BS: How fast do you drive ?

Subject: BS: How fast do you drive ?
From: Wesley S
Date: 07 Jun 07 - 05:50 PM

Fess up. Do you have a leadfoot? Do you drive too fast? Do you have rules on how fast you'll drive over the speed limit { it's posted 55 so I can do 65 }? Or do you never exceed the limit? Are you a left lane cop and block drivers that want to go faster than you? How would you rate yourself on the road?

Subject: RE: BS: How fast do you drive ?
From: gnu
Date: 07 Jun 07 - 05:59 PM

I can run my big hulking truck through the eye of a neddle at 100 miles per hour.

However, I can't get to the needle because the ignorant no mind fuck at the traffic lights in front of me is on his cell, eating his hamburger, drinking his coffee and arguing with his girlfriend.

Subject: RE: BS: How fast do you drive ?
From: Bill D
Date: 07 Jun 07 - 06:01 PM

I make sure that cars are passing me. I am NEVER one of the faster cars on the road....but if 98% of everyone is going 70, I do not insist on staying at 55.....I may go 60-65. I have not had a ticket in 40 years.

Subject: RE: BS: How fast do you drive ?
From: gnu
Date: 07 Jun 07 - 06:03 PM

Oh.... those left lane cops... I repeat.... I have a big hulking truck. If you ever see NB CHC 160 comin up on yer ass, I would suggest you get back where you belong.

Subject: RE: BS: How fast do you drive ?
From: SussexCarole
Date: 07 Jun 07 - 06:03 PM

Cornering is a **** though eh Bill?

Subject: RE: BS: How fast do you drive ?
From: gnu
Date: 07 Jun 07 - 06:04 PM

Good on you, Bill. GOOD drivers are hard to find these days.

Subject: RE: BS: How fast do you drive ?
From: Sorcha
Date: 07 Jun 07 - 06:04 PM

I never drive more than 70. Usually at the posted speed of 65. I'm just not comfortable doing much more than that. In town, yea.....car wants to go 40/45 instead of 30. Oh well.

Subject: RE: BS: How fast do you drive ?
From: Little Hawk
Date: 07 Jun 07 - 06:05 PM

Well, I see it this way...

90% of the drivers on the road around here want to go at least 10 over the posted speed limit, if not 20.

The cops are somewhat likely to ticket people if they go 20 or more over the posted limit. Basically, they tend to ticket people who are going unusually fast in comparison to most of the other drivers.

It's unsafe to drive at the posted speed if everyone around you wants to go at least 10 or 15 over it. Quite unsafe. It also results in other people getting frustrated because you are driving "so slowly", and then they do stupid reckless things which endanger you and them.

So I normally drive about 10 to 15 over the limit like most of the other cars on the road. This is on the highway. In town is a bit different.

I would be happy to drive the posted limit on highways if it wasn't for the fact that hardly anyone around me seems to be happy doing so.

What they are hurrying for, I don't know. I doubt that they do either. There isn't a lot of self-observation going on out there most of the time....

So I drive 10 to 15 above the limit a good deal of the time when on the highway, but sometimes adhere quite closely to the limit. Either way is fine with me. I adjust my driving to what's going on around me. Whichever way seems safe and sensible, that's what I do.

I don't generally care when I get there. If you leave early enough, there should be plenty of time to get where you're going. If not, well, it doesn't matter much anyway. The world won't stop turning if you're a bit late, will it?

Subject: RE: BS: How fast do you drive ?
From: gnu
Date: 07 Jun 07 - 06:15 PM

Um...er.... 10 to 15 over the limit as a rule of thumb? Here in Moncton, New Brunswick, Canada, most drivers have their thumb up their ass and really should be driving that much under the limit.

They think that their driver's license qualifies them to drive but most have even no idea what a signal light is for.

How many of you.... be honest... put your signal light on BEFORE you ease off the gas pedal?

Subject: RE: BS: How fast do you drive ?
From: Phot
Date: 07 Jun 07 - 06:27 PM

Given the price of fuel in the UK, my Discovery rarely sees the other side of 60!(3.5 V8) Mind you, she was holding 95-100 last year all the way up the M40 to get PoD to a conference in Birmingham on time!..................8MPG anyone?!

Wassail!! Chris.

Subject: RE: BS: How fast do you drive ?
From: Little Hawk
Date: 07 Jun 07 - 06:28 PM

Oh, here's something I do which seems to bug most other drivers around here...

I leave a safe distance between me and the car I am following! I do not tailgate.

This pisses off at least 75% of the people around me on the highway who feel that they may arrive at their destination a fraction of a second later if they are not a mere three or four feet behind the vehicle directly ahead of them. (And they may not be able to read the little tiny letters on the guy's bumper that say "If you can read this you're too fucking close!") So they give me a frustrated look, pull into the left lane, surge ahead, and whip in to the safety zone I have left between me and the car ahead of me...whereupon I ease up on the throttle ever so slightly, and let them draw ahead...so as to regain my safety zone.

Within 20 seconds or less, someone else behind me is irritated by the very same thing, and reacts in the very same way.

And so it goes.

If anything unexpected happens, these people can expect to be peeled off the vehicle ahead of them like a fly off a windshield, because they will have no time to react, and no space left to react in. They clearly do not expect anything unexpected is ever going to happen. Not to them. Maybe someone else, but not them.

I try to avoid clumps of these compulsive tailgaters and find an empty space on the road where I am alone. I derive no sense of security from being part of a multi-lane pack, but I must assume that many other drivers do, from what I have seen. Perhaps they feel that they can best get where they are going by letting the person directly ahead lead the way for them, and staying right close to his bumper at all times so they don't lose sight of him?

Subject: RE: BS: How fast do you drive ?
From: Little Hawk
Date: 07 Jun 07 - 06:34 PM

I usually signal fairly well in advance of making my move, gnu. I want the people around me to know what I'm going to do before I do it...

I'm driving on Ontario highways. Yeah, 10 or 15 over is pretty standard around here from what I've seen. Everybody is in a friggin' hurry for some reason...

Going by what you said, I'm glad I don't have to drive in New Brunswick, because the average person can't drive half as well when their thumb is up their ass. And it's dangerous. Not to mention uncomfortable. ;-)

Subject: RE: BS: How fast do you drive ?
From: Wolfgang
Date: 07 Jun 07 - 06:38 PM

140 is the speed I feel comfortable with.

Wolfgang

Subject: RE: BS: How fast do you drive ?
From: artbrooks
Date: 07 Jun 07 - 06:42 PM

On the open highway, I set the cruise control at 5 miles an hour over the limit and let everyone else go around me.

Subject: RE: BS: How fast do you drive ?
From: wysiwyg
Date: 07 Jun 07 - 06:43 PM

1. With the flow of traffic
2. Not more than 9 mph over the posted limit (cop advice)
3. The occasional full-out on a straight expressway if I am in good shape
4. Adjusting for road, visibility, and brain function conditions
5. Cruise control when feasible
6. Love re-shaping line of travel on the curves to use centrifugal and centripetal force to zoon through them

~Susan

Subject: RE: BS: How fast do you drive ?
From: Bill D
Date: 07 Jun 07 - 06:50 PM

(Carole...shhhhh!!!)

Well, I am not a slow, pokey driver who impedes traffic, but I seriously DESPISE drivers, especially big trucks, who think I am not going fast enough, even if I am 5-15 MPH over the posted speed, and decide to try to intimidate me to move over by zooming up on my bumper...even when there is too much traffic to do so safely....and I have had them do this in the rain, when it was hard to see WHAT to do!

I am sick & tired of people who think sane, reasonable speeds are for wimps and codgers.....and who cut in & out of traffic IN ORDER to maintain some speed, no matter what the conditions.

Subject: RE: BS: How fast do you drive ?
From: Ebbie
Date: 07 Jun 07 - 06:55 PM

I'm with you on the safety cushion, Little Hawk. I've heard people say they don't do that because "other drivers will just pass you and fill that gap"; they don't seem to understand that's why it's there.

I used to have a friend who was a trafffic cop and he explained why so often it is the last car in a line of speeding cars that gets nailed.

He said, Inside a line of speeding cars it is safer to pretty much stay with them. However, the *last* car in the line is not being pushed. That car has the option of going the speed limit.

Subject: RE: BS: How fast do you drive ?
From: Rog Peek
Date: 07 Jun 07 - 07:06 PM

I drive very slowly to work, and somewhat faster going home. Really can't understand those fools who fly past me in the mornings at 100 mph.

Subject: RE: BS: How fast do you drive ?
From: Rapparee
Date: 08 Jun 07 - 12:07 AM

The sound hasn't yet caught up with me, and it's two weeks behind.

Subject: RE: BS: How fast do you drive ?
From: Little Hawk
Date: 08 Jun 07 - 12:16 AM

Speed limits here are in kilometres per hour.

Smaller country 2-lane road: 80 km/hr. I usually go just under 90.

Larger expressways: 90 km/hr. I usually average around 100.

Really big highways: 100 km/hr. I average around 110 to 120, depending on what the rest of the traffic is doing.

Subject: RE: BS: How fast do you drive ?
From: JennyO
Date: 08 Jun 07 - 12:51 AM

I must confess to being a bit of a leadfoot. It doesn't help that I have a powerful car that glides along really easily - I have to keep my eye on the speedo and keep reining it in, cos it likes to just roll along. As well as that, I really enjoy driving.

However I am a very careful driver. I judge the safety of a situation and drive accordingly. I slow down drastically in bad weather, and wonder at the fools who are still ploughing ahead through the rain and wind. I keep up with the mob on a fast road. They are usually going 10 -15 kms faster than the speed limit, and it's true that it is safer to go at the same speed as the general flow. If a couple of slow road hogs are in the way, I'll go round them. If I see a way to get ahead I will take it, as long as it can be done safely. I also try to merge smoothly, not cut people off, not get in anybody's way, and generally be courteous on the road. Drivers who don't do this often cause road rage and accidents.

Although I tend to be one of the faster ones, there are certain situations where I will stick to the speed limit religiously. We have a 40 km speed limit near schools for a couple of hours in the morning and in the afternoon when the kids are coming out. I always stick to 40 in those.

I thought it was interesting that when I had an old white Holden with a pretty rough looking body and lots of stickers on the window, I seemed to be targeted by speed cops and cameras, and at one stage I accumulated almost too many points against my licence. Those points are gone now, because as soon as I got the nice respectable-looking burgundy coloured Fairmont nearly 3 years ago, they seemed to ignore me - without me changing my driving habits. In fact, if anything I drive a bit faster now because the Fairmont is such a pleasure to drive.

With all that, I've never had a serious accident, or caused one that I know of, and I don't expect to. I concentrate when I'm driving, don't try to multitask by chatting on the phone, eating hamburgers etc, and try to leave a reasonable space between my car and the one in front. Works for me!

Subject: RE: BS: How fast do you drive ?
From: Georgiansilver
Date: 08 Jun 07 - 03:02 AM

I am so good at keeping to the speed limits.......but only where I know there is a camera. Don't really have to rush anywhere these days so I rarely speed.......but have to admit that I enjoy speed and do occasionally let the leadfoot down.

Subject: RE: BS: How fast do you drive ?
From: The PA
Date: 08 Jun 07 - 05:04 AM

I try really hard to keep to the speed limits.

The limit through our village is 30 but this is usually completely ignored by drivers passing through. Nipping along as fast as you like on a open clear road maybe OK, but tearing along on a single track lane you have no idea who or what you're likely to meet round the next bend, children on ponies, stock being moved from one field to another - or my husband and the tractor.

If some of these drivers realised in car versus tractor there is only one winner (and no its not the car no matter how good a driver you think you are) !

However, at 3am on the M5 I can do Bromsgrove to Padstow in 3hrs 20mins, so I'm not preaching just asking drivers to have a little more consideration in the countryside.

Subject: RE: BS: How fast do you drive ?
From: Dave the Gnome
Date: 08 Jun 07 - 05:25 AM

Usualy under the speed limit + 10% + 2mph. Someone once gave me that formula and it seems to have worked up to now:-) Funny thing is now I have got a SatNav as well I can often get 2 readings - With the SatNav always showing lower than the speedo.

Here's an intersting thing. A couple of years back a TV documentary sampled about 100 cars and every one had speedometer errors. Funny thing was each one showd less than they were doing at the bottom end and more than they were doing at the top end. Ie if it showed 20 they were doing 25 - If it showed 80 they were doing 75!

I would seriously ask you all to remember a fact that they have shown on UK roadside posters for years.

If you hit a pedestrian at 30mph there is an 80% chance of survival. At 40mph there is a 90% chance killing a pedestrian

Be careful out there!

Cheers

Dave

Subject: RE: BS: How fast do you drive ?
From: JennyO
Date: 08 Jun 07 - 05:26 AM

Oh yes - I forgot to mention. I know the location of all the red light cameras in Sydney - one of the street directories, the UBD, has them all marked.

I also know where most of the fixed speed cameras are in the places I go to regularly. They are marked with several signs on the road leading up to them. There was talk about changing that, so that people didn't know where they were, but that idea was knocked on the head - the idea being that at least people slow down on the road when they see them. It's quite funny to see what looks like a funeral procession going past those cameras, with the cars suddenly speeding up again as soon as they are past them. I don't think they help much, because many drivers, like me, know where they are, and only get slowed down for a while.

