Posted on 12/04/2004 2:53:56 PM PST by SmithL
A great story about the woman that defeated the idiotic 55mph national speed limit.
They're crazy then. The stretch from Syracuse to Albany is almost like traveling down a Nevada highway in the summer. Go 70 and people still fly by you.
Damn! You must be an ON (Original Nashvillian). I remember the ferry in West Nashville (Clees's Ferry). Those times are gone and not for the better.
Bump.
Nil?
Then why does the German autobahn, where there is no speed limit and people routinely drive 200 MPH+, have a much lower fatality rate than US highways?
HHHMMMMmmmmm?
Aids?
"The biggest killer on our highways is incomptence."
Deserves repeating. I'd also add that the second biggest killer on our highways is not paying any attention to the road and the cars around you, but maybe that falls under incompetence?
"If people don't maintain their cars in such a manner as be able to cruise, there is always the slow lane."
If they don't like that, there are always the US highways. Loaded with traffic lights, they give the slowpokes plenty of opportunities to stop so they don't get too overwhelmed with moving too far too fast.
Because driving is the one thing the Europeans are by far more superior than us Americans. 98% (A low estimate) of American drivers just flat out suck and have no business being on the road.
And almost every state/region has it's unique incompetence. Here in New Jersey NOT ONE moron can grasp the simple concept that when going up a hill in order to maintain the same speed you have to press the gas pedal down a little harder, So on the slightest grade (NJ ain't exactly the Rockies) on 55 & 65 mph highways the idiots here will slow down into the 30s & 40s.
In Connecticut (BY far the worst drivers in the country) slightest curve in the road results in an immediate slam on the brakes and Lanes? What are they? (And no I don't mean Ct. drivers just change lanes without signaling they have a tendency wander out of their lane without realizing it)
In the Catskills it's "The speed limit is not 55 anymore?" and Pennsylvania it's "Slower traffic keep right - What's that?".
And I can go on & on.
To me, the main reason the Autobahn is safer than American highways is because YOU ARE ONLY ALLOWED TO USE THE PASSING LANE IF YOU ARE ACTUALLY PASSING!!!!
Why do so many American drivers think that THEY are supposed to sit in the passing lane and everyone else is supposed to drive on the right?
"Why do so many American drivers think that THEY are supposed to sit in the passing lane and everyone else is supposed to drive on the right?"
It's because they don't think it's the passing lane. They think it's the "avoid idiots who merge onto the highway like I do" lane.
Nothing like seeing some idiot merge onto a highway, slow down the entire right lane because they moved over while going 45MPH in a 65MPH, and THEN speed up and move over to the left lane.
Poetry in motion, I tell you.
A couple of weeks ago I was driving in the right lane, with cruise control set to about 70MPH. This Jeep Grand Cherokee..not an underpowered vehicle, they put V8s in 'em...comes up the acceleration lane and the driver can't seem to figure out if he should speed up to get in front of me or slow down to get behind me, because he's driving right next to me.
Keep in mind that I'm still using cruise control at this point, my speed is still 70MPH, and there are no cars in front of me or behind me for a good couple hundred feet, and the acceleration lane is pretty long.
Finally, just before he runs out of acceleration lane I slow down figuring that this guy might just decide to merge right into my car, and he got in front of me.
Could you imagine this guy trying to merge into heavy traffic? I shudder at thought..
and Cleece's Ferry too.....one day they will open that back up ...with a bridge from Bellevue I'd reckon.
I bet she is talking about the Briley Parkway extension that loops from White Bridge/40 to connect in North Nashville and back to Opryland.
And I did not know that was 55. I thought it was 65.
??
Cruise control is a killer. It totally kills your reaction time, many times resulting the death of those that use it.
On the Autobahn, if one is proceeding in the #1 lane at say 75 mph, the first thing they would see is a Mercedes or Porsche whatever, coming up behind them and about 120mph plus, with many driving lights and fog lights flashing, while standing on their horns. (Yes more then one horn and more than two headlights.) They do no tolerate those that attempt to meter the flow of traffic on the autobahn and they will literally tail gate you while flashing their lights and standing on their horns at 80mph.
I know, Germanys autobahns is where I learned how to drive and developed my first driving skills.
They don't have a lot of fatalities but when they do, they resemble aircraft crashes/accidents. That being said, most Europeans were very good drivers, that pay attention.
If this had been in Knoxville, he would have driven to the end of the acceleration lane, stopped, then turned his head to see if anyone would "let" him in.
I think that depends on the driver and how they use it.
Whether I'm using cruise control or not, if my right foot isn't on the gas pedal then it's covering the brake pedal, ready to press it.
If you're trying to say that the amount a vehicle slows between taking your foot off the gas when not using cruise control and putting it on the brake pedal is enough to prevent an accident, I have to say that the only cases where that would be true are:
1)The driver wasn't paying any attention.
2)Their reaction time sucked anyway, cruise control simply made it result in an accident more sooner than later.
Incorrect.
If you use cruise control, your reaction time is slower to brake or respond to a time critical event. Period.
There is no debate here.
I guess that's why the manual says not to use cruise control in heavy traffic..which I don't. Therefore, as far as I'm concerned, there is no problem with my usage of cruise control.
And I do have over 150,000 miles of accident-free driving which seems to indicate to me that I'm doing something right.
By the way, what sort of time-critical events would one need to deal with on a limited-access highway, other than (1) cars slowing up ahead and (2) cars merging in from on-ramps? How would cruise control slow down one's reaction time to either, given that they use a safe following distance and pay attention to signs indicating that on-ramps are coming up?
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