]

Because speed limits are bullshit that are kept stupidly low on highways just so that municipalities can make money from tickets.


1) Ramming into a car or the side of the road at 60, 70, or 80 MPH is going to result in the same net effect: a bad time.

2) There are stretches of road where the speed limit bumps from 60 - 70, with nothing about the road, surrounding area, etc. changing, yet somehow going 10 faster is legal.

3) Germany.


The only people who defend low speed limits are indoctrinated individuals taught that laws = always correct.

Should they exist for populated areas and should people follow them? Absolutely. Highways? No, mostly.

P.S. If you cruise in the passing lane, you're a douchebag and I hope your car breaks down.

 

[Dinokill]

Speed limit should be raised in freeways. 70mph is a joke.

 

[The Faceless Master]

i don't dare go more than 5mph over the limit. it's funny when drivers pull up next to me and look at me before pulling away... all i can think is i wish i could tell them "fuck you, i'm black, you go have your fucking fun, i'm not trying to get stopped by cops", but i can't.

 

[Dougald]

Oh, it's definitely true. Most major urban areas have lights and traffic patterns that basically erase the gains you can get from speeding. Even on highways the time improvement you get per MPH decreases the faster you're going, so most people have commutes that don't change all that much between, say, 65 and 75 MPH.

I can't count the number of times I've been passed by someone well over the speed limit, then at the next set of traffic lights I've filtered my motorcycle past both him and the 10 guys in front of him. Pointless on an urban road

 

[joelseph]

Because people are dumb.
If im already going 75 in a 60 zone, and you still want to pass me up...then go around. I already did my part by going fast.

This is the problem right here. Everyone thinks they are it. Anyone going slower than them needs to speed up, anyone going faster can fuck off. Driving brings out the worst in people.

 

[ScepticMatt]

It's crazy that speed limits in the USA are more or less a "suggestion".
It makes much more sensible to have higher, condition adaptive speed limits that are heavily enforced.

 

[Ganhyun]

If you hate it so much, then fucking move to the right lane.

I hate guys going 5 over on the left lane thinking it's somehow acceptable.

What if he can't move over due to traffic he is passing? I don't know about some of you, but the road I take for my commute to work always has a bunch of slower cars on the right spaced just enough that you cant easily move into the right lane. Also, hes already going 15 over, so if he cannot get over due to traffic, you should just slow down and wait until he can.

 

[Muffdraul]

I've run out of facepalms reading this thread. I will donate one month's pay to buy some of you tortoises a bus pass just to get you off the roads so that we sensible folks can drive reasonably and in peace.

 

[Souldestroyer Reborn]

We should get a thing going for raising speed limits on motorways

Also, the fuck is wrong with people pulling out as I pull out to overtake them and the lorry Infront of them when they could have overtook the lorry like 5mins before I even caught them up.

That shit pisses me off to no end.

 

[E92 M3]

i don't dare go more than 5mph over the limit. it's funny when drivers pull up next to me and look at me before pulling away... all i can think is i wish i could tell them "fuck you, i'm black, you go have your fucking fun, i'm not trying to get stopped by cops", but i can't.

My windows are all tinted heavily and I always laugh when people try to look inside. That said, when a car is speeding it's hard to see what color someone is when the cop tags you.

 

[Lord Error]

It is acceptable to speed, because the speed limits are set for the lowest common denominator - an old grampa driving his two ton road boat 1960 buick. Since you have probably ten times faster reflexes, better eye sight and more agile car than that, you are forgiven for speeding. As you said it yourself, even police knows this and silently agrees.

 

[WarMacheen]

What I hate are the dicks who speed and pass on the right, weaving in and out of traffic trying to get ahead of everyone and fucking up the flow of traffic.

what I hate are the dicks in at the head of the string of traffic going slower than the limit, fucking up the flow of traffic.

 

[DonasaurusRex]

A 30 mile trip is a lot faster at 80 vs 60.

yeah but a trip like that you are definitely ...hopefully talking state highway in the very least where speeding isn't a big deal because of many factors. Half the time theres no where to even be pulled over on highways. Now if he means using city streets and dense traffic areas and people are still trying to squeeze through traffic driving like a nut...then yes he's got a point. Half the time people are speeding up just to sit at a shitty red light that lasts too long during rush hour.

 

[StoneFox]

This is partially your fault, why didn't you move to the right lane? It's the law.