They probably manage to raise more revenue with the hand-held radar cameras because there is an element of surprise, but we often get a warning, because cars coming the other way who have seen the camera often flash their headlights to warn us. I think that is illegal, but I doubt whether they have actually charged anyone for doing that. As far as I can see, it's mostly a revenue raising exercise anyway, so I'm kinda cynical about it all.

I know I'm driving safely, but I can't do much about the idiots, and there's never a policeman around when you really need one. We get boy racer types around here who chuck wheelies around our roundabout and scream up and down the road in their hotted up cars every weekend, but try to get a policeman here in time to catch them? you must be joking! They'll take a report and then nothing happens. The yahoos are back again the next day or the next weekend, because they know nobody is going to catch them.

Subject: RE: BS: How fast do you drive ?
From: GUEST,Crystal
Date: 08 Jun 07 - 05:39 AM

I got my provisional licence and had lessons, but never took my test. I am just too nervous. My first lesson and some guy in a huge white van came screaming out of a side road, no signal and nearly hit us. If he had then my driving insturctors little car would have been totalled and both of us probably killed or seriously injured. That rather knocked my confidence. The annoying thing was that I was doing OK up until that point, going at the speed limit, getting the hang of checking my mirrors etc.
Serves me right for learning to drive in Essex I guess!
I have NO tolerence for people who speed, my friends father was killed by someone speeding. On a moterway on a clear, dry day when the rest of the traffic is doing 90ish then yes doing 80 rather than 70 is probably safer, but anything more is seriously stupid.
People forget that statistically cars are more dangerous than guns.

Subject: RE: BS: How fast do you drive ?
From: Mooh
Date: 08 Jun 07 - 06:38 AM

Most of my driving is in rural and small town Ontario. I rarely speed, mostly only to safely pass slow moving vehicles. Lots of reasons not to speed. Safety, gas consumption, cost, environment, stress, reaction time...If I'm gonna hit a deer, cow, black ice, turning vehicle, or person, I'd rather have a chance of missing or surviving. Speed kills.

I get passed a lot and I so often catch up to those passers at lights, or see them sitting at gas stations and Tim Hortons as I tour by. They can pass me again for all I care.

Chronic speeders are morons, and a risk to themselves and others.

Peace, Mooh.

Subject: RE: BS: How fast do you drive ?
From: kendall
Date: 08 Jun 07 - 07:44 AM

I've been driving for 57 years. Never caused a serious accident, and only one speeding ticket in that time. I usually set the cruise control on 5 mph over the speed limit, but that time, I was coming home from a dear friend's funeral, and not paying attention.

I also leave a safety zone because I know how much distance it takes to make a panic stop. However, the idiots who just hate to see a gap ahead must think the saying that "Nature hates a vacuum" applies to the road.

If I'm going the limit or 5 mph over, I'm not intimidated by some cowboy who tries to give me grief by riding my bumper. I start by giving him/her a squirt of my windshield washer fluid. That stuff really flies at 60 mph.

Subject: RE: BS: How fast do you drive ?
From: InOBU
Date: 08 Jun 07 - 07:57 AM

This seems like a good moment for an advertisement. If you get a ticket in NY email me, my wife is a lawyer and does a good bit of traffic court. Stay safe, but when you get caught... call me wife!

=)
lor

Subject: RE: BS: How fast do you drive ?
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 08 Jun 07 - 08:15 AM

I aim to keep five miles an our below whatever speed limit is in force, unless it's a narrow country road, when I'll probably go down to 40 or so.

What's the hurry?

Subject: RE: BS: How fast do you drive ?
From: Becca72
Date: 08 Jun 07 - 08:53 AM

I tend to do 5-10 over the limit depending on the conditions. On the highway I will admit I'm usually traveling between 75 and 80...but I use the passing lane only for passing and move my arse back to the right when I'm by someone. I signal way before I actually make the turn or change lanes, I look over my shoulder every time I change lanes and (my latest pet peeve) I never ever ever try to make a righthand turn from the lefthand lane. These jackasses who cut off a line of traffic because they didn't move over soon enough make me crazy.

I have been driving for almost 20 years and have never had a speeding ticket.

Subject: RE: BS: How fast do you drive ?
From: Rapparee
Date: 08 Jun 07 - 09:10 AM

The Interstate speed limit out here is 75 mph and I usually set the cruise control for 80 or 82. Of course, it's lower on other roads, and I've driven on the River Road in Grand Teton National Park where you, well, let's just say that it's a great drive but unless you have fairly high clearance, four wheel drive (and that's mandatory!), and know how to drive in mud, sand, and walnut-sized gravel up to your hubcaps you shouldn't even think about trying it.

I had some training years back from a pursuit driver for the Ohio State Patrol, even learned on one of the OSP's driving tracks. I also learned off-road driving in the Army ("Keep the *$#!!@!! thing moving, you @#*$%!!"!! Don't stop, don't stop!"), so I'm actually pretty comfortable driving.

I also have my outside mirrors set in that new way that lessens your blind spot. Here's how. It's takes a little bit to get used to it, but it's really excellent. Try it.

Subject: RE: BS: How fast do you drive ?
From: Wesley S
Date: 08 Jun 07 - 09:13 AM

Speaking od a "safety zone" - the method I use is to spot a stationary object like a telephone pole or traffic sign. Then when the the car ahead of you passes that object you take a slow count to three. There should be three seconds between you and the car ahead of you. Otherwise you don't have time to brake safely if they make a panic stop.

And can I assume everyone wears a safety belt?

Subject: RE: BS: How fast do you drive ?
From: Becca72
Date: 08 Jun 07 - 09:15 AM

Good point, Wesley. I wear my seat belt each and every time I get in the car.

Thanks for the mirror advise, Rapaire. I'll have to try that!

Subject: RE: BS: How fast do you drive ?
From: GUEST,Shimrod
Date: 08 Jun 07 - 09:34 AM

I didn't learn to drive until I was about 40. About 6 months after I passed my test I was driving on motorways. One day I was driving from Manchester to Leeds on the M62. I got to the Saddleworth Moor area and soon realised that I was going downhill and the speedo had crept up to 90 without me realising it (lack of experience). At that point a BMW, in the right-hand lane, shot past me like a rocket! He must have been doing at least 120. At that point a white van abruptly pulled out in front of him without indicating. How the BMW stopped I'll never know - but a hell of a lot of smoke came off his tyres! I have a feeling that that many people who drive that fast don't have those sort of reactions - and are probably not concentrating hard enough anyway.

Having said that it's the 'deadly creepers' who annoy me - people who drive 10 miles an hour below the speed limit - and often much slower. They seem to think that a motorway is indistinguishable from any other type of road and you can drive on it at any speed you like. My main problem with them is that they tend to block-up junctions - making it harder to enter on to, or to exit from, the motorway than it ought to be.

Oh yes, and why do they always seem to drive Fiats? 'The car in front, impeding my progress, is a Fiat!'

Subject: RE: BS: How fast do you drive ?
From: JennyO
Date: 08 Jun 07 - 09:40 AM

Around these parts, the slow car in front was often a Volvo. The last few years I've noticed that it's nearly always a Toyota Camry. Dunno why.

Subject: RE: BS: How fast do you drive ?
From: Peace
Date: 08 Jun 07 - 10:10 AM

Usually at the speed limit when safe to do so. On occasion much faster. Depends on the necessity.

Subject: RE: BS: How fast do you drive ?
From: Midchuck
Date: 08 Jun 07 - 10:31 AM

5 to 10 mph above the limit, for the most part. Since I got my new Impreza, I seem to attract more attention from cops, so I'm trying to be a little more conservative.

If I am being tailgated (on a two-lane - on a four lane I just keep to the right lane), I immediately start sticking strictly to the speed limit, just to annoy the tailgater as much as he's annoying me.

I do think that people on interstates (motorways to you people who missed the boat in the 1600s) who use the middle or the fast lane when the slow lane isn't in use, and they aren't going particularly fast, should be killed, slowly and exquisitely. The highways could handle twice as much traffic as they do without overcrowding if people would just sort themselves out rationally by speed.

Peter

Subject: RE: BS: How fast do you drive ?
From: Richard Bridge
Date: 08 Jun 07 - 11:27 AM

I am not going to push my luck by telling you. But my Volvo is quite quick. Ihave now got a "snooper" and try really hard to stick to limits. Sigh. But we sinners are easily tempted. However, I am a stickler for a braking gap and will usually seek to frustrate idiots who overtake on the inside.

Subject: RE: BS: How fast do you drive ?
From: JennyO
Date: 08 Jun 07 - 12:06 PM

Aah Richard, but you don't sound like the average Volvo driver, so I'll forgive you. You're not by any chance thinking of getting (shudder) a Toyota Camry, are you?

Subject: RE: BS: How fast do you drive ?
From: Nigel Parsons
Date: 08 Jun 07 - 01:09 PM

"Only a fool breaks the two-second rule!"

Takes about two seconds to say. Whatever speed you're doing, note the vehicle infront of you pass a fixed mark. If you don't have time to say the above before reaching the fixed mark then you are too close.
Obviously the faster you're going, the further you'll travel in those two seconds, so the greater gap you should be leaving. The two seconds however remains constant!

CHEERS
Nigel

Subject: RE: BS: How fast do you drive ?
From: Rog Peek
Date: 08 Jun 07 - 01:21 PM

I got a speeding ticket in 1969 driving a TR2 through Southall in London. Fine £7.00, and licence endorsed. Not had one since, hope I'm not tempting fate!

Around the same time, a friend of mine got a ticket for doing 40mph in a 30 limit. When the ticket had been issued, he couldn't start his car, so the police officers kindly pushed him to 'bump sart' the car and off he went. A few miles up the road, the same police officers pulled him in for doing 50mph in a 40 limit. Issued him with another ticket and pushed him on his way again. Bizarre! I never forgot it, and I suspect he hasn't either. The other bizarre aspect of it was that he was fined £10.00 for the first offence and £7.00 for the second. You'd have thought it would be round the other way.

Subject: RE: BS: How fast do you drive ?
From: Bonecruncher
Date: 08 Jun 07 - 11:30 PM

In UK the advice in the Highway Code is to maintain maximum speed according to speed limits and road conditions. I.e. if the national speed limit is 60 then that should be your speed comensurate with road conditions, which obviously includes weather and lesser speed limits.
Unfortunately this, and many of the subtleties of driving (line of drive, with centrifugal and cenripetal forces were mentioned earlier) are rarely taught in the UK because they are not testable in the driving examination. It seems that instructors only teach subjects that will be tested.
Considering that medical practitioners must undergo compulsory Continuing Professional Development (CPM) to ensure that they are safe to practise on the public, should we not have similar for drivers, considering that they are handling a lethal weapon?

Colyn.

Subject: RE: BS: How fast do you drive ?
From: Liz the Squeak
Date: 09 Jun 07 - 04:44 AM

With the traffic on motorways and large open roads - so average 5-15 above the posted limit. Sticking exactly to the limit is only going to get you rammed, flashed and cut up these days. The flashing I don't mind so much but it can distract me from putting on my makeup and dialing my coffee machine.

I must admit to being a lead-foot Lizzie when I'm out and about with the right sort of music and a sunny day.

In built up areas though, I do my best to stick to the speed limit. Especially when some boy racer screams up behind me at twice the limit. I take great delight in sticking to limits just before speed cameras so that irritating gits overtake me and get photographed speeding. One thing I really detest is the way the majority of drivers hurtle along at any speed they want and then slam on the brakes as they see a speed camera loom into view. That style of driving is even more dangerous than speeding in the first place. I've lost count of the times I've had some git in a willy-mobile cut in front of me and slam his brakes on because he didn't see the speed camera from half a mile away like I did.

On the other hand... I have actually been stopped twice now and asked why I was driving so slowly. Once was at 11pm, when pubs still closed then, and I had a new baby in the car and the other was because I was lost and trying to read road signs.

We now have the sort of car that young people associate with the older driver - until I take 'em out at the traffic lights! As Kathy Bates says in 'Fried Green Tomatoes' - "let's face it girls, I'm older'n you and have better insurance!"

LTS

Subject: RE: BS: How fast do you drive ?
From: Bee-dubya-ell
Date: 09 Jun 07 - 07:43 AM

On the highway, I try to maintain a speed where I'm passing about 50% of the cars and the other 50% are passing me. However, 10 MPH above the posted speed limit is as fast as I'll cruise, even if the rest of the drivers on the road seem to have been bitten by the dreaded Gofaster Bug.

Subject: RE: BS: How fast do you drive ?
From: kendall
Date: 09 Jun 07 - 08:04 AM

I couldn't help but notice when I first went to the UK the lack of Police cars on the highways. The law seems to depend on cameras! That would make more sense if there were no warning signs!
In my part of the world, the cops have unmarked cars of many different makes and colors so if you are speeding, you never know who is behind you.

One woman from NJ was getting a ticket for sppeding on the Maine Turnpike, and she said to the cop, "Don't you people ever give warnings."? He replied "Yes, we do," Pointing to the speed limit sign, he went on, "There's one now."

Subject: RE: BS: How fast do you drive ?
From: CarolC
Date: 09 Jun 07 - 08:55 AM

The term is speed limit. Everyone has a right to go below the speed limit as long as they are going above the speed minimum. You (figurative you) do not have a right go above the speed limit. You do not have a right to expect others to go above the speed limit. When you go above the speed limit, you are breaking the law.

