Vent: People who drive way under the speed limit

[locolala]

Actually Katie, driving is a privledge, not a right. Secondly, almost every driver's manual I have looked at states that if someone is tailgating you, you should allow them to pass you as soon as it is safe. This is what the Virginia DMV states

If the driver behind you is following too closely, do not brake suddenly. If possible, move over to another lane. Or, when the way ahead is clear, flash your brake lights and slow down. This should encourage the tailgater to pass you.

The reason I chose VA and MD is because those are the two states out of four I've lived in, the other states I didn't have to get a new license because I am a military dependant. However this is how it is done in every place I've lived in. On most country roads that allow passing, slow drivers will let you to pass them.

Also, this is what the Maryland DMV says about driving too slow.. aka going slower than the speed limit

Never drive so slowly as to interfere with other vehicles moving at normal speeds. Drivers who block or hinder other traffic by driving too slowly can cause crashes.

 

[Becky2005]

Well...this thread certainly explains why people want to go 55 mph down our street with a posted speed limit of 25!!! They literally had 2 curbs put in near the parks to slow people down (I don't think it helps all that much) but it's because those that want to go faster than the posted speed limit want to zoom down our residental street I guess and use it as a cut-through to avoid the stoplights.

I keep reading this and the ones who are saying they are going the speed limit are apparently wrong, even though that's the posted speed limit.

It's not my fault I'm pulling out of my driveway and you come barreling around the curb at 55 mph when the speed limit is 25 and well, yeah, it's going to take me a minute to get up to speed from pulling out (which I do normally go 30 but I do know neighbors who have been stopped for that as it's above the speed limit)..I'm NOT going to go 55 mph so you don't tailgate me when there is a stop sign not that far up, kids out playing & parked cars everywhere (not to mention the police who likes to sit at the park's parking lot just waiting for something to do).

 

[WebmasterAlex]

Here you go a simple to use chart to show if driving in the left lane is illegal or annoying:
http://www.mit.edu/~jfc/right.html

 

[kaytieeldr]

Actually Katie, driving is a privledge, not a right.

Driving is a privilege, I agree. But within the confines of that privilege, it's my RIGHT - nay, my obligation - to drive safely. That includes obeying speed limit signs, as well as remembering the definition of limit.

Also, this is what the Maryland DMV says about driving too slow.. aka going slower than the speed limit

Never drive so slowly as to interfere with other vehicles moving at normal speeds. Drivers who block or hinder other traffic by driving too slowly can cause crashes.

No. THERE IS NEVER, EVER a requirement to drive no slower than the speed limit. "Never drive so slowly as to..." has absolutely NOTHING to do with a speed LIMIT - remembering, again, that limit = maximum.

Driving AT or safely below the speed limit is NOT in ANY way blocking or hindering other traffic. It is obeying the law.

No, I don't advocate driving 30 on a highway with a posted limit of 65 - but it's absolutely 100% acceptable to go 30 mph when the posted limit is 35.

 

[kaytieeldr]

It's not my fault I'm pulling out of my driveway and you come barreling around the curb at 55 mph when the speed limit is 25 and well, yeah, it's going to take me a minute to get up to speed from pulling out

What? You mean your driveway isn't long enough for you to exit it at 25 mph????

 

[declansdad]

Driving AT or safely below the speed limit is NOT in ANY way blocking or hindering other traffic. It is obeying the law.

No, I don't advocate driving 30 on a highway with a posted limit of 65 - but it's absolutely 100% acceptable to go 30 mph when the posted limit is 35.

not if you are blocking or hindering traffic, you need to move out of the way.

 

[Galahad]

It may be prudent to get out of the way of a tailgater, but the tailgater is in the wrong - each and every time they tailgate - regardless of the speed of the person in front of them. Going the speed limit on a two lane road is not, by definition, hindering traffic.

 

[declansdad]

It may be prudent to get out of the way of a tailgater, but the tailgater is in the wrong - each and every time they tailgate - regardless of the speed of the person in front of them. Going the speed limit on a two lane road is not, by definition, hindering traffic.

but going under the speed limit when there is no good reason is.

 

[mikehn]

It may be prudent to get out of the way of a tailgater, but the tailgater is in the wrong - each and every time they tailgate - regardless of the speed of the person in front of them. Going the speed limit on a two lane road is not, by definition, hindering traffic.

