muller@Alliant.COM (Jim Muller) raises some interesting questions:
> Let me tell you about New England drivers. I can only question if the rest
> of the country is like this too. Speed limits in Massachusetts are 55 mph
> (except for parts of the Mass. Pike which are 65). These are admittedly way
> too low, and it's a common feature of local roads in Mass. that speed limits
> are 5 to 10 lower than they "should be".
Yes, speaking for the Chicago area, it's the same here. Driving "10 over" is
common and won't get you a ticket. (I never have :-)
> We drove to "the Cape" on I-95/Rt.128 and Rt.45 and I-495, all high-speed
> multilane highways, and I did all of it over the speed limit (including
> passing a clearly-marked state police car :-} ) but for most of the trip
> you'da' thought I was standing still. My pass/be-passed ratio was probably
> around .1 or lower.
No one does the speed limit except the occasional local newspaper reporters,
who count the passing cars and then go home to write columns about how shocked
-- SHOCKED, I tell you! -- they are at the blatant "speeding" going on.
> What makes people follow others at 30 feet at 65 mph, on a recreational
> outing and a reasonably open road that *isn't* rush-hour???
A lack of any knowledge of following distance. Um, you weren't in the
passing lane, by any chance? (I didn't think so :-) This scenario in any
lane other than the passing lane is inexcusable. If it occurs in the left
lane, the nitwit in the tailgating car should back off until the nitwit
blocking the passing lane gets over to the right. Sometimes it takes a
while, though flashing headlights often helps.
> What makes someone zoom up behind someone else at 80+ mph, obviously about
> to run out of road but for all the world apparently *not* at all aware of
> the obvious, then have to stomp on the brakes, then cut off others to cross
> two lanes of traffic in a mad attempt to get in front???
Severe brain infection, probably. These people are idiots. Sounds like you've
seen a Chicago driver! When I see this occurring, I assume that as soon as
Mad Max stomps on the brakes, he'll begin lurching to the right to go around
on the wrong side. I'm usually correct.
> Why is it that half a dozen cars will group together in a tight combat
> formation at 65+, and stay that way for miles on end, when the next
> similar grouping is maybe 1/2 mile ahead and there little save open road
> between the groups???
Safety In Numbers. The assumption is that the lead car has a radar detector,
and even if he doesn't, he's the sitting duck who will get pulled over, as he
is the leader of the pack. The flipside of this is a combat formation going
only 55 mph, which you'll find is being led by a State Police car having
extreme giggles over how many people he's got backed up behind him. All of
those think that they'd be the sitting duck if they were the first to try
and pass the police car. My modus operandi in such a case is to work my way
to the front of the clot (only in the left lane!), and sloooowly pass the
cop at a general speed of roughly <cop_speed + 2 mph>. Never failed yet.
> Why do some drivers sit on your tail no matter what speed you do, speed
> up to get away and they follow, slow down and even hit the brakes to
> make them pass you and they slow to 45 with you??? And why does that
> same vehicle always have his high-beams on???
There are some things we are destined never to know. Perhaps they're
bombed; perhaps they want to go faster but don't want to be the guy in
front who gets pulled over; perhaps they stole the car. (Chicago Police
take great interest in cars with the high beams stuck on, as this is one
side effect of breaking the steering column in the process of stealing
certain GM and Ford cars.)
My personal rules of high-speed driving include always passing on the
left, maintaining the two-second interval (which is awfully easy to work
out; I wish they'd teach it more) and trying to ensure that I'm passed
by at least one car every now and then as reassurance that I'm not the
fastest one on the road. I also bring along a CB radio for emergencies
and occasional in-flight entertainment. If you do a lot of highway travel,
I recommend J.C. Whitney Part No. 14-9546X: electronic headlight flashers.
Every now and then you run across some drunk, terrified learner, self-
appointed speed enforcer or what-have-you camped out in a crawl down
the passing lane who is dead determined to make you go by on the right
and resolutely ignores the flash-to-pass hint. A few alternating
blink-blink-blinks, sent out when the adjacent lanes are clear for
them to move over, seem to work wonders.
N.B.: the idea is NOT to act like a bigger jerk than the other guy. In
particular, passing on the wrong side strikes me as even worse than
tailgating. I wish the Americans had the driving etiquette (and skills!)
of, say, the British. We can hope, anyway...
Andrew C. Green
Datalogics, Inc. Internet: acg@dlogics.com
441 W. Huron UUCP: ..!uunet!dlogics!acg
Chicago, IL 60610 FAX: (312) 266-4473
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