A five mph (eight or ten if you're using kph?) cushion is reasonable because nobody can stay exactly at the speed limit at all times. Speed limits are there for a reason.

Subject: RE: BS: How fast do you drive ?
From: kendall
Date: 09 Jun 07 - 09:14 AM

Exactly

Subject: RE: BS: How fast do you drive ?
From: Sorcha
Date: 09 Jun 07 - 09:34 AM

Liz, I love 'willy-mobile'! Must remember that one!

Subject: RE: BS: How fast do you drive ?
From: Richard Bridge
Date: 09 Jun 07 - 09:36 AM

Most speed limits are irrationally low. 70 in today's world on motorways is plain stupid. When it came in (just after AC tested their Le Mans car at over 180 on the M1 near Birmingham, empty motorway, 3 am, result, outcry from handicapped) most cars could barely do much better, and there were plenty of Minis etc about that could barely manage at 70.

Nowadays about half new cars will double it, or nearly so. A 15 year old Volvo T5 WILL double it! Handling and braking have all improved beyond measure. I could live with 90 but 100 would be a more sensible motorway limit.

The A228 near me has a 40 limit on it. It has a bad accident record, but exceeding 40 is not the cause. 60 would be a sensible limit (there are virtually no houses on it) and it would alleviate the kamikaze overtakers.

As for Volvos, don't you know how easy it is to tune the "redblock" from the 740s and 940s? try www.brickboard.com.

There is a maniac in Sweden who has allegedly got over 800 bhp out of a redblock (track only). Quite a few roadgoing redblocks are up about 350bhp. My 16 valver is nowhere near that (yet), and indeed I don't really plan to go much over 250 to 300 bhp, not even when I win the pools.

Subject: RE: BS: How fast do you drive ?
From: frogprince
Date: 09 Jun 07 - 09:44 AM

Our nice, bland, old fogeymobile Camry feels just the same at 90 as at 60. I'm glad it has cruise control, as my foot does get too heavy too easily. I usually have it set at 5mph over, and leave the right lane only to pass aging turtles.

Last summer we drove the furthest we have in Canada, from Maine to Nova Scotia and across Canada back to Michigan. We saw signs everywhere emphasizing how seriously we should take the speed limits. Then we stayed overnight in Toronto, and the hotel supplied a newspaper. There was a long scathing editiorial attacking people who
don't drive well over the posted limited, with a little extra dose of vitriol for anyone who would dare drive a kph under.

Subject: RE: BS: How fast do you drive ?
From: CarolC
Date: 09 Jun 07 - 09:52 AM

Most speed limits are irrationally low.

Personally, I tend to find them a bit too high overall. But I have a right to go below the speed limit, and nobody (other than emergency personnel) has a right to go above the speed limit.

Subject: RE: BS: How fast do you drive ?
From: Bee-dubya-ell
Date: 09 Jun 07 - 09:58 AM

Everyone has a right to go below the speed limit as long as they are going above the speed minimum.

True. But, in practice, it's quite dangerous to drive the posted minimum speed on interstate highways unless you're in a highly visible vehicle like a large truck or RV and have emergency flashers on. A passenger car or light truck going 45 MPH on a highway with a 70 MPH speed limit is a rear-end collision waiting to happen. I've been in situations where mechanical problems or heavy loads have made driving at or near the speed limit impossible, and I've rerouted to secondary highways. If I can't drive within 10 MPH of the speed limit on a "superhighway", I'll find a not-so-super-highway where being a slowpoke isn't a problem.

Subject: RE: BS: How fast do you drive ?
From: CarolC
Date: 09 Jun 07 - 10:01 AM

It's also quite dangerous to drive above the speed limit, because you might happen upon a car that is driving (legally) below the speed limit. And if you hit that car while speeding, you are the one who will be judged to be at fault. So it is you who have the responsibility to moderate your speed, not the person who is driving legally between the minimum and maximum allowed speeds.

Subject: RE: BS: How fast do you drive ?
From: saulgoldie
Date: 09 Jun 07 - 10:04 AM

On the highway I stay within a range of the speed limit and the "pack" speed. I do try to stay closer to the speed limit, because technically you can get a ticket for going 1 over. Furthermore, there is often some safety reason for a particular limit. However, if everyone is passing me, I usually bump it up so that I am not holding back traffic, because that is its own safety hazard.

I feel I should remind everyone here, though, that as we go above 55mph (or about 85kph) our fuel consumption increases as the square of the increase in speed. This is physics 101. IOW, you get significantly less mileage driving at 80mph than you do at 55. Also, your chances of stopping to avoid something, or surviving if you fail to avoid it are substantially better if you are driving slower. A car is, indeed, more dangerous than a gun. But given our recent attention to the oil supply, prices, and global warming, we should keep that in mind.

(Having said all that, I will probably test my new Miata--when the seller finally straightens out the title mishigas--to about 80 or 85 if I feel I can avoid a ticket or an accident.)

Saul

Subject: RE: BS: How fast do you drive ?
From: Bill D
Date: 09 Jun 07 - 10:42 AM

http://www.car-accidents.com/

The faster you go, the shorter time you have to react IF something goes wrong....and the more 'interesting' the results.

Just because you are, or consider yourself to be, a competent driver, it does not follow that everyone else out there is also.

Subject: RE: BS: How fast do you drive ?
From: Mickey191
Date: 09 Jun 07 - 11:33 AM

My driving habits are to stay within the speed limits, not to hog the passing lane, NEVER tailgate and stay 5 or 6 car lengths behind the nearest car. Where I live there are quite a few hairpin turns on dirt roads. I always beep as I approach those turns-a few times I've gotten a thumbs up from the opposing driver. Which I construe as "your beep made me pull over." Think I've avoided a few fender benders that way. Never gotten a ticket or had an accident.

GMAC driving test site: www.gmacinsurance.com/SafeDriving

They state that Oregon has the best drivers-the worst is Rhode Island. (Although this wks. newspaper said NY has the worst)

20 million - 1/10th of U.S. drivers would fail a MV test. One in five drivers does not know that pedestrians have the right of way--even if the walker is jay walking. DUH??

And a huge percentage will drive if "they feel okay" after having drinks.

Subject: RE: BS: How fast do you drive ?
From: RangerSteve
Date: 09 Jun 07 - 12:02 PM

Now that I'm retired, I drive at the speed limit, or maybe 5 miles over. I have nowhere to go, and if I do, I have enough time to leave early. I live in a Yuppie infested area, and even at 60mph, they pass me by as if I was standing still.

Subject: RE: BS: How fast do you drive ?
From: John MacKenzie
Date: 09 Jun 07 - 12:10 PM

130 MPH

Subject: RE: BS: How fast do you drive ?
From: jacqui.c
Date: 09 Jun 07 - 12:20 PM

I try to stick to the posted limits in town, in particular the 15mph in school zones. It's surprising the number of people, including school bus drivers, who seem to ignore that limit.

I must admit to having a bit of a lead foot on the open road but am trying to keep it down to 10mph over the posted limit. I do try to keep a good distance between me and the car in front but agree that it isn't easy as the gap just seems to attract other drivers. I also try to signal in plenty of time, and before I apply the brakes to make a turn. That's a matter of common sense and my safety.

The problem with increasing the speed limits, IMO, is that there are a number of drivers who would see that as an invitation to drive even faster. Having driven a few times at 100mph on a very clear part of the A1 I do think that is really too fast. Not all drivers have sufficient control of their vehicles to make for safe driving at that speed and accidents at that speed are going to be a lot worse than is the case now.

Subject: RE: BS: How fast do you drive ?
From: Mrs.Duck
Date: 09 Jun 07 - 01:49 PM

I hav e only evr been caught speeding and that was at 37mph on a country road. I had driven through a village below 30mph but as I left on what an open straight road out of the same village there was a flash from within the hedgerow and I was caught on camera. I was given the chioce of 3 points and a fine or pay £50 and attend a speed seminar. This involved being locked in a room with other offenders and subjected to an emotive stream of videos, photos and testimonials from people who had tragically lost friends and family in speed related accidents. The seminar option was only given to anyone within 10mph over the limit and yet all the reports related to drivers doing speeds of up to 120mph or 60mph near a school etc. At the end we were asked had we got a different view of speed now and I had to say 'no' as although I was legally over the speed limit I was still driving responsibly. When I am in a built up area where children are around I rarely go over 20mph but we have noticed reduced speed limits are stretching further and further out of villages and country roads are now often 50mph or 40 mph where they used to be 60mph. In general I keep farely close to the limit. As Geoff is now training to be a driving instructor he has become more aware of his speed and keeps just below the limit wherever we go which seems to upset quite a lot of other drivers!

Subject: RE: BS: How fast do you drive ?
From: Mickey191
Date: 09 Jun 07 - 03:16 PM

Pet Peeves: The idiots who pull out of side streets while your doing 55--these jerks are counting on your brakes to be in great shape. Suppose they're not?

The jerks who are going 50 and then slow down to 5mph then turn on the turn signal when they're into the turn.

YIKES!!!!

Subject: RE: BS: How fast do you drive ?
From: kendall
Date: 09 Jun 07 - 04:04 PM

It doesn't matter how fast your car is able to go, nor does it matter how good your brakes are. There are certain laws of physics that nothing can overcome. At 60 mph, you are going 88 feet per second, and it is going to require nearly 300 feet to come to a dead stop whether you are in an old Fiat or a new Volvo.
Furthermore, the tires that come on a new car are barely adequate to handle today's (legal) highway speeds.

Then, there's the matter of mechanical failure; on two ocassions, I have had a serious failure. Once the drag link fell off making it impossible to steer. Another time, a tie rod end let go causing the same problem.It was just luck that I was moving very slowly both times.
A friend of mine bought a brand new Buick, drove it 90 mph, came home and the steering linkage fell off in the driveway.

I sometimes drive a 33 foot motor home that weighs 18000 pounds. It will not stop as quickly as a car, so I never drive it faster than 60 mph.Tractor trailers go by me just like they think they can ignore the laws of physics, and I know they are pulling a lot more weight than I.
Then there are those idiots who pull right out in front of me like I wasn't there!

Subject: RE: BS: How fast do you drive ?
From: Richard Bridge
Date: 09 Jun 07 - 05:14 PM

Check your physics, Kendall, and if your motorhome won't stop as well as a car, check the brakes.

Subject: RE: BS: How fast do you drive ?
From: kendall
Date: 09 Jun 07 - 05:24 PM

I have. In fact it was just inspected at a truck dealership.
It stands to reason that 18000 pounds requires a lot more effort than 2000 pounds.
Look, the only thing brakes can do is to stop the wheels from turning, and that applies to ALL vehicles.

How many of those big top heavy Urban assault vehicles do you see tits up in the ditch because the drivers have been lulled into a false sense of safety about their roadworthiness? Sure they will go when regular cars wont, but they don't stop a damn bit quicker, and their center of gravity is much higher making them more dangerous, not less.

Subject: RE: BS: How fast do you drive ?
From: CarolC
Date: 09 Jun 07 - 05:29 PM

Kendall's right overall, though, because the speed a car is capable of going isn't the reason speed limits are set where they are. On most highways/motorways, there are drivers with a broad range of capabilities, many of whom are incredibly dangerous if they try to drive as fast as the faster drivers would like to go. On roads like the Autobahn, it is understood that you shouldn't be there if you can't handle the absence of a speed limit. But most highways/motorways are not like that (nor should they be, since everyone's tax money pays for the roads - those that are not toll roads, anyway).

You share the road with a lot of people, may of whom simply cannot drive at very high speeds safely, either because of their own abilities, or because they don't have the newest and best cars. And there are people who are experiencing varying amounts of fatigue as well as the people who are driving and shouldn't be. They're there, whether you think they should be or not, and you driving fast increases your chances of getting entangled with them in a very unpleasant way. The speed limit takes all of this into consideration. Speed limits are not irrationally low when all of these things are factored in. As I said before, in my opinion, they are too high.

Subject: RE: BS: How fast do you drive ?
From: CarolC
Date: 09 Jun 07 - 05:30 PM

Crossposted with Kendall.

Subject: RE: BS: How fast do you drive ?
From: TRUBRIT
Date: 09 Jun 07 - 05:39 PM

I drive too fast. I know I do.....I have a lovely powerful car and I am out and about all the time in my job--on the highways I have found myself doing 90 which is just too fast but you don't 'feel' it in my car. I try not to go over 80 now ever and make a point not to be the fastest on the road......I don't want a speeding ticket. I think it is partly to do with getting my license later in life (late 20s) and the sheer absolute pleasure it gives me having a vehicle and going where I want to go without being beholden to anyone.

Having said that I have never had a speeding ticket. I was stopped once and it was a comedy of errors. I was driving my husband's car, didn't know where the registration was, my insurance card was expired and the car needed an inspection. I thought I would be fined about $5M -- the cop told me to be more careful next time and did not give me a ticket (and no, I do not look like Paris Hilton so that wasn't the reason...........I think he realized how totally embarrassed and mortified I was by the incident and felt I probably would be a hell of a lot more careful in future).

Subject: RE: BS: How fast do you drive ?
From: Mickey191
Date: 09 Jun 07 - 06:17 PM

Having just read your "Iraq" post I'm at a loss to explain a grown woman doing 80 or 90 MPH because you have a lovely & powerful car. After having a death, no matter how tangential, touch your life one might assume you'd be more responsible.

