A mom in a minivan went through a 4 way stop (when it was my turn) and gave me the finger while leaning out the drivers window. Guess I didn't blast through the intersection as fast as possible and she must have had somewhere really important to go! This was 1/2 block from my kids school this afternoon. Total whack job! Scary the people that are on the road!

I got curious about statistics on speeding and found this study on speeding. http://www.ibiblio.org/rdu/sl-irre0.html I have no idea if this study is well sourced or not, but here are some claims I find interesting:

1. 70% of drivers exceed the speed limit. "Driver compliance with speed limits is poor. On average, 7 out of 10 motorists exceeded the posted speed in urban areas. Compliance ranged from 3 to 99 percent. Compliance tended to be worse on low-speed roads, better on roads with prima facie limits, or where the speed limit was based on an engineering study. Better does not mean good compliance; less than 10 percent on [sic] the sites had more than 50-percent obedience with the posted speed."

2. Speed limits are supposed to be based on prevailing traffic patterns, but often are set much lower than the prevailing traffic patterns warrant. "In a nationwide survey of current speed zoning practices, all states and most of the 44 localities reported using the 85th-percentile speed as the basic factor in setting speed limits. However, the posted speed is often set up to 10 mph lower than the prevailing speed based on a subjective consideration of other factors such as road-side development. The relative subjectivity of the speed zoning process points to the need to re-examine the criteria and procedures used in setting speed limits .... On many streets and highways the speed limit is set 8 to 12 mph below the prevailing 85th-percentile speed .... Many current speed limits coincide with 30-percentile speed, which is near the lower bound of safe travel speed. Speed limits should be set in the 70-to-90-percentile range or roughly 5 to 10 mph above the average speed to correctly reflect maximum safe speed." My best guess is that no city council member wants to be blamed as the one who approved a speed limit after someone gets hurt, so it's easiest to reduce the speed limit.

3. People who drive the very slowest are the most likely to get in accidents. "The accident involvement rates on streets and highways in urban areas was highest for the slowest 5 percent of traffic, lowest for traffic in the 30-to-95-percentile range and increased for the fastest 5 percent of traffic. The relative involvement rate is a measure of the chance of being involved in an accident, and is a ratio of the percent of accidents in a given speed range to the percent of travel in the same speed range."

There are lots of other studies, but I have not read them yet.
http://www.nhtsa.gov/search?q=speeding&x=0&y=0
http://scholar.google.com/scholar?hl=en&q=speed+limit+driver&btnG=&as_sdt=1%2C33&as_sdtp=

Anonymous wrote:Thank you, OP.

Signed, a bicyclist.

Do you ever exceed the speed limit when you drive? I don't know any person who is in a position to throw stones at other people for speeding. Everyone has done it as far as I can tell.

Anonymous wrote:When I went to college I used to say my dream was to become a teacher in my HighSchool.

I accomplished my dream and remember clearly my Biology teacher greeting me as I entered the teacher's lounge asking me how she could help me, if I was looking for my mom. I laughed and said I was there to teach and she freaked out. She could not believe I had graduated already.

I'm in the same phase now sharing the teacher's lounge with a former student.

It's such a weird mix of emotions.

But do you speed or curse on the way to school?

Anonymous wrote:

Thank you OP!!!!

Their commute is NOT my (or your) problem.

Too many of you drive BELOW the speed limit and you are just as big a menance as those who speed. You also take an inordinate amount of time taking your kids out of the car and there is no need for 10- minute goodbyes .

Slow ass drivers are the WORST.

Not as bad as people who drive while texting or chatting on a cell phone.

Often those are one and the same.

I'm one of the North Chevy Chase posters - other NCCES PP - where did you hear about the state wanting to widen Jones Bridge in front of the school? I have lived in the neighborhood for ten years and have been following all the school and traffic issues pretty closely, and I'm not familiar with this. Thanks!

I won't honk if you're going the speed limit but if it is a 25 mph zone and you're doing 15 mph, then yes I'm going to be impatient and cranky.