At the time we were passing a line of cars who were in the right lane. Once we cleared the line he aggressively shot out from behind us into the right lane and then cut back into the left lane just to get around us. We stayed in the left lane because we were going to turn left at an upcoming light and we had to follow him because he was making the same turn, so he saved no time doing his silly maneuver.

At the stoplight there was a car in the middle of the intersection who was turning left and waiting for traffic to clear. The pickup apparently didn't have seconds to wait and instead went around this car and turned left and almost got T-boned. He was being an idiot.

 

[Muffdraul]

yeah but a trip like that you are definitely ...hopefully talking state highway in the very least where speeding isn't a big deal because of many factors. Half the time theres no where to even be pulled over on highways. Now if he means using city streets and dense traffic areas and people are still trying to squeeze through traffic driving like a nut...then yes he's got a point. Half the time people are speeding up just to sit at a shitty red light that lasts too long during rush hour.

Since entering this thread I was under the assumption it was about highway traffic, not city streets.

 

[Christine]

As long as the people in the left lane are going faster than the people to their right, nothing is being disrupted. Slower drivers wandering out into the middle lanes are by far the most disruptive and dangerous situations you encounter on most highways, because they create an obstacle for all the normal speed drivers to avoid. As the river of traffic parts to get around the obstacle, the chances of an accident go up drastically. Slower drivers are always more dangerous to more people. A dickhead going 100 is near you for a split second. A dickhead going 40 on a 65 mph freeway is a danger to literally every car behind him, whether they're speeding or obeying the limit to the digit.

It's been pretty rainy and dark at night for a couple weeks here, and two nights ago I ended up behind some person doing 45 down the center lane of a 3-lane. It was a fucking nightmare as the traffic had to split and flow around her car on both sides.

 

[No Love]

Honestly, it'd be 100x more efficient, safe, and would generate more revenue if we raised the speed limits on major freeways to 85-100 mph and had highway patrol giving tickets to people going TOO SLOW in their respective lane.

It's logic. Every day slow, inefficient, moron drivers clog up the left and middle lanes causing people to pass (especially on the right side) which creates huge potential for a collision (for obvious reasons). Seriously, give tickets to people for obstructing traffic and causing a hazard with their "I don't give a fuck, I'm going 60 in the slow lane" horse shit. Entitled fucks.

 

[Nevasleep]

You can go slower than the speed limit and still get a ticket, drive to the conditions of the road.

 

[No Love]

You can go slower than the speed limit and still get a ticket, drive to the conditions of the road.

Extremely rare. You're a billion times more likely to get a ticket for going 5-10 mph over. This needs to be flip-flopped.

 

[Renzoku]

Honestly, it'd be 100x more efficient, safe, and would generate more revenue if we raised the speed limits on major freeways to 85-100 mph and had highway patrol giving tickets to people going TOO SLOW in their respective lane.

It's logic. Every day slow, inefficient, moron drivers clog up the left and middle lanes causing people to pass (especially on the right side) which creates huge potential for a collision (for obvious reasons). Seriously, give tickets to people for obstructing traffic and causing a hazard with their "I don't give a fuck, I'm going 60 in the slow lane" horse shit. Entitled fucks.

<3

 

[zer0das]

Only time I've ever gotten a ticket is when they set up a speed trap at the very bottom of the hill on a country road and they had multiple cars down the road to catch people. I let off the brake for the last third of the hill so you temporarily go like 40-50 mph, but the next hill eats all your speed within seconds and it saves gas if you you fudge. I think the city was salty about the annexation vote.

 

[Rodney McKay]

Honestly, it'd be 100x more efficient, safe, and would generate more revenue if we raised the speed limits on major freeways to 85-100 mph and had highway patrol giving tickets to people going TOO SLOW in their respective lane.

I mostly agree with the other points, but being safer I have my doubts about. People already drive too close behind other drivers at 60MPH for their reaction times, raising the speed limit by 30-40% seems like a great way of increasing accidents and I'd be curious to learn what the rate of fatalities would be at 60MPH accidents vs. 100MPH.

 

[Enco]

People who speed too much are pretty close to people who drunk drive.

Get a grip. Your destination isn't as important as the safety of others.

If the flow of traffic is a few mph over then I can understand. Otherwise slow the fuck down.

 

[huxley00]

Mainly, because speed limits are posted to either limit liability or increase revenue from infractions. Most interstates can be traversed quite safely at 10 miles above the posted speed limit.

 

[huxley00]

Extremely rare. You're a billion times more likely to get a ticket for going 5-10 mph over. This needs to be flip-flopped.