How many might die or become crippled because you are unable to stop if a deer came out. Or if you hydroplaned. GROW UP!

The cop did the public and you no favor by letting you off.

Subject: RE: BS: How fast do you drive ?
From: TRUBRIT
Date: 09 Jun 07 - 06:19 PM

I think that is a fair comment -- I try really hard to keep an eye on my speed -- I think the being able to move around freely has a lot to do with it........I will take your words to heart.

Subject: RE: BS: How fast do you drive ?
From: CarolC
Date: 09 Jun 07 - 07:06 PM

Speaking of deer, here's a couple of pictures of our car after we hit a deer going about 50 - 55 mph. The deer's body stopped just short of where JtS and I were sitting in the driver's and front passenger's seats. Fortunaly, the only injury was a scrape on JtS' knuckle.

Just try to imagine what this car would have looked like (and JtS and me as well) if we had been going 80 - 90 (or more) mph.

http://outdoors.webshots.com/photo/1104475892034261223SZrNyG

http://outdoors.webshots.com/photo/1104480833034261223GKfEYd

Subject: RE: BS: How fast do you drive ?
From: Mickey191
Date: 09 Jun 07 - 07:27 PM

Carol, Glad you both were spared--it was a nice car. Following shows how lucky you were:

A State Trooper told me of an accident involving a 19 year old girl who was beheaded by a kicking deer as he went flying through her windshield.

Subject: RE: BS: How fast do you drive ?
From: CarolC
Date: 09 Jun 07 - 07:32 PM

We were incredibly lucky, and I know it.


it was a nice car

I really did love that car. And it had great crumple zones ;-)

Subject: RE: BS: How fast do you drive ?
From: kendall
Date: 09 Jun 07 - 07:55 PM

You can thank God it wasn't a Moose.

Trubrit, does that lovely car have a cruise control?

Subject: RE: BS: How fast do you drive ?
From: TRUBRIT
Date: 09 Jun 07 - 10:49 PM

Yes, I think so Kendall -- and now that I am thoroughly chastened I vow to learn to use it. In my defence I never speed in town, only on the highway and I am NEVER the fastest on the road, but that doesn't excuse it --- I accept the criticism and will try and slow down.......

Subject: RE: BS: How fast do you drive ?
From: Rapparee
Date: 09 Jun 07 - 11:04 PM

I do not think that I am an expert driver, but I do think that I am a competent driver. But what scares me isn't my driving, but the driving of others -- I can control my own driving.

Today I went to the store, about a mile and half away. Driving to and from the store (straight on and turn left into the parking lot) I saw the following:

1. A car make a left hand turn from the right hand lane -- across three lanes of traffic and a center "chicken lane" -- while the driver lit a cigarette.

2. A driver weave in and out of two lanes of traffic and the "chicken lane" while talking on a cell phone.

3. A driver, who was obviously going well over the speed limit, whip around a motorcycle...the motorcycle cop turned on his red & blues...and my heart was gladdened, forsooth!

Tomorrow morning I think I'll go out and shoot some targets. It's a lot safer at the shooting range than on the roads!

Subject: RE: BS: How fast do you drive ?
From: Little Hawk
Date: 09 Jun 07 - 11:22 PM

Good Lord, Carol! That deer sure smashed in your car. There is always danger of hitting deer on the country roads around here, but it's not as bad as in upstate New York. There are incredible numbers of them out at night around there.

I've had a couple of fairly close encounters with them in Ontario, but not as close as the time in Pennsylvania. That deer missed my windshield by just inches. He jumped right over the hood of the car, and I was in a '75 Honda Civic, going about 55 mph. It would not have been good at all if I had hit him.

As for moose, hitting them will usually kill you. They're just too darn big.

Subject: RE: BS: How fast do you drive ?
From: Llanfair
Date: 10 Jun 07 - 03:48 AM

Were you both OK, Carol? I've got a forester, too, and, when I was hit head on by a motorcyclist. I had more injuries from the airbag than the actual collision!! It wrote the car off, but I got another because they are so versatile.
I am most comfortable driving at 50mph ish. I live in the Welsh countryside and our major roads are 2 lane and twisty. I always leave a good gap between me and the vehicle in front, even tractors, and I hate tailgaters so much that I wait for a totally impassible bit of road, and slow right down.
I pay my road tax, and have just the same rights as the speed merchants.
The motorcyclist was on my side of the road, by the way.

Subject: RE: BS: How fast do you drive ?
From: Richard Bridge
Date: 10 Jun 07 - 04:19 AM

AFAIK the only section of UK motorway where there is deer danger is a bit of the M25 near Oxshott - and I don't think I've EVER seen that bit of the M25 rolling faster than 50.

The physics of friction are not that complex. Between two surfaces there is a thing called "the coefficient of friction". It is the ratio between the normal (vertical) force and the lateral force required to cause the two surfaces to slide. It is (largely) a constant.

So the heavier a vehicle, to more force required to cause it to slide (or to lock up the wheels in braking. Ergo, a truck with brakes in good order should stop as well as a car with the brakes in good order.

Swerve brings in issues of stability. Some high vehicles will roll before they slide, but they have to be pretty high to achieve it. Or badly designed like the Mercedes A class.   Certainly my Series 1b Isuzu Trouper (2.6i, early body shape) would slide before rolling.

There are many circumstances in which 100mph involves no real risk to anyone, and it should not be illegal. There are others (last time I came back from Nottingham) when the visibility and road conditions are poor. It was pissing down. Lil old petrolhead me was doing about 50. Everyone and their dog was charging past at about 70 or so. Unsafe - but in accordance with the speed limit.

Subject: RE: BS: How fast do you drive ?
From: Liz the Squeak
Date: 10 Jun 07 - 04:22 AM

My pet peeves - people who say they're alright to drive after a couple of pints of beer. I'd rather go sober and drive home than rely on that twisted thinking. It was that twisted thinking that killed my brother in 1974. Driver was over the limit but got off with a fine - didn't lose his licence because he was a taxi driver and pleaded he'd lose his income. He didn't fare so well the second time he killed someone with his car.

And the other peeve - people who insist on pulling into the 3-4 second gap I leave between me and the vehicle in front. It's there for a reason, and the reason is NOT so some inconsiderate bastard can pull into it!

Llanfair - I too, slow down for tailgaters if safe to do so - a gentle millisecond tap on the brakes to show the lights is usually enough... if there is space in the inside lane I'll cross back in, but only at my speed and when I feel safe to do so, not because some speeding git in a willy-mobile or a 4X4 Intimidator thinks I should.

LTS

Subject: RE: BS: How fast do you drive ?
From: kendall
Date: 10 Jun 07 - 06:41 AM

In my neck of the woods the safe speed is always much lower than the posted speed in foul weather. If the sign says Speed Limit 65, that means under ideal conditions. If it is raining, the SAFE speed is nearer 45.
I was tooling along at about 50 in a rain storm, checked my left mirror, and here comes a red pickup in the passing lane going way too fast. He hit a puddle with a sound like someone kicking a trash can, spun around twice and stopped in the median. Guess he never heard of "hydroplaning".

R.B. consider if you will, just how much rubber is in contact with the road at any given time. THAT is what stops you when you hit the brakes, and if you compare the amount of rubber on the road on a car, then on a big truck, then consider the weight of each you will see that there is damn little difference.
Is it Newton's second law that says things in motion tend to stay in motion? Have you ever driven a 9 ton vehicle?

Subject: RE: BS: How fast do you drive ?
From: CarolC
Date: 10 Jun 07 - 06:46 AM

Richard Bridge, I can tell you of at least one circumstance in which no road in the world would be safe for people to go 100 mph. That would be a road with me driving on it.

Yes, Llanfair, we were both just fine. Only injury was the scraped knuckle. Those Forresters are incredibly safe cars. The air bags never went off though because the deer never hit the bumper (which is what triggers the air bags). The deer was flying when we hit it, having leaped up in the air just prior to impact.

Subject: RE: BS: How fast do you drive ?
From: CarolC
Date: 10 Jun 07 - 06:47 AM

(Slow down for tailgaiters in this country, and you might get shot.)

Subject: RE: BS: How fast do you drive ?
From: JennyO
Date: 10 Jun 07 - 06:50 AM

There are many circumstances in which 100mph involves no real risk to anyone, and it should not be illegal. There are others (last time I came back from Nottingham) when the visibility and road conditions are poor. It was pissing down. Lil old petrolhead me was doing about 50. Everyone and their dog was charging past at about 70 or so. Unsafe - but in accordance with the speed limit.

Exactly Richard - that is the whole point. It's driving intelligently in accordance with conditions that makes for a safe driver. You sound like you are one, and I would hope that I measure up as one, too.

Subject: RE: BS: How fast do you drive ?
From: CarolC
Date: 10 Jun 07 - 07:11 AM

I'm a safe driver because I know that I have no business going faster than 70 - 75. Ever. So I don't do it.

Subject: RE: BS: How fast do you drive ?
From: Richard Bridge
Date: 10 Jun 07 - 10:05 AM

Kendall - yes. 27 seat passenger coaches. And trucks up to 5 tonnes.


Carol - your call, but don't impose your limitations on everyone else. If you are as limited as you say you are, should you be driving at all? I suspect you of false modesty to try to prove your point. You are probably perfectly OK. I do however aim to keep a lookout for people who have that sort of dithery look or bad road positioning that might indicate imminent brain failure.

Subject: RE: BS: How fast do you drive ?
From: Rapparee
Date: 10 Jun 07 - 10:20 AM

I long ago developed a method for determining the safe speed in snow: slowly accelerate until you feel the rear wheels slip (it feels like your rear legs have been kicked out from under you) and then back off. From my old '75 Honda Civic this was about 45 mph in wet snow over car-packed snow. But you have to do it each and every time, because conditions are different every time you drive on the stuff.

Truebit, learn to use the cruise control but NEVER NEVER NEVER use it in snowy or icy conditions! I learned this the hard way when passing an 18-wheeler on the Indiana Toll Road once -- doing a 180 while next to a big truck is pretty exciting, lemme tell ya! About two days later I read a bit in the paper that told me what I had just learned the hard way.

Subject: RE: BS: How fast do you drive ?
From: Captain Ginger
Date: 10 Jun 07 - 12:09 PM

On my reading, the majority of posters here seem to think it's OK to exceed the limit by 5 to 10 per cent. Is this because they are all above average drivers with super-fast reaction times, who only drive when surrounded by equally competent drivers?
Or do they all have lifestyles so hectic that time and space must be bent to their schedule?
For myself, I tend to drive at around 65mph on motorways (as that's as fast as my 24-year-old Land Rover will comfortably travel) and around 45-50mph on unrestricted single carriageways. I know how long it takes me to get from A to B and if I have to be at B at a particular time I'll leave earlier.
And arguments about the superior engineering of modern vehicles are specious - the laws of physics remain the same, as does the human capacity for lapses of concentration and stupidity. The sort of person who drives above the limit because s/he lives life in an admin vortex and is perpetually running to catch up is just the sort of disorganised idiot who will either have a crash or (more tragically) cause one.

Subject: RE: BS: How fast do you drive ?
From: CarolC
Date: 10 Jun 07 - 12:15 PM

I'm not a bad driver, and of course I should be driving. There's nothing wrong with driving at 70 - 75 miles an hour. I'm right in the middle of the range of driving abilities you will encounter on the road. There are much worse drivers out there than me. And we all pay for the roads. So you will just have to continue to accommodate the 75 percent of people who need to drive slower than you. To think otherwise in incredibly self centered and immature. We all have as much right to the roads as you.

Subject: RE: BS: How fast do you drive ?
From: CarolC
Date: 10 Jun 07 - 12:17 PM

My preferred top speed, by the way (the one I feel the most comfortable with) is 65.

Subject: RE: BS: How fast do you drive ?
From: Richard Bridge
Date: 10 Jun 07 - 12:42 PM

"Right" is often a matter of consideration, and I do wonder whether those who dawdle do realise how inconsiderate they are being.

I often find that on crowded motorways it is easier not to push too hard, and avoid the tailgating oafs in the fast lane, but on an uncrowded motorway, with enough room to avoid the unseeing unthinking, 100 is not really all that fast. It's still possible to avoid ladders dropped by windowcleaners, exploding tyres off HGVs, and people who drop their sumps (done all of those over the years). Nowadays it isn't practical to do it because of those bloody cameras!

A Landrover is a wonderful tool off the road. On the road it has many limitations, not least the industrial deafness that can result. When I was working regularly with the All-wheel drive club, Andy with whom I did a lot of the work and who was a motoring journalist borrowed a Discovery 300TD to go to a gather somewhere in the Midlands or North, and gave up after 25 miles of the M25 and came home because he couldn't stand the noise. To say or imply that no-one is allowed to overtake a Landrover is just a bit silly.

Subject: RE: BS: How fast do you drive ?
From: Little Hawk
Date: 10 Jun 07 - 12:48 PM

Captain Ginger, the primary reason why I usually exceed the local speed limits by 5 or 10 per cent is because that's what the rest of the traffic around me is doing and it's safer for me to drive around the same speed as the general flow of traffic.

