Reply to How many left-lane slowpokes have been fined under new Va. law?

Forum Index » Cars and Transportation

Reply to "How many left-lane slowpokes have been fined under new Va. law?"

Subject:

Emoticons





More smilies

Text Color: Font: Close Marks

[quote=Anonymous]The critical factor to think about here is respecting the FLOW OF TRAFFIC. Many variables account for why a strict 55 MPH is not the SOLE factor to driving safely. For example, different odometer readings, increasing quantity of cars on the road making it harder to keep a certain flow (imagine 2 people walking around your kitchen table vs. 10). Good driving assesses the environment, and supports everyone driving safely. This may require going 10 miles above the posted speed limit, or 10 miles below. But never wavering from the posted speed limit is just as dangerous, because it takes away the ability to drive defensively.

Let's take a hypotheical example. 10 cars are on a 4 lane road, all going exactly 55 MPH with the legal amount of distance between them. Suddenly, there is a huge tire flat in the middle of the road. What do you do? Speed up, or slow down? Usually, the safest thing to do is try to pass the object cautiously, passing where there is not as much congestion, and speeding up once you do that might give more distance for moving cars, and allow more reaction time for others to navigate too. This assumes all of the factors that are rarely present though: all 10 drivers doing the same speed, following ALL laws - not distracted, not following too close or going too fast or too slow.

In reallity, how you respond on the road to a situation like this depends on the ENVIRONMENT. Is there a safe shoulder for other drivers behind you? Are you being tailgated by an 80mph speed demon? If you slow down, and move left/right, will it cause a nother car behind you to brake suddenly and also react in a way that you can't measure?

The speed limit is there not as a singular law for driving. It is just as important to follow the laws that protect other drivers, broken down cars on the side of the road, etc. Also, there are so many laws (eg. not crossing a BOLDED line), YIELDING vs STOPPING when merging, etc. that when people only follow a few laws it creates a huge shit show on the roads.

It's frustrating. The best you can do is drive defensively, to protect yourself and others, that may *sometimes* require speeding up or slowing down to pass, allow distance, account for driving conditions, etc.[/quote]

Options

	Disable HTML in this message
	Disable BB Code in this message
	Disable smilies in this message

Review message

Search Recent Topics Hottest Topics