Sweetheart, get your spedomoter checked. You were barely going 15mph...and anytime somebody approached from the opposite direction you braked to almost a complete stop. It was absolutely ridiculous. Your stopping and going for no apparent reason. I thought perhaps you were stoned. Here's a tip---keep your eyes forward and watch what is ahead of you (like a small child) instead of back at me the whole time.

FYI, they can pull you over for going 10mph under just like they can for going over.

I am a speeder on the beltway and big roads (divided lanes and such) but once I enter a neighborhood where I know there will be runners and kids and people walking dogs I always do the speed limit. It is too easy for a kid to dart into the road or to come around a curve an find a person in the road, I am not taking that chance.

I live in the Manassas/Bristow area and the stuff I see on the road on a daily basis is mind boggling. I live by an elementary school, and the speed limit in front of the school drops from 35 to 25 as you approach it. People are usually going 50- 55 in the 35 and usually continue going that as they enter the school zone. The only times people slow down are when the cops are out. I wouldn't feel safe letting my kids walk by themselves in that area.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Slow ass drivers are the WORST.

Not as bad as people who drive while texting or chatting on a cell phone.

I agree, texting while driving is the WORST.

And EVERY time I have to tap my horn when the car in front of me isn't moving even though the light has been green for ages, I see their head jerk up from the looking-at-my-phone position.

Anonymous wrote:I certainly wouldn't want anyone to drive unsafely, especially around a school. But refusing to exceed the speed limit can be pretty ridiculous in many neighborhoods.

I challenge everyone reading this to drive right at the speed limit for the rest of the week. Not 5 miles over, not even 1 mile over. Just refuse to exceed the speed limit at all until sundown on Sunday. I think you'll be surprised at how slow you're driving, and how many other drivers you're annoying.

OP, if you considered the speed unsafe, maybe the safest solution would have been for you to pull over and let the other driver pass?

Our CCDC residential speed limit is 25mph. I cannot drive over 20 back there because it feels too fast. I get nervous that a child will jump out, someone will open a door, or even a jogger will jog into the lane without stopping. I am not a nervous Nellie in the bit, but I am a granny driver. It's just not worth it to me. My parents' friend killed an elderly couple who stepped off the medium. It was NOT his fault, yet is ruined his life. I just took that as a cautionary tale, and I don't care that my neighbors are on my ass. I do care about my children seeing me drive responsibly.

When I went to college I used to say my dream was to become a teacher in my HighSchool.

I accomplished my dream and remember clearly my Biology teacher greeting me as I entered the teacher's lounge asking me how she could help me, if I was looking for my mom. I laughed and said I was there to teach and she freaked out. She could not believe I had graduated already.

I'm in the same phase now sharing the teacher's lounge with a former student.

It's such a weird mix of emotions.

Anonymous wrote:Speeders, you ARE NOT THAT IMPORTANT.

Thank you.

There is a theme I am finding where I live by just a few highly vocal and self-abosrbed few...my needs are more important than human lives. The majority of people are decent, it's the few brats who are so mindboggling to me.

There are children walking to school-some in the steets. Would it kill you to slow down and even *gasp* go 15 miles per hour instead of 25 if you see large groups of kids including toddlers breaking free of their parents? I have seen people speed through ignoring even the 25mph limit.

Where I live a few obnoxious neighbors are so obsessed with property values they don't want DEAD or almost dead trees chopped down-trees that pose a threat to homesand/or people driving or walking by. I go to HOA meetings and it's the same people who say "property value" every other sentence as they justify putting their community at risk. Yes, I know it's expensive to do the right thing, but to those who value property value over human life...I can assure you if someone's house gets crushed or someone driving by is killed by a your or the HOA's beautiful dead tree your property value will suffer. Not to mention the fact, a savy buyer is going to get those trees checked out and if they are pretty much dead, do you think they will buy that house at top dollar without asking you to remove your dead tree? But I digress...

Speeders, you ARE NOT THAT IMPORTANT.