Subject: RE: BS: How fast do you drive ?
From: CarolC
Date: 10 Jun 07 - 12:56 PM

It's a matter of people's abilities, not what people think is right. And if the speed limit is 100 when the road is mostly empty, many people will still be going 100 on it when it is way to crowded for 100 to be a safe speed.

And that's because the vast majority of people who like to drive fast are bad drivers and should never be allowed to drive anywhere near as fast as they think they should. The good drivers are, as often as not, the ones who know their limitations and drive accordingly. (I am not saying that you, Richard, are necessarily a bad driver. You may be an excellent driver. But if you are, you are not in the majority when it comes to people who like to drive fast.)

You are suggesting that the majority of people shouldn't be allowed to drive at all, just so a small minority of people can drive as fast as their little hearts desire. I am saying that the people who like to drive fast should realize that they don't own the road, and make accommodations for those who cannot safely drive as fast as they do (which is most people). There's a really big difference between these two things.

Subject: RE: BS: How fast do you drive ?
From: Captain Ginger
Date: 10 Jun 07 - 01:12 PM

To say or imply that no-one is allowed to overtake a Landrover is just a bit silly.
Couldn't agree more. Sensible overtaking is what keeps the highways from sclerosis. However, I don't think any poster here has been daft enough to suggest that any vehicle should never be overtaken.
The "everyone does it, so I have to" argument is plain childish - it carries all the conviction of standing there surrounded by shards of broken glass and saying with a quivering lip "some big boy did it and ran away." Unless some strange process of induction is at work, there is nothing to stop any vehicle from sticking to the speed limit. I very much doubt that anyone is going to try to ram you at 65mph. Certainly no-one's ever rammed me, cut me up or pulled a gun on me for my flagrant adherence to the limits. But maybe I just look too cute and cuddly to threaten.

Subject: RE: BS: How fast do you drive ?
From: Peace
Date: 10 Jun 07 - 01:15 PM

"However, I don't think any poster here has been daft enough to suggest that any vehicle should never be overtaken."

It is against the law (in Canada) to overtake an emergency vehicle--police, fire, ambulance--when the lights are flashing and the sirens are on in town or on the highway.

Subject: RE: BS: How fast do you drive ?
From: Little Hawk
Date: 10 Jun 07 - 01:56 PM

Ah, you're accusing me of being childish now, are you, Captain Ginger? ;-) Very well, then! I am going to retaliate, sir, in ways you never suspected. First, I am going to open a webpage dedicated to saying horrible things about you so the whole world will know what an awful person you are. Yes! And that's only the beginning. Next, I am going to paint graffiti on the walls of public buildings saying: "Captain Ginger is a poo-poo head!" Then I am going to implore people nationwide to send you hate mail. Your life will become a living hell.

Yes, you are going to be very, very, very sorry that you called me childish. Boy are you going to be sorry. OOO-wee!

The fact that you are cute and cuddly will not save you.

Subject: RE: BS: How fast do you drive ?
From: Peace
Date: 10 Jun 07 - 01:59 PM

"Certainly no-one's ever rammed me, cut me up or pulled a gun on me for my flagrant adherence to the limits."

Yeah, but you don't live in LA or NYC.

Subject: RE: BS: How fast do you drive ?
From: Richard Bridge
Date: 10 Jun 07 - 02:21 PM

Hello, who ate my post?

If you say you cannot control a modern car at 75 on a clear road then I can only suspect a lack of ability or love of hyperbole.

Subject: RE: BS: How fast do you drive ?
From: Rapparee
Date: 10 Jun 07 - 02:21 PM

As I said earlier, the speed limit out here (Utah, Idaho, Wyoming, Montana) is 75 mph for automobiles and 65 mph for trucks, vehicles towing things, and so on. On the Interstates, off them it's 10 mph lower. However...if you do the speed limit you will be run over and possibly ticketed for obstructing traffic (especially around Salt Lake City, which has the worst drivers I've ever encountered). 80 to 82 mph is acceptable and will keep you up with most of the traffic, although there are FUDs who go 95 to 100 mph. FUDs get tickets, too -- the cops are now using Chargers with interior LED light bars. If you're driving way too fast in Idaho and there's what appears to be a black car ahead of you and it's doing about the speed limit, don't go whipping on past because as you pass it you might just notice the words "Idaho State Police" just before s/he turns on the siren and the red&blues.

Run away and they'll call in the local sheriff and the local cops and you will NOT find the results enjoyable. It's been tried -- the cops will use "spike sticks" to flatten your tires first, and if you persist they'll herd you into a cul-de-sac and you'll produce your license (if any) at gunpoint.

Last year a guy tried just what I've described and the cops reacted as described. Only the speeder then decided to ram a police car out of the way. Don't do that, either. The police really, really hate all the paperwork you will cause them in your failure. The lad who did it is now serving a term, but not as an office boy....

Subject: RE: BS: How fast do you drive ?
From: Richard Bridge
Date: 10 Jun 07 - 03:06 PM

100 (post not speed)

Subject: RE: BS: How fast do you drive ?
From: kendall
Date: 10 Jun 07 - 04:19 PM

There is no way around the laws of physics, and 100 mph is just too damn fast.

Subject: RE: BS: How fast do you drive ?
From: Rapparee
Date: 10 Jun 07 - 05:24 PM

If a car weighing 2,000 pounds going 100 mph hit another car going the same speed and weighing the same, the potential energy released follows the formula E=1/2mv^2. (And yes, I know the difference between mass and weight and that this formula is for point energy and all that.)

So:

(2000 x (146.333fps^2))/2 = you work out the foot-pounds of energy released. Then multiply it by 2. The answer, in either foot-pounds or joules, is "An awful lot."

I'm pretty sure I've got this right. My days of calculatin' physics is long behind me, except when I really, really gotta, and I don't have a either a calculator OR a slide rule handy.

Subject: RE: BS: How fast do you drive ?
From: CarolC
Date: 10 Jun 07 - 05:41 PM

If you say you cannot control a modern car at 75 on a clear road then I can only suspect a lack of ability or love of hyperbole.

I didn't say this. I said that 75 is the upper limit of my safe driving abilities under most conditions. And there's absolutely nothing wrong with that. There's plenty of people like me, too, and you share the roads with all of them.

I'm glad they have the cameras where you are, because they clearly need them there. Your lack of sensitivity to the other people with whom you share the road suggests to me that you are probably one of the people for whom the speed limits are set as low as they are.

Subject: RE: BS: How fast do you drive ?
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 10 Jun 07 - 06:27 PM

Unexpected things happen even on clear roads. Things fall off the backs of lorries, tyres can go, dramatically in some cases, vehicles can change lanes unexpectedly, sometimes even oncoming vehicles from the opposite carriageway, drivers can have heart attacks...

The faster we are going the less time we have to react to anything unexpected. And the less time any other drivers have to react to what we do.

People used to shrug off drunk driving as a bit of a joke. No longer, now most people recognise it as selfish and criminal and as something that merits severe penalties. Roll on the day speeding is seen in the same way.

Subject: RE: BS: How fast do you drive ?
From: kendall
Date: 10 Jun 07 - 07:20 PM

I could feel safe at 100 mph if I was the only car on the road, and I had tires that were designed for that speed, and I knew that the car was perfect mechanically, and there were no deer, moose, cows, sheep or horses crossing the road, and the road was as straight as an arrow.
I've never doubted my ability to drive at any speed, but my ability is a tiny part of what is required to drive that fast.
Just yesterday here, a whole family was wiped out because some sap fell asleep at the wheel, crossed the center line and hit another car head on. It happened too fast for the other driver to react. That is only one good reason that 100 mph is too fast.

Subject: RE: BS: How fast do you drive ?
From: Rapparee
Date: 10 Jun 07 - 07:40 PM

Even when I AM the only car for as far as I can see, before and behind, on a good, straight stretch of well-maintained road, I keep the cruise set as I've noted. Kendall is correct: things happen. Tires blow out, for instance.

I was once driving 60 mph and the hood latch let go. Suddenly I was doing a mile a minute and the entire windshield was covered with white-painted steel. Fortunately, it was a straight road with very little traffic and I could stick my head out the window and brake down, then pull well off the road. I even had some wire in the car with which to wire down the hood until I could get home.

I've driven 125 mph. On a track. With a cop next to me. I know I could do it, but just because you can doesn't mean you should.

Moreover, as I get older I find myself taking fewer and fewer chances. Whether it's maturity or what, but I've got a lot to see and do before I die.

True story: we were just outside Pinedale, Wyoming when we came upon the emergency vehicles and a three-car wreck. From the skid marks on the pavement I'd guess that speed greatly in excess of the limit, and possibly alcohol, was involved. But what got me was the gurney with the sheet-covered mass on it and the little girl (four years old?) standing by the adult, eyes wide with fear and lack of understanding, holding an adult's hand for all she was worth. And then we were past and there was nothing more except three ambulances, three cops, and a wrecker headed back the way we'd came....

Subject: RE: BS: How fast do you drive ?
From: kendall
Date: 10 Jun 07 - 07:46 PM

I had a bout with a flying hood too. There is no way to forsee this type of incident.

Subject: RE: BS: How fast do you drive ?
From: Richard Bridge
Date: 11 Jun 07 - 02:48 AM

Car in perfect order. "Flying hood". My my.

One reason drivers fall asleep is boredom. And 55 contributes to that. Another is stupidity. If I find I am too tired, I pull off the road and take a nap.

Catty Carol, I didn't say I drove at 100mph. I said that on a clear road in modern machinery 100 mph wasn't dangerous. There is 4 times the kinetic energy to be dissipated at 100 than at 50. And 4 times at 50 than 25. And so on. The "logic" presented by Kendall is that we should all only do 6.25 mph (a brisk-ish pedestrian trot) because every time you double that speed the kinetic energy to be dissipated quadruples (standard square law curve).

Consideration is a mutual thing. If you are overtaking on a motorway doing your comfy 65 or less, (unlikely in itself, but it might happen) and I come upon you, naturally I slow down without tailgating to permit you to complete your manoeuvre. That's the consideration to which you are IMHO entitled (although I once got pulled over and patronised by a policeman in an unmarked car because I didn't abort my motorway overtaking manoeuvre and allow him - no bells, no sirens, no lights, seemingly just another car - to overtake in my stead).

The consideration you owe me is, once you have finished your overtaking manoeuvre, and once it is safe for you to do so, to pull back in.   

The interface between these two things is observation and awareness of other road users. Mirror-signal-manoeuvre. If your manoeuvre is going to affect another road user you should be aware of that before you start it, and if your manouevre is going to cause another road user to alter course or brake, you should not start the manoeuvre - but if you have right of way the other user should alter course or brake to permit you your right of way.

It's a two-way-street. As in so much of life, your "right" to do one thing may affect the "right" of another to do something else, and as in the comparison under the European Convention of Human rights between rights of privacy and the freedom of the press (or freedom of expression and defamation) the respective rights need to be balanced so that neither is absolute.

The 70 speed limit in the UK is no longer sensible and it should be higher.

Subject: RE: BS: How fast do you drive ?
From: robomatic
Date: 11 Jun 07 - 03:47 AM

I tend to drive about 70 MPH or what I term is "The speed of the road". One important point to make is that every road and situation calls forth its own speed, and if you are going below it you are just as much an impediment to flow as if you are one of those lane weaving troubleseekers. In the motorways (divided highways) unless you are passing, you are not to be in the left lane if you are in the US or the right lane if you are in the UK. Too often the passing lane is plugged by some yob who fancies he or she likes all that lovely space but doesn't see that by not advancing they are keeping behind others who wish to pass.

If others want to drive above the speed limit, best policy is to let them, after all they won't be in your way, they are getting out of your way.

Subject: RE: BS: How fast do you drive ?
From: CarolC
Date: 11 Jun 07 - 03:59 AM

Catty Carol, I didn't say I drove at 100mph. I said that on a clear road in modern machinery 100 mph wasn't dangerous.

I don't think it was catty at all. You stated that most speed limits are "irrationally low". You have, as far as I can tell, been advocating in this thread to have the speed limit changed to 100 mph on motorways. You show a lack of sensitivity to other drivers if you expect all of them to be able to drive as fast as you would like to drive yourself. Many people cannot do this safely, and your only advice, based on your comments earlier in this thread, would be for them to not drive. Such lack of consideration for others usually is not confined to just one specific item, but is usually a part of a broader pattern of behavior.


The consideration you owe me is, once you have finished your overtaking manoeuvre, and once it is safe for you to do so, to pull back in.   

The interface between these two things is observation and awareness of other road users. Mirror-signal-manoeuvre. If your manoeuvre is going to affect another road user you should be aware of that before you start it, and if your manouevre is going to cause another road user to alter course or brake, you should not start the manoeuvre - but if you have right of way the other user should alter course or brake to permit you your right of way.

You won't get any argument from me on these points.


As in so much of life, your "right" to do one thing may affect the "right" of another to do something else

Yes. Precisely. Your right to drive and my right to drive are equal. You do not have a "right" to drive fast. You do not have a right to make the roads unusable for a large segment of the driving public just because you want to go fast.

Subject: RE: BS: How fast do you drive ?
From: JennyO
Date: 11 Jun 07 - 04:42 AM

CarolC, you said:

the vast majority of people who like to drive fast are bad drivers.........

........You may be an excellent driver. But if you are, you are not in the majority when it comes to people who like to drive fast.

Rather sweeping generalisations there! On what facts do you base these statements?


