Confucious says: If you want to drive 40MPH, don't take freakin' I-95!

[GoddessOfGuinness]

Route 1 will get you there safer.

:grr:

[Redstone]

1. And if you DO take I-95, stay out of the left lane!

Don't laugh, I've seen it.

Redstone

[GoddessOfGuinness]

2. Boggles the mind, it does.

[DS1]

3. I can only say, in their defense, that it's possible they have

a fresh new severe tire imbalance, and are on their way to the next exit.

But, I really really doubt that.

[GoddessOfGuinness]

5. I have no problem with that, if they use their flashers...

I guess they don't like flashing people.

[Redstone]

15. Not around here. I think our town and the surrounding ones

are the Old Lady Capital of New England (plus we have the ones coming through on their way from New York to the casinos).

They'll do 40 in the left lane for sixty miles, with their right turn signal flashing the whole time. Really.

Redstone

[redsoxliberal]

4. perhaps they are new to driving highways

everyone has to drive on a highway for the first time...

[GoddessOfGuinness]

6. In a 65mph zone...

They could at least pull their speed up to 50...

[nytemare]

7. Stay off any interstate or major freeway at that speed.

That is, unless traffic or weather only permits that speed.

I think this has been one of the tri-annual idiocy when driving weeks. I have seen some serious idiocy this week, a good portion being people just really driving too slowly.

My big pet peeve lately has been people who lag behind the flow of traffic. I understand that traffic sometimes won't allow you to do much, but, for chrissakes, can you at least keep up with the flow rather than going 10-15 mph under the speed limit, thus making all the vehicles behind you get stuck at traffic lights that they would not have been stuck at if you just kept a reasonable following distance???????

Then, there are the folks that think 30 mph is a good speed to merge onto the interstate with, leaving all the poor sods behind them praying there is an opening in traffic, or they are fucked.

:banghead:

[GoddessOfGuinness]

9. That's exactly what this person did...

S/He was doing about 40 in a 50mph zone, and I was in back of him/her. I didn't have time to pass before getting onto the I-95 ramp. I left plenty of space between the two of us, because I wanted enough room to accelerate to 65 and pass once I got onto the interstate.

This person just meandered on out and pulled over into the truck lane without coming up to speed. Idiot!

[nytemare]

12. I know.

Notice that on most entrance ramps, there are no speed limit signs? That is for a reason. To allow vehicles to accelerate to or just above the speed of traffic on the interstate, so they can merge without slowing the traffic down.

:)

[Redstone]

14. Oh, yes. That's where I get to cut Missy loose to do the run

from 20 MPH to 65 in about four seconds. And all in second gear!

I really enjoy that howling sound of the turbocharger cramming all that air in at 14 pounds of boost. Yowsa!

Redstone

[nytemare]

17. LOL.

:)

[Redstone]

18. Hey, Mrs R. and I figured out that we only use about twelve gallons

of gasoline a week between the two of us.

So I figure for me to blow the odd quart now and then on a half-mile adrenaline rush isn't too disgraceful.

Besides, Missy is high-strung...she gets cranky without an occasional spanking to keep her frisky.

Redstone

[nytemare]

20. Funny.

:D

[Redstone]

22. Who is Palpatine? Must be another TV-show character I've never

heard of, thereby showing off my utter obliviousness regarding popular culture yet again.

I'd appreciate it if you could clue me in, so I won't seem quite as clueless as I usually do the next time someone mentions the name.

Redstone

[GoddessOfGuinness]

37. Star Wars

Palpatine becomes the evil emperor. :hi:

[evlbstrd]

27. You're really gonna have to drive that car out here

so we can sample all of the barbecue joints. With the local Boulevard Beer, of course.

[Redstone]

28. Oh, yes. Though I usually take Mrs R's S60 on long trips,

because it gets 31 MPG on the highway, and not being a convertible it's quieter than Missy, so I can hear the radio / CD player better.

But BBQ is definitely indicated. And sooner rather than later.

You know, when I was a young man, I drove from Philadelphia to KCMO three times straight through. Bet I can't do that anymore!

Redstone

[evlbstrd]

36. The American Royal BBQ is this weekend.

Probably too little notice.

http://www.americanroyal.com/

When I was stationed on the east coast, I made the same drive on leave many times. I had a wierd little coffee maker that plugged into my lighter, played loud music to help stay awake, and drove non-stop.
I still don't like to stop a lot when I take a long trip.

[qnr]

8. Aren't most interstates posted with a minimum speed of 45 mph

anyway? I just drove with my trailer from OK to ME, generally doing the speed limit or five under (with 15 inch tires, so there was no problem with that speed).

However, I actually drove 6,300 miles (western OK to ME to western OK to ME) and aside from construction zones, I don't think more than twenty cars that I saw observed the speed limit. Of those, probably a third only did it because they were getting off at the next exit.

Edit: corrected 40 to 45 in the subject

[GoddessOfGuinness]

10. Minimum speed is 15mph below the limit

here. Unless they've changed the rules while I was sleeping... :-)

[qnr]

11. OK - every one I happened to notice was