Its very very unlikely to get a ticket for 5mph over. Hell, the margin of error on those guns is at least 3 mph, it would never hold up in court. Most violations are for 10+.

 

[No Love]

Its very very unlikely to get a ticket for 5mph over. Hell, the margin of error on those guns is at least 3 mph, it would never hold up in court. Most violations are for 10+.

Yet it happens all the time. And the vast majority of people pay the ticket and take their lumps rather than fight it.

 

[gosox333]

I see no advantage to speeding. Speaking on a day to day basis, you likely aren't going far enough for it to make a difference time-wise, and it only increases your chance of getting pulled over.

Long distance and on the highway maaaybe, but even then you're still probably only shaving minutes off that drive time.

 

[No Love]

I mostly agree with the other points, but being safer I have my doubts about. People already drive too close behind other drivers at 60MPH for their reaction times, raising the speed limit by 30-40% seems like a great way of increasing accidents and I'd be curious to learn what the rate of fatalities would be at 60MPH accidents vs. 100MPH.

It's not about the speed. The speed isn't what causes accidents. It's the disruptions in the flow of traffic and the adverse reactions caused when slow drivers are in the wrong lane (you know, any lane other than the slow lane) and simply don't give a fuck. When cars are shifting lanes, this magnifies the chances of someone making an error and causing an accident.

Also, the key point is that in conjunction with raising speed limits, you also begin ticketing drivers causing disruptions in the flow of traffic which ends up decreasing chances of accidents.

Raising speed limits and penalizing people that don't know the rules of the fucking road would reduce fuel consumption, accidents, it would ease congestion and traffic, and it'd just create a more civilized experience on major freeways (ESPECIALLY here in California).

It's a win/win for everyone. Except the morons.

 

[huxley00]

Yet it happens all the time. And the vast majority of people pay the ticket and take their lumps rather than fight it.

Agree to disagree, I don't believe what you're saying is correct....

 

[Ogni-XR21]

I'm usually driving faster than the speed limit. Going approximately 20 km/h over the limit as a rule of thumb (more than that might cause a bit of trouble here in Germany). But often times I might end up going 40+ km/h faster than allowed, but that's usually on my way to work at 5:30 in the morning, otherwise the flow of traffic would not allow for that.

Btw. reading through this thread makes me appreciate the Autobahn a lot more, even if it's nowhere close to the 'drive as fast as you can' thing a lot of people seem to think it is (nice explanation here).

 

[No Love]

Agree to disagree, I don't believe what you're saying is correct....

Go sit in traffic court for 30 minutes. Thanks.

 

[huxley00]

Go sit in traffic court for 30 minutes. Thanks.

That doesn't make a lot of sense. You're saying that people get tickets for 5mph all the time that are never contested. Then you say I should sit in traffic court for 30 minutes....to...what? To not see people come in with 5mph tickets?

Also, location matters. You may get a ticket for 5mph on a residential road, I should have clarified my point. They simply do not give out those tickets on highways/interstates though, it just really doesn't happen.

 

[Vyer]

Aggressive, tailgating, swerving in and out of traffic drivers and slow moving, stay in the left lane clogging up traffic drivers are equally shitty.

 

[NotBacon]

10 over on the highway, 5 over everywhere else. I go right by cops at these speeds and they don't care.

 

[bodyboarder]

tfw gunning down the autobahn at 250 km/h (155 mph)

feels good man

Words cannot describe how much I dislike you.

 

[Muffdraul]

Aggressive, tailgating, swerving in and out of traffic drivers and slow moving, stay in the left lane clogging up traffic drivers are equally shitty.

A normal, reasonable driver is cruising down the left lane, going at a comfortable speed. Suddenly they find themselves behind some clueless stubborn asshole who thinks they're doing their civic duty by going 55 in the left lane, rather than keep up with the flow. After waiting a bit for the clueless moron to get out of the way, the cruising driver swerves over the right, passes the asshole, and then swerves back to the left. The problem was caused by the stubborn jackass.

That's different from those psychos who swerve across all lanes of traffic as if they're on their way to put out a fire.

 

[KorrZ]

10 KM/H over is pretty much the expected. The main street in my city that connects to everything has a speed limit of 50 for most of it, but you will hardly find anyone going under 60, sometimes 70.

In general you're supposed to maintain with the flow of traffic and most people speed so, meh.

 

[thesuperfunk]

If in doubt, flat-out.