Captain Ginger, little Hawk said:

Captain Ginger, the primary reason why I usually exceed the local speed limits by 5 or 10 per cent is because that's what the rest of the traffic around me is doing and it's safer for me to drive around the same speed as the general flow of traffic.

and you replied with:

The "everyone does it, so I have to" argument is plain childish - it carries all the conviction of standing there surrounded by shards of broken glass and saying with a quivering lip "some big boy did it and ran away."

Note, he was saying it was safer that way, not your interpretation of it as 'childish'. I'm sure you can see the difference.


Having said all that, I don't think I've ever done 100 - not because I don't think I'm a good enough driver, but because:

a) I don't think our roads in Oz are good enough - even the freeways.
b) Although my car is in good mechanical condition and is regularly checked, it is 13 years old and there is a slight chance that things can go wrong unexpectedly and I'd rather not have them happen at a speed like that.
c) We do get wildlife wander onto the road occasionally - particularly wombats, and there is an element of unpredictability there.
d) There are other possible things one could come across, such as broken down vehicles, stupid drivers, branches or rocks on the road, dead animals etc etc that I would rather not find at that speed.

The speed limit on our freeways here is 110 km per hour, which is only 60 mph. The general flow of traffic on them is maybe 120 - 130 km per hour (72 - 78 mph), so I'm comfortable around that range normally - slower than some of the maniacs but faster than the road hogs. I may have momentarily hit 150 - 160 (90 - 96) but I don't stay at that speed for long because of possible consequences in the back of my mind. When the speed cameras are around (and we do have a lot of them) I'll drop back to the limit, but then I find everybody is going past me.

I still say that being aware of conditions around me and driving to suit them while being considerate of other drivers and 'blending in' with the flow of traffic is the safest way to drive.

Something else nobody has mentioned is the importance of your emotional state. Being angry or upset affects one's judgment unfavourably. Road rage is dangerous. I try to be in a positive and relaxed frame of mind when I drive, and not let the 'turkeys' get to me. I also try to avoid driving when I am short of sleep. That can be a killer.

Subject: RE: BS: How fast do you drive ?
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 11 Jun 07 - 06:38 AM

A fast walk is maybe four miles an hour. The fasted running speed over short distances is something over 20 mile an hour. Those are the speed our brains have evolved to cope with.

The amazing thing is that we can in fact manage to ratchet up our reaction times to enable us to deal with far higher speeds - but if we find that 55 miles an hour - meaning 110 miles an hour relative speed to vehicles coming the other way - is boringly slow, I think we should question ourselves. In real terms 55 miles is very fast indeed.
................................

I've sometimes wished we could all have meters in our car, rather like in taxis, which would show us how much it is costing at the speed we are travelling.   Saving money isn't the highest motive, but it might be quite effective. And one thing no one had mentioned is that the faster we drive and the more fuel we burn, the more damage we do to the environment.
..............
I hope you took that policeman's number and reported him, Richard. If he could pull you over in those circumstances he had no justification for driving fast anyway.

Subject: RE: BS: How fast do you drive ?
From: kendall
Date: 11 Jun 07 - 07:39 AM

RB, your comment that I think we should all drive 6 mph is ridiculous.
All the $5.00 words and fancy formulas change nothing.
Speed limits are set by professional traffic control experts, and they do not set them low enough to piss off the "Leadfoot" types.

Subject: RE: BS: How fast do you drive ?
From: 3refs
Date: 11 Jun 07 - 08:44 AM

"I've sometimes wished we could all have meters in our car, rather like in taxis, which would show us how much it is costing at the speed we are travelling.   Saving money isn't the highest motive, but it might be quite effective. And one thing no one had mentioned is that the faster we drive and the more fuel we burn, the more damage we do to the environment."

Most gasoline auto engines provide the best fuel efficiency at approximately 2000-2500 r.p.m. This translates into about 100kmph. It depends on whether your in a 4, 6 or 8 cylinder vehicle. So driving slow is not going to work all that well.

Subject: RE: BS: How fast do you drive ?
From: 3refs
Date: 11 Jun 07 - 09:00 AM

I drive 2 different vehicles. One is mine, the other is my Taxi. Both are 2004 models. One has a 3.0 Ltr engine the other has a 3.8. Both have V-6's. One I pound quite hard(drive it like I stole it), the other is treated like a family member(which it is!)
I'm quite sure that most would find it unusual, that the car which has the bigger engine, gets driven well outside the optimum fuel efficiency range and beat on like a rented mule gets the best mileage!

Subject: RE: BS: How fast do you drive ?
From: kendall
Date: 11 Jun 07 - 09:38 AM

We drive a 2001 Hyundai 4 cyl. and a Dodge Neon 4cyl. The Dodge has 127000 miles on it and it gets better milage than the Hyundai with 80,000 miles. Both in excess of 30 mpg.
I also drive a 1930 Ford 4 cyl. whch gets about 15 mpg. with a fraction of the horse power of the other two.
Just an example of the variables we encounter.

Subject: RE: BS: How fast do you drive ?
From: Peace
Date: 11 Jun 07 - 09:43 AM

When combined speeds of collisions (that is, when the speeds of the two vehicles combined) get above 60 mph things get ugly. I don't need physics to know that the top of a skull flys about 20' from the vehicle, or that the eyes pop out of their sockets, or that the human neck snaps and there's not one damned thing first responders can do about it other than help the living, if any are around. Have a nice day, all, and slow down.

Subject: RE: BS: How fast do you drive ?
From: Rapparee
Date: 11 Jun 07 - 09:53 AM

My point earlier, Peace. I've worked in the hospital and seen the results. I've aslso seen a head that went through a windshield, I seen bones literally sticking out several inches from a wound, and the shoes left on the floor of the car, still laced, left as they were when the wearer exited them.

Too, too much carnage, too much death. Especially of young kids.

Subject: RE: BS: How fast do you drive ?
From: Rusty Dobro
Date: 11 Jun 07 - 10:34 AM

I'm desperately trying to stay under 60, but won't manage it for much longer......

Subject: RE: BS: How fast do you drive ?
From: CarolC
Date: 11 Jun 07 - 11:04 AM

Rather sweeping generalisations there! On what facts do you base these statements?

Based on the number of terrible drivers I see speeding on the roads every day. The aggressive drivers, the tailgaiters, the people who change lanes constantly and weave in and out of traffic, the people who don't signal, the people who cut other people off. You don't see the people who are going the speed limit doing these things, for the most part. Most, if not all of the people who do these things (with the exception of not signaling and to some extent, cutting other people off) are people who are speeding.

People who speed are usually impatient people (which is why they break the law on a regular basis by driving significantly over the speed limit). An impatient driver is a dangerous driver. And I think an argument can be made that if they regularly break the traffic laws, that, in itself, makes them bad drivers.

There's plenty of bad drivers who don't speed as well. But the fast drivers are more dangerous, because the faster a car is going, the more damage there is in the event of an accident.

Subject: RE: BS: How fast do you drive ?
From: CarolC
Date: 11 Jun 07 - 11:16 AM

One point that I would also like to make...

Someone of my acquaintance (not Little Hawk, I've been a passenger in a car he was driving, and he does not drive like this as far as I know) says he prefers to drive as fast as most of the other cars in traffic. Which is what several people on this thread say is the best thing to do. Well, when this person is "blending with the flow", what I see is that he is choosing to go as fast as the faster (roughly) 50% of the cars on the road, and passing (and weaving in and out of) the slower 50%.

So he's not really blending in with the majority. What he is doing is choosing which 50% of drivers he's going to go the same speed as. He chooses the faster ones.

Subject: RE: BS: How fast do you drive ?
From: Captain Ginger
Date: 11 Jun 07 - 12:24 PM

American cars must have different engines, as in most Eurpean and Japanese cars 2500rpm in top gear on a level road will equate to a speed of just over 50mph. Once you start approaching 70mph your fuel consumption rises dramatically, and at over 80 it can be twice what it is at 50.
Mind you, the sort of idiots who think they have a divine right to drive at any speed they like are hardly the sort of people to give any consideration to their effect on the environment.

However, even more annoying than wankers hurtling down the road at 90 with bllind faith in their own superhuman abilities and the capabilities of airbags, ABS and crumple zones are the imbeciles who sit in the middle lane at 60 (or any speed come to that). Many times I've undertaken people who appear to be blithely unaware of the lane on their left. There is no such beast as a 'fast lane' on British dual carriageways; they are overtaking lanes, and the Highway Code states that everyone should keep to the nearside unless overtaking.

Subject: RE: BS: How fast do you drive ?
From: Rapparee
Date: 11 Jun 07 - 12:27 PM

My 1999 Honda Civic LX cruises at 80 mph at 3,000 rpm., or so the tach and speedometer says.

Subject: RE: BS: How fast do you drive ?
From: Captain Ginger
Date: 11 Jun 07 - 12:37 PM

Interesting. On a UK Honda I had once (back in the Eighties), the mph in top gear worked out at double the tach reading over 100. I later noticed that the same formula applied to two VWs, two Alfas, a Suzuki, a Volvo a Peugeot and a Citroen and to my wife's Ford today. Engines varied from normally aspirated petrol to turbo diesel, but all with manual transmission.

Subject: RE: BS: How fast do you drive ?
From: Richard Bridge
Date: 11 Jun 07 - 02:51 PM

mph/1000rpm is a constant for a particular type of vehicle depending on gearing and tyre circumference.

Have I advocated excessive speed on crowded roads? No.
Have I advocated excessive speed in poor conditions? No.

Reasonably clear motorway, enough room to dodge the ditherers - 70mph is unreasonably restricting.

Catty Carol, apart from the technicality of the speed limit (which is what I am arguing should be changed) while we both have the right to use the right of way, neither of us has any specific right to do it at any particular speed. You seem to feel you have the right to curtail my preference - but say that I have no right to curtail yours. You are demonstrating the absence of the mutual (vigilance and) consideration that I argued should apply all round.

Kendall, "professional traffic control experts" (whatever they are) don't set speed limits. Politicians do. Sometimes local authority "experts" get involved. They of course are employees of local authorities, so do what politicians tell them. One of the measures they use when considering what speed limits to advise to be set is the "85percentile speed". That means they clock all the cars going through (usually with the two pipes across the road) - then they discount the fastes 15% on the ground that they are untypical. Do they discount the slowest 15% who must be equally untypical? No they don't. Bias? Oh yes!

One factor that has not figures in the discussion here is the effect of speeed on road capacity. I don't understand the logic, but apparently it is empirically determinable that with a constant and concentrated stream of cars doing 40, more will pass a given point in an hour than a stream at 80. I supose it shows that even the much maligned driver does on average tend to leave a more than linearly increasing safety gap as speed increases. So in rush hour on the M25 it would flow more traffic at a speed limit of 40 than one of 70.

That does make a case for variable speed limits - but the congested road is not what I am talking about. It's the uncrowded motorway that does not need a limit of 70. It's the crowding that is the problem. When there is no crowding there is no such need for the restriction. Compare. In the 1960s many cars in the UK at 70 were nearing their limits. About a quarter of drivers still had licences from the 30s before the driving test became universal. My mother (now 96 and no longer driving) had an "all groups" licence that would have allowed her to drive a class 1 HGV or a tracked vehicle with skid steer. Now even my daughter's Daewoo Matiz with 797cc can see 100 with a following wind (I'm told). On paper my 1991 Volvo would clear 120 with some ease. Most 2007 Mondeos can manage getting on for 140. Now all drivers pretty well without exception are only allowed to drive vehicles on which their capabilities have been examined. There are written tests on theory. Surely the standard of driving must have improved (although I do see some examples that suggest otherwise). It is not realistic to continue to impose today a limit set in the light of 70s technology. It is not realistic to restrict all by reference to the standards of the least capable.

Subject: RE: BS: How fast do you drive ?
From: Rapparee
Date: 11 Jun 07 - 02:55 PM

Forgot -- 5 speed manual tranmission.

Same thing for my wife's Honda Element -- same rpms at the same speed, same sort of tranny, but all wheel drive.

Subject: RE: BS: How fast do you drive ?
From: Peace
Date: 11 Jun 07 - 03:29 PM

The problem with high speeds is that when shit happens it happens faster. Some years back I spoke with a guy who'd lost control of the vehicle resulting in the death of the passenger and some seriously bad injuries to himself. He hit a patch of ice and his car spun out. It rolled twice and stopped by hitting a large tree--the only large tree for about fifty feet in any direction. He was asking after his friend. I'd just put a blanket over his friend. We don't inform people that others have died, not on the scene. He was told at the hospital. I think he'll carry that with him for the rest of his life. Shit always happens to the other guy, until it happens to you. And when it does, there is no rerun. He was doing the speed limit, btw. Had he been doing 50 mph instead of 65 mph I doubt that his friend--who'd been thrown from the vehicle even though wearing a seatbelt--would have died. And I doubt they have rolled the car twice, and I doubt they'd have hit the tree. But then he was a young man, and the girl he was going to marry was the friend that died. Yep, shit always happens to someone else, until it happens to you, and "I'm sorry" and "Please let me take it back, God" don't change a damned thing.

