What are your thoughts about speed limits?

Trev · May 27, 2003

My wife used to travel a lot, and one thing she keeps noting is how well the Autobahn works. Right lane for slowpokes and trucks, second lane only for passing of the above. The rest of the lanes are free for all.. but people are very considerate and don't hog the left lanes. Very low accident rate.

Now look at Montana.. eliminated the speed limit and fatal accidents went to a record low. Restored speed limit, fatal accidents went to all time high.

Conclusion.. people will drive at a speed they are comfortable with.. and speed limits on limited-access highways tend to cause more trouble than they are worth (not to mention all the time law enforcement officers waste on this.)

http://www.hwysafety.com/hwy_montana_2001.htm

Seems to me like another case of politicians making rules that should be left to the discretion of engineers who have studied the data and understand it.

Another example is the air bag fiasco. Politicians decided that they should protect you at 60 MPH or so. Engineers determined that most fatals occur at 30 MPH or less. So they come out with high-powered airbags that killed some folks, and then listened to the engineers who said look at the data.. they don't need to be that powerful. Now we have the new generation of lower-powered airbags.

Sorry.. just rambling.. /forums/images/graemlins/smirk.gif

Bob

p.s. As Noble Prize Winner Richard Feyman once said ""For a successful technology, reality must take precedence over public relations, for nature
cannot be fooled."

Boondox · May 27, 2003

Trev -- I can't draw any conclusions to the Montana data without seeing the numbers and checking out the study design. I know, I know --- you can't control every variable, but as a biostatistician by training I sure as heck try! /forums/images/graemlins/tongue.gif

I never really thought the problem was on the Interstates. Most accidents happen on secondary roads around here, and an unlimited speed on those roads is just plain unsafe. I for one would like to see more citations for speeding and TAILGATING in the towns and villages. (A tailgater is nothing more than a speeder angry at having to obey the law.) We have a little town called Moscow down the road from me. 25mph zone with a Little League field and kids playing all over the place. I drive 30 thru that town but routinely have people roar past me at 50+ even when kids are present.

Takes all kinds, I suppose...

Pete

WVBill · May 27, 2003

Trev: I agree with you. I lived in Germany for 4 years and the Autobahn system works quite well. Contrary to popular belief, though, not ALL areas of the Autobahn are "no speed limit" and as I recall the areas that didn't have a speed limit were always 3 lanes so the traffic could sort out as you describe. Also, the German traffic laws required you to pull over and get out of the way of a faster moving vehicle if you were in the left lane.

Now THAT would be a worthwhile law here.

Most Interstates here in the US in rural areas are only 2 lanes. This complicates the "sorting out" process even with 65 and 70 MPH speed limits. Worst offenders are slow moving vehicles who want to pass slower moving vehicles - and take their own sweet time doing it. I know this will bring wrath down upon me but 18 wheelers are the worst when one who wants to go 61 MPH passes one who only wants to go 60 MPH - takes forever for them to make the pass. GRRRR.

rant off

Trev · May 27, 2003

Gotta agree with both of you guys.. there have to be speed limits in small towns and on anything other than limited-access thruways. BTW, ever get behind one of those people who have only ONE speed they drive at? 65 MPH zone, they go 45. 25 MPH zone, they go 45. It's like they only have an on/off switch rather than a gas pedal.

Also have to agree that the 18-wheelers are a nightmare on the road. They can't stop properly, they can't accelerate properly, they can't corner properly, they block one's view, they throw up mud, water, rocks, etc., at everyone behind them, they're ugly, they smell bad, they can't maintain speed up hills, they go like a bat downhill, and those passing maneuvers they do.. they should be shot.. let's bring the railroads back! /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

Bob

Anonymous Poster · May 27, 2003

Bob, when you factor in the MORONS we give licenses to here, accident rates are porportional. People in this country who would be entirely too stupid to have either a license or vehicle in Germany are loosed upon the public here with both.
I for one fully believe a sharpened spike about 6" long at the end of the steering colum would do far more for traffic safety than a hundred air bags. There is a case to be made for the elimination of those who choose to be wreckless. In Neuevo Hillareah, studys show 1 in 10 drivers is drunk, another 1 is unlicensed, and 2 out of 10 cars on the road are uninsured.
Canada has done studys that prove regardless of how safe a road system is made, stupid people will prove they can still wreck on that road.
Since you brought Viv into the discussion, let me remind you French drivers consider Red Lights a mere suggestion they might want to think of stopping.
Speed limits in NY are merely suggestions anyhow, at least until the cops get the scanners that will allow them to issue a ticket using the bar codes on the registration sticker and mag stripe on our licenses. When the Pols figure out how much money can be generated per bar code reader, we will all be in trouble. NY Troopers will truly become the Meter Maids they are now anyhow.