Yes, the tailgater is in the wrong, and yes going the speed limit can be hindering traffic also.

 

[Jennasis]

I was thinking about this thread this morning as I was trailering two of my horses to a local horse show. I had to drive excruciatingly slow with the truck and trailer and I am sure it annoyed many other drivers. However, one of the horses I was hauling has lousy "sea-legs" and fell twice in the trailer while I travelled at or just below the speed limit, so I had to go super slow.

Sorry if it angered the other drivers (and I'm sure it did. One guy whipped around past me and cut me off as he swerved back in front of me). The health and safety of my horses trumps the perceived "minimum" speed limit or the road rage limits of others.

Notice to others: Tailgaiting a horse trailer is a bad idea. Not only can I not see you when you are riding my bumper, but my horses can and do pee and poop in transit.

 

[Galahad]

but going under the speed limit when there is no good reason is.

Agreed.

Yes, the tailgater is in the wrong, and yes going the speed limit can be hindering traffic also.

Perhaps - but it is hindering it legally. Any safety issue attributable to speed cannot be attributed to the driver who is going the limit, but perhaps no more than the limit.

 

[mikehn]

I was thinking about this thread this morning as I was trailering two of my horses to a local horse show. I had to drive excruciatingly slow with the truck and trailer and I am sure it annoyed many other drivers. However, one of the horses I was hauling has lousy "sea-legs" and fell twice in the trailer while I travelled at or just below the speed limit, so I had to go super slow.

Sorry if it angered the other drivers (and I'm sure it did. One guy whipped around past me and cut me off as he swerved back in front of me). The health and safety of my horses trumps the perceived "minimum" speed limit or the road rage limits of others.

Notice to others: Tailgaiting a horse trailer is a bad idea. Not only can I not see you when you are riding my bumper, but my horses can and do pee and poop in transit.

Tailgating anyone that is trailering is a bad idea. When I trailer my boat, I do so in the far right lane so that others may pass. Im sure you are just as courteous. If you are traveling on a single lane road, I think most people will understand.

 

[Jennasis]

Tailgating anyone that is trailering is a bad idea. When I trailer my boat, I do so in the far right lane so that others may pass. Im sure you are just as courteous. If you are traveling on a single lane road, I think most people will understand.

True that! Course, boats don't relieve themselves on the offending tailgaters...though I think it serves them right!

When I tow I always stay in the right lane, that way if I need to pull off the road if there is a horse emergency I can do so quickly. Unfortunately the roads to the show were all single lanes.

 

[Shutterbug]

Again I will post this:

the American Automobile Association, paid for a wider before/after study. That one found that states switching to the higher limit "actually showed greater improvement in their overall statewide fatality rates than those states which maintained the lower maximum speed limit.
and

"When a speed limit is to be posted, it should be within 5 mph of the 85th-percentile speed of free-flowing traffic."
In other words, the experts believe that 85 percent of the drivers will travel at a sensible speed regardless of the posted speed limit. In fact, several studies commissioned by the feds indicate that changing the numbers on the signs has little influence on speed -- but a big influence on raising cash.

So slow does not mean safe...if on an interstate and you are hindering traffic and to purposely not move over is rude and inviting trouble.

Just today I was behind someone going 1 mph under the speed limit in the middle lane. Now traffic in the left lane was clearly going over 5mph of the speed limit. So not hinder traffic I SPED up to match the flow of traffic when I passed. To do otherwise would have caused traffic to slam on its brakes and possibly cause an accident.

Again I am talking about interstates here....NOT neighborhood streets. I dont think people here are advocating racing down a side street.

By the way I wish I had a dollar for every soccer mom that tailgated me through a school zone with the lights flashing trying to go pick up their child.

I remember way back when my family would go camping we had a utility trailer that held all our stuff. On some mountains road we would always pull over. I asked..Dad why do we keep pulling off..my Dad replied cause its the curteous and polite thing to do to let the other cars pass by.

 

[Shutterbug]

It's not my fault I'm pulling out of my driveway and you come barreling around the curb at 55 mph when the speed limit is 25 and well, yeah, .

This reminds me of the allotment I stayed in when I was st Disney one time.
The rental house was in a community that the street emptied onto a busy 55mph highyway. You had to go from a standstill at the stop sign and get up to highway speeds before you got plowed into.
I am glad I had rented a higher horse powered car