Subject: RE: BS: How fast do you drive ?
From: Captain Ginger
Date: 11 Jun 07 - 04:39 PM

Well said, Peace.
Of course, some people are just so important and technically gifted as drivers that they're immune from the laws of cause and effect that fill the zip-up bags with which you have to deal. Lucky them, eh? ;-)
Trouble is, what worries me about the "70's too slow, so I'll drive at 90" brigade is that poor innocent sods get caught up in their carnage. I remember vividly seeing a scene where a car that was so new that it's underside was still shiny had ploughed into some chugging seven-year-itch wagon and killed the occupants of both after a tyre had burst. The seven-year-itch brigade, with their middle-of-the-road approach, probably never gave a thought to the risk they were at until Mr Self-Important Local Authority Panjandrum With His New Office Car simply lost it when the tyre went pop, crossed the central reservation of the A12 and wiped them from the record.
I have to admit that, until I was taught what to do with a blow-out at motorway speed (and had to deal with it under umpteen controlled conditions as if I was on an East-German autobahn - Gawd bless HMG's boundless generosity), I probably would have added to the stats. Driving at speed in any vehicle demands total concentration and a fair degree of skill in reserve in case sh!t happens.

Subject: RE: BS: How fast do you drive ?
From: robomatic
Date: 11 Jun 07 - 04:59 PM

Last fall I observed a motorcyclist speed recklessly, hit a curb, and die as he impacted a street sign and the median strip. It was all so mindless.

As to the earlier poster who indicated that he had two cars, the one driven harder with the big engine got better mileage, I've heard that story before and either the smaller car is older and poorly maintained, or is driven overloaded and gets hideous mileage.

Efficiency in terms of miles per gallon is obtained by a properly driven engine operated at its most efficient rpm band in a car that is reasonably aerodynamic. Such cars as the diesels and hybrids are not getting better miles per gallon than the large motorcycles.

And I think the US government missed a lot of bets regarding:

1) Paying for the current war by slapping a large tax per gallon at the pump.
2) Requiring that autos in the US come with an instantaneous miles per gallon selectable readout.
3) Mandating fleet efficiencies not excluding Hummers.

Subject: RE: BS: How fast do you drive ?
From: Mickey191
Date: 11 Jun 07 - 06:19 PM

Regarding a blowout at say 55 or 60 MPH--What is one to do? My only instructions were to hold on to the wheel tightly & pray.

Ten years ago on my _straight_ country road-Two 18 year olds were on their motorcycles racing toward eachother. No one chickened out---both Died. Each lost a leg. Terrible to hear - worse thing I've ever seen. Two legs cut off.

Subject: RE: BS: How fast do you drive ?
From: Rapparee
Date: 11 Jun 07 - 06:30 PM

My wife's cousin Eddy was driving his motorcycle, helmet on, when something happened and he fell off, head down. He was dragged, at 70+ mph, for about a half mile before the bike ran off the road on a curve.

Basically his head was erased, helmet and all. Closed casket, of course.

Weird, yes. But as Peace says, shit happens. Even weird shit happens.

Subject: RE: BS: How fast do you drive ?
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 11 Jun 07 - 06:37 PM

I remember covering an inquest on a young lad who was killed on his motorbike.   They worked out what probably happened was that he hit an old boot that happened to be lying in the middle of the road. A boot lying in the road!

Unexpected stuff happens. The faster you are going the more deadly the result is likely to be.

Subject: RE: BS: How fast do you drive ?
From: Rog Peek
Date: 11 Jun 07 - 06:54 PM

I think Peace summed it up very well. Well done!

Subject: RE: BS: How fast do you drive ?
From: kendall
Date: 11 Jun 07 - 07:38 PM

I've made my point with plenty of logic to support it, and I stick by it.

Subject: RE: BS: How fast do you drive ?
From: Rapparee
Date: 11 Jun 07 - 11:11 PM

But...wouldn't logic say that if two cars, each going the same speed and having the same mass, rammed together the potential energy stored in each would cancel each other out and nothing at all would happen?

Somebody else try it. I have to work tomorrow.

Subject: RE: BS: How fast do you drive ?
From: CarolC
Date: 11 Jun 07 - 11:37 PM

while we both have the right to use the right of way, neither of us has any specific right to do it at any particular speed

I'd say the people who have set the speed limits have it right. They (whether by accident or by design... I suspect it's by design) have set the speed limits right in the middle of the range of driving abilities that we see in drivers on the road today. And that's exactly where it should be, because that's what serves the most number of people.

So enjoy your fantasies about driving fast. I'll just continue to be thankful there are some logical, practical, and level-headed people making the traffic laws.

Subject: RE: BS: How fast do you drive ?
From: Bill D
Date: 11 Jun 07 - 11:40 PM

I drive this section of highway regularly. The speed limit is 55 at ALL times...sometimes it is not even possible to go 40, but when it opens up a bit, it is common to see Type 'A' s with 'important' things to do going 65-85...

I read about some of them regularly.

I will NOT drive 75 on this road, even IF 85% of them are doing so.
If a lot of the traffic is speeding, it is NOT required that I do so also. Carol C. has said it correctly several times in this thread...no one has the RIGHT to speed. I will push it a little, so as not to seem way slower than the average, but at some point, someone has to draw the line.

It is beyond stupid to decide that just because your car will GO 100, and you can theoretically steer it going that fast, that you should be be allowed grant yourself the privilege.

There is NOwhere you need go at 80-90+ MPH, except in a dire emergency, and most roads are not designed for it. I once drove at 85-90...across I-90 in Wyoming at 1-4AM in order to get to a repair shop in Billings, Montana early in the morning (I don't believe there was a speed limit then...about 1970)..(I think I saw about 4 cars total)

One aspect of speed is that we are SO busy anymore, that we get behind, and rush to make up time. There is, in my opinion, no excuse for going too fast just because you are running late. Some people around here have 1-3 HOUR commutes, and some of them think that this entitles them to shave 15-20 minutes by being in the fastest 1% of the traffic....no matter how crowded it is.

...ummmm....have you noticed that I'm a teeny bit peeved at some driving attitudes?

Subject: RE: BS: How fast do you drive ?
From: Mickey191
Date: 12 Jun 07 - 12:40 AM

Advice on how to handle a blow out at 55mph???

Subject: RE: BS: How fast do you drive ?
From: Captain Ginger
Date: 12 Jun 07 - 03:37 AM

Blowout? Remove feet from pedals - whatever you do don't touch the brake - grip wheel at 3:45 position with thumbs on the outside, hang on for grim death to keep the vehicle straight and start cadence braking once the speed drops to below 30mph and you are confident you have the vehicle under control.
If there is a nearside crash barrier allow the vehicle to drift into that at as shallow an angle as possible to aid deceleration.

Subject: RE: BS: How fast do you drive ?
From: Llanfair
Date: 12 Jun 07 - 04:00 AM

Pray to your deity, Mickey, and watch events unfold. Everything goes into slow motion (except the vehicle, of course) and there seems to be lots of time to think. Between seeing the motorcyclist on my side of the road and him hitting me, I was able to try and avoid him, stop the car, consider how much it was going to hurt if he hit the windscreen in front of my face(he hit the unoccupied passenger side)realise that I was probably going to die, wonder what the explosion was(airbags), and finally have the presence of mind to turn the engine off and get the hell out of there, all in 5-10 seconds.
Incedentally, the "A" road where we live is described in motorcycle magazines as an ideal road to open up their bikes and test their driving abilities. There are around 20 deaths a year, mostly motorcyclists, but, as it's the main road between Birmingham and the coast, we hear the ambulances and police EVERY Friday evening as the city drivers try to overtake the caravans, thinking they can see round blind corners and over hillcrests.
I have to use that road today, and I will keep to a steady 50/55 on the straight bits, and slower through villages. Tailgaters can jolly well get on with it. I know that it won't get them there any faster, because I know where the roadworks are!!!

Subject: RE: BS: How fast do you drive ?
From: Linda Goodman Zebooker
Date: 12 Jun 07 - 09:35 AM

On the road Bill D mentions, 55 always does seem like a reasonable speed. The road is mostly curves, with lanes coming and going. Yet people constantly pass on the right, swooping in and out of lanes, going, I swear, 90 mph. No enforcement at all, because it would be too dangerous to do so. I can't imagine why there aren't horrific multi-car fatalities every day.

I am scared by the general lawlessness of people sneering at speed limits. This is after all the law. Do these speeders steal from people- assault people -just because they can get away with it? If someone cuts in front of me, I feel like that is stealing, in a way. That's MY safe space. On fairly empty highways (other than the Beltway, above) I'll sometimes drive faster than the limit, but in residential areas I feel the limit is for the safety of cars entering the road and pedestrians, and I try to keep precicely to the speed limit for them. Couple of people I was connected to have been killed in the past year trying to cross residential roads where people regularly drive in the right lane at double the speed limit.

I seem to have an inate sense of the speed limit. When I'm driving at my own pace - not pushed by surrounding traffic, I look down at my speedometer and to my surprise, see that I'm driving preciscely at the limit. I feel safe at that speed. It's probably why I don't like getting rides with other people, even my elderly aunt.

Wherever I drive, whether on limited-access highways or streets with traffic lights, whatever speed I drive (usually somewhat above the limit where that's common) I'm always passed by the entire "pack". That is so much more tiring and dangerous than when everyone drives at the same speed. The few times I've been in a situation where everyone was going at the limit, I saw how easy it was - you just drive merrily along in your lane with no maneuvering with other cars. But when the pack constantly jostles to pass everybody else, there are constant interactions with dozens of other cars at 35 - 90 mph, and much more chance for something to happen.

I've enjoyed finding the alternate, older routes to the highways, either in town, or on longer trips going toward New York. I can relax, listen to and sing along with the radio, and my favorite pink dancing socks came from a little drugstore on Route 1.

Linda

Subject: RE: BS: How fast do you drive ?
From: Rapparee
Date: 12 Jun 07 - 09:47 AM

I'm always amused by the person who shoots past me, and who I meet very shortly thereafter at the stoplight. Hurry up to stop? Am I missing something?

Subject: RE: BS: How fast do you drive ?
From: GUEST,Blind DRunk in Blind River
Date: 12 Jun 07 - 10:06 AM

How fast do I flippin' drive? Like a bat outta hell! Speshally when I am in a car that I "borrowed" from....someone...and the cops are takin' accepshun to it. I don't have a licenxe so it is not a good idea fer me to stop at all if there is a cop anywhere's around, eh? Drivin' through fences and acrost fields is one way to sorta throw 'em off the track for a bit, but I do not flippin' recommend veerin' off-road into a forested area. Too many flippin' trees in the way, eh?

- Shane

Subject: RE: BS: How fast do you drive ?
From: Linda Goodman Zebooker
Date: 12 Jun 07 - 10:10 AM

I was listening to the radio call-in question program "Car Talk". A caller had the problem of her brake parts needing replacement very frequently. She described how she drove, with jackrabbit starts, then slamming on the brakes at the last minute. When the moderators pointed out that this wasn't the most efficient way to drive, the caller innocently replied, "But isn't that what the brakes are FOR?"

Subject: RE: BS: How fast do you drive ?
From: Peace
Date: 12 Jun 07 - 10:13 AM

So, the guy says, get in the passenger seat and watch the dog. he can run as fast as this Corvette. They began to drive. At 40 mph the pure white Malemute's tongue began to stick out, but he was right beside the car. At 80 mph the dog began to pant, but he was keeping up. At 120 mph the dog was beginning to strain a bit, but there he was. At 150 mph the driver said, "Give him a good look. He's right beside us." Just then the driver missed a bend in the road and went crashing into a tree.

Both fellows in body casts awoke in the hospital. The friend of the driver said, "I never want to see that damned dog again." The driver said, "He's in the corner." The fellow looked and said, "That's not your dog. Yours was pure white. This one has a brown ring around his neck." The driver replied, "That's him alright. The brown ring is his asshole. He's not used to stopping so fast."

Subject: RE: BS: How fast do you drive ?
From: JohnInKansas
Date: 12 Jun 07 - 10:16 AM

A phenomenon that may not occur elsewhere as frequently as it does in my region is the "clumping" of traffic on the Interstate highways.

Small groups of vehicles, all travelling at about the same speed, form a clump or cluster in which the cars in front are the slowest. Cars behind, in the cluster, have caught up and can't get past to drive at their preferred speed.

As I generally plan ahead and drive at a speed comfortable to me, often 5 to 15 mph less than the posted limit, I almost never catch up to one of these congested clusters, but may be fairly frequently overtaken by one. Since the cluster - if it catches me - is, as a whole moving a little faster than I am, when the "passing lane" jam clears me, the cars pinned behind the idiot in the lead are free to pass "wrongside" (which is illegal but expected) and are able to proceed at their preferred speed. Cars in the legal "slow lane" usually are unoffended, and will mostly wait their turn, and will pass after the "passing lane" has been cleared.

I have thus performed the useful service of "sorting the clump" by the preferred speed of the drivers previously locked into it, and within the space of a mile or so, the entire "pack" is dispersed and leaves my vicinity, and I once again have the entire road to myself to relax and enjoy my drive. The "speeders" can proceed to catch up with the next clump, where they can resume their cursing at each other. All of those formerly friendly drivers string out and enjoy their "new found freedom" to select their own preferred speed, until they catch the next cluster.

I can usually enjoy about 20 miles of "open road" before the next bunch catches me.

I see it as a public service that gives all of the idiots in the cluster a few safer and more comfortable miles.