Egon · May 27, 2003

Seem to recall from the days when I got sent to Defensive Driving Courses that one instructor mentioned most accidents happen within 25 miles of home.

Trev, make a trip on the Trans Canada through northern Ontario with icy conditions in the winter. You be a good man if you can stay with one of those 18+ wheelers .

RV drivers like myself got to be the worst nightmare on the road. Never know where to go, haven't got the skill to handle the equipment and just plain get in the road.

I'm all for bringing back the train. It's gota be the nicest way to travell. Freight, between main centers, should all go that way too. I've other thoughts on trains but they are too controversial to bring up here.

Egon

PitbullMidwest · May 27, 2003

My wife and I went to St Louis for our anniversary a couple of weeks back and on the trip home nearly died! /forums/images/graemlins/shocked.gif I had passed an 18 wheeler going up a hill and of course he caught up with me going down the other side, we both crested over the top of the next hill at the same time when he suddenly hit the brakes and started to move over into my lane whether I was still there or not. I ran off onto the left shoulder and accelerated to get out of his way then I saw why he did what he did...

Traveling north on US 61 was a large John Deere at about 25 mph, not on the shoulder mind you but in the right lane.

What are my thoughts on speed limits? I'm all for them (at least the one that require a minimum speed)

Trev · May 27, 2003

( Seem to recall from the days when I got sent to Defensive Driving Courses that one instructor mentioned most accidents happen within 25 miles of home. )

Well, I figure that's where most driving happens.. trips to stores, gas stations, work, whatever.. the odds are that most people's driving hours would be around 99% of the time within 25 miles of home.

( Trev, make a trip on the Trans Canada through northern Ontario with icy conditions in the winter. You be a good man if you can stay with one of those 18+ wheelers. )

Yeah, I know some of those boys are *good*.. you'd have to be to survive in a vehicle so ill-suited for highway driving. Then there's the kids who just got their license and end up jackknifed and cause multi-car pileups. I dunno.. seems to me those things are trouble. But what do I know.. I never even rode in one. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

( RV drivers like myself got to be the worst nightmare on the road. Never know where to go, haven't got the skill to handle the equipment and just plain get in the road.)

Yeah, but fortunately we don't usually run into those RV's except on the little two lane roads in NH, where traffic never moves much anyway. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

( I'm all for bringing back the train. It's gota be the nicest way to travell. Freight, between main centers, should all go that way too. I've other thoughts on trains but they are too controversial to bring up here. )

You've been reading too many James Bond books, about romance on the railroads, right? /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif

Trev · May 27, 2003

(
Since you brought Viv into the discussion, let me remind you French drivers consider Red Lights a mere suggestion they might want to think of stopping.
)

Viv says the real trip is to ride in a taxi in Paris. They don't even have red lights or stop signs.. they simply have some unfathomable understanding of who has the right of way. She said her fingernails were dug into the seat the whole ride, while the driver was laughing like a maniac.

A buddy of mine once rented a scooter there, and got into one of those traffic circles.. and all of a sudden his mind simply went blank.. he had NO idea of where he was supposed to be, whether to be on the left or the right, etc. Said he'll never do that again! /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

Bob

Anonymous Poster · May 27, 2003

( In Neuevo Hillareah, studys show 1 in 10 drivers is drunk, another 1 is unlicensed, and 2 out of 10 cars on the road are uninsured. )

Florida authorities would swoon over statistics that good. /forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif

Actual quote from transplanted Michiganer: "I don't understand it. I've been in Florida over a year now, and they still haven't disconnected my turn signal."

SnowRidge