It should be noted that I use other methods and modes of driving where the particlar phenomenon doesn't occur, and adjust my speed as needed to the conditions prevailing; but I do enjoy driving on a good road without constantly competing with closely packed mobs of other drivers, and that purpose is served quite well by simply driving at my own comfortable speed.

On "back roads" where I actually do most of my driving, I will usually run at about 10 mph less than the speed limit, since this is the minimum speed difference that allows an overtaking vehicle to pass safely without speeding excessively. I will generally speed up to the limit for stretches where I know there are no safe passing areas, if someone comes up behind me, but I'm not in too much of a hurry to assist anyone in getting around if it appears they want to go faster.

On the back roads, when someone comes up behind and there is another vehicle ahead of me, I will back off to at least double my normal safe following distance, to let the one behind know that they're welcome to pass me and pull in while looking for a safe place to get around the one(s) ahead. (There are very few safe passing areas on most of these roads where one can safely pass more than a couple of vehicles at one jump.)

I also give special consideration to commercial truckers, since I know that they have no choice in the schedules they need to maintain. Although rarely necessary, I do have a CB I can use to talk to one if there's a need to agree on a safe way to get them past me.

Of course, I'm in the rather unique situation of having nowhere I have to be if it causes risk or undue inconvenience to other drivers. I'm sure there are few others for whom that consideration applies.

John

Subject: RE: BS: How fast do you drive ?
From: Peace
Date: 12 Jun 07 - 10:18 AM

Linda's story reminds me of someone who hung his/her purse on the choke and wondered why s/he'd stall out after a few blocks. (Please notice the gender non-specific nature of this comment!)

Subject: RE: BS: How fast do you drive ?
From: Midchuck
Date: 12 Jun 07 - 10:31 AM

A phenomenon that may not occur elsewhere as frequently as it does in my region is the "clumping" of traffic on the Interstate highways.

Small groups of vehicles, all travelling at about the same speed, form a clump or cluster in which the cars in front are the slowest. Cars behind, in the cluster, have caught up and can't get past to drive at their preferred speed.

THIS WOULD NOT HAPPEN IF THE F***ING A******S WOULD SORT THEMSELVES OUT ACCORDING TO SPEED! YOU'RE SUPPOSED TO BE IN THE RIGHT LANE UNLESS YOU'RE PASSING (or are British, obviously).

Peter.

Subject: RE: BS: How fast do you drive ?
From: GUEST,Gza
Date: 12 Jun 07 - 10:53 AM

My dad always preferred to be the fastest driver on the road, so he normally passed everyone. This would become a problem whenever he encountered someone else who thought the same way he did.

Subject: RE: BS: How fast do you drive ?
From: kendall
Date: 12 Jun 07 - 11:17 AM

One of the delights of having a cell phone is the ability to call the Police when two assholes pass at 100 mph, obviously racing.

Subject: RE: BS: How fast do you drive ?
From: Scoville
Date: 12 Jun 07 - 11:39 AM

I'm happy at 55 but I try to keep up with, or at least not impede, traffic. Invariably, I run up behind somebody going 45 in the middle lane of the freeway, though. People, either a) hang up or b) drive on the feeder if you're too chicken to drive at freeway speeds. You're a traffic hazard if you're driving 15 mph under the speed limit and everyone else is flying past you.


My mother has a fantasy wherein people who speed or drive like jackasses would be instantly teleported back to their point of origin, so the worse they drove, the longer it would take them to get anywhere, and nobody would be harmed (because they would be removed from the road once they started speeding, tailgating, darting in and out of traffic, etc.). I love that.

Subject: RE: BS: How fast do you drive ?
From: Bill D
Date: 12 Jun 07 - 12:00 PM

My fantasy is a remote 'clicker', which engages a governor on any car I point it at...each click slowing the car by 5MPH, and a RED button which causes it to coast to a stop, unable to restart for 15 minutes.
   I can't decide whether I'd like a dashboard message to appear telling him why, or that he just wonder.

Subject: RE: BS: How fast do you drive ?
From: Little Hawk
Date: 12 Jun 07 - 12:04 PM

LOL! You've been having those fantasies too, have you?

Subject: RE: BS: How fast do you drive ?
From: Midchuck
Date: 12 Jun 07 - 12:07 PM

I'd settle for one that would cause the car immediately behind me to slow automatically if it came within the one-car-length-per-10-mph guideline for following, while staying in my lane.

Peter.

Subject: RE: BS: How fast do you drive ?
From: Big Mick
Date: 12 Jun 07 - 12:09 PM

I drive incredible amounts of miles all over the country. On the Interstate I drive 9 MPH over the speed limit. I set my cruise for this. I can't tolerate unfsafe drivers. I hate with a passion those that cruise up on my bumper, almost as much as I hate drivers who insist on driving 45 MPH in the left lane of a 70 MPH Interstate.

Why 9 MPH over the speed limit? During the course of a 4 hour commute, that translates to me being 36 miles closer than before. That is a half hour less on the road. Think about that over the course of a year and you start to get a sense of the time saved.

But I never drive fast in an unsafe fashion. No tailgating, no weaving in and out. If the conditions don't allow for the quick speed, then I don't do it. That's not an alibi, and I am not trying to act as though I am not violating. I am. If I get a ticket, I wouldn't even challenge it. But I haven't in years. I got the same advice from a police officer years ago.

Mick

Subject: RE: BS: How fast do you drive ?
From: Bill D
Date: 12 Jun 07 - 12:31 PM

It has been my opinion for years that 'most' speed limits (at least on open highways) are set lower than the most reasonable speed. There is a lot of psychology involved in setting & enforcing speed limits, and if limits were raised, many would assume that they could then exceed the NEW limits by the same %.

My personal preference would be to have the signs indicate the ABSOLUTE maximum, with severe penalties for going faster, but people's heads aren't set that way, and it ain't gonna happen.

(BTW...for the first time in my life, I own a car that will easily accelerate and keep up with any normal traffic flow. I now CAN speed with little effort, and it requires me to make extra effort to be sure I'm not just zooming along at 75 like the others. I have cruise control, and it is great, but of little use in areas of high volume traffic.)

Subject: RE: BS: How fast do you drive ?
From: Peace
Date: 12 Jun 07 - 12:38 PM

Also, cruise control can be a deah sentence on icy or wet roads.

Subject: RE: BS: How fast do you drive ?
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 12 Jun 07 - 01:19 PM

Legally speaking, in the UK anyway, the indicated speed limit is a maximum speed (aside from the different coloured signs you get sometimes which are minimum speed). They tend to allow about a few miles extra before prosecuting, in the grounds that speedometers aren't that accurate, and a prosecution might fail if a driver could persuade a court that his (or her) speedometer was misleading them.

In practice people typically add that few miles on to the speed they aim to drive - if their speedometer is in fact reading low that means they will be going quite significantly faster than the limit.

The obvious thing would be to require that speedometers were accurate, and that it was the duty of the car owner to keep them accurate.

The speed limits that are far to high are in residential areas in towns, where a maximum of 20 miles an hour makes a lot more sense than 30. I'd be willing to trade slightly higher legal speeds on motorways for a general 20 mph limit in streets.

Subject: RE: BS: How fast do you drive ?
From: Peace
Date: 12 Jun 07 - 01:27 PM

Many people change to bigger tires--bigger circumference that is--and forget that that changes the speedometer.

Subject: RE: BS: How fast do you drive ?
From: Rapparee
Date: 12 Jun 07 - 01:29 PM

Cars out here tend to clump too. I will, if possible, get out of the clump, generally by slowing a tiny bit (e.g., I'm going 82 and the clump is going 90 I don't have to slow at all, but if the clump is going 82 I'll slow to 80 or less). Druther drive in my own clump, since I know my driving skills.

(That's on the Interstate, of course. Non-Interstates have lower speed limits.)

Subject: RE: BS: How fast do you drive ?
From: Rog Peek
Date: 12 Jun 07 - 04:25 PM

In Portsmouth, England, the city council are now imposing a city wide speed limit of 20mph.

Subject: RE: BS: How fast do you drive ?
From: kendall
Date: 12 Jun 07 - 04:48 PM

And that's fast enough in the congestion of a city.

Subject: RE: BS: How fast do you drive ?
From: Bill D
Date: 12 Jun 07 - 04:49 PM

20 MPH? That's pretty extreme...what is it now?

Subject: RE: BS: How fast do you drive ?
From: Rog Peek
Date: 12 Jun 07 - 04:53 PM

30mph

Subject: RE: BS: How fast do you drive ?
From: Rog Peek
Date: 12 Jun 07 - 04:54 PM

....it was,   20mph it is now.

Subject: RE: BS: How fast do you drive ?
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 12 Jun 07 - 05:01 PM

In Harlow we've got some roads unrestricted (ie 60), some 50, some 40, some 30 and some 20. It gets confusing - you get essentially identical roads with different speed limits.

Twenty as a maximum for any road in a residential area (it with houses facing on to it) makes sense. Mind, there are plenty of roads where parked cars can mean that it'd be sensible to keep well below that maximum.

Subject: RE: BS: How fast do you drive ?
From: frogprince
Date: 12 Jun 07 - 05:05 PM

I entered this car
in the 2004 racing season. It has a 240 mph speedometer, and remains undefeated. The speed wasn't actually clocked, though, and the speedometer wasn't operating at the track.

Subject: RE: BS: How fast do you drive ?
From: Mickey191
Date: 12 Jun 07 - 05:41 PM

Beware of TURKEYS. Tonight's news showed the destroyed windshield of a lovely lady who was minding her own business when a wild turkey came thru her windshield & landed in her lap. This is in Goshen NY. Who'd a thought?



She was okay.

Subject: RE: BS: How fast do you drive ?
From: Peace
Date: 12 Jun 07 - 05:42 PM

Had a duck do that to my windshield at one time. $350 for the windshield. Duck tasted good though.

Subject: RE: BS: How fast do you drive ?
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 12 Jun 07 - 06:05 PM

"There I was flying along, minding my own business, and this crazy car comes rushing along and smashes into me..."

Subject: RE: BS: How fast do you drive ?
From: Mickey191
Date: 12 Jun 07 - 09:44 PM

It surprised me that the turkey would do that much damage--It looked just like the damage Carol C. got with the deer accident.

Bruce, Hope you had a nice wine with the duck. You'd
pay about $25.00 for that in an average restaurant.

McGrath, I think his death was too fast for ruminations.

There are so many strange animal stories of late in NY & NJ. Coyotes are eating wee pet dogs-& one boy was saved from a coyote who did some damage to the child. (Kid was playing in his backyard.) Bear sightings in town are commonplace. I guess they are being crowded out of their own habitats.

Subject: RE: BS: How fast do you drive ?
From: Rapparee
Date: 12 Jun 07 - 09:59 PM

Well, if we take away their homes they should be able to take ours, no?

Speed limit in town is 25 mph unless posted otherwise. Back East it was 30, unless posted otherwise. And 20 in school and similar zones. 25 through the University area, and you MUST give pedestrians the crosswalk.

Cops are really strict about this stuff, too. Go 35 in a 30 zone or 30 in a 25 and you can face a fine of US $100.00, but usually the cop will let you off with a warning unless you mouth off or something. Go another mile per hour and you get a ticket, go 10 miles over the limit and fines double.

Subject: RE: BS: How fast do you drive ?
From: TRUBRIT
Date: 12 Jun 07 - 10:18 PM

Peace - I don't believe you ate the duck........you would have been picking glass out of it!

Subject: RE: BS: How fast do you drive ?
From: Rapparee
Date: 12 Jun 07 - 11:06 PM

No, not necessarily. The windshield could well have held together but have killed the duck. Would have tenderized it something fierce, too.

Subject: RE: BS: How fast do you drive ?
From: julian morbihan
Date: 13 Jun 07 - 04:26 AM

Since I moved from UK to live in France, I find cruising at 90 nice and comfortable on the motorways. Unfortunately the trucks all want to do a 100! (KPH that is...)

Subject: RE: BS: How fast do you drive ?
From: kendall
Date: 13 Jun 07 - 07:06 AM

frogprince, that looks like a matchbox car to me!

Subject: RE: BS: How fast do you drive ?
From: JohnInKansas
Date: 13 Jun 07 - 08:16 AM

kendall

Check out the "Pinewood Derby" competitions.

My recollection is that one of our members posted a thread about his brilliant success in one - PWDerby or similar - some time ago, ending with the lamentation that his wife's entry beat his.

Mind you, I don't really recall who the member was ...

John

Subject: RE: BS: How fast do you drive ?
From: kendall
Date: 13 Jun 07 - 09:28 AM

Sorry, I never heard of the Pinewoods Derby.

Subject: RE: BS: How fast do you drive ?
From: Scoville
Date: 13 Jun 07 - 02:52 PM

I used to enter the Cub Scout Pinewood Derby (little toy cars running down a chute) every year in the "family" division when my brother was in Cub Scouts. I slaughtered them every year. Ha ha. Even the Cub Scouts can forget their manners when a girl beats them at the Derby.

Subject: RE: BS: How fast do you drive ?
From: frogprince
Date: 13 Jun 07 - 03:43 PM

Yeah, JohninK got me. (no big surprise). Our church pinewood derby includes an adult division; I never got to do this stuff as a kid. My wife's first (so far only) entry didn't beat me, but it took the electronic finish line readout to be sure of least one heat, and she was always within a nose of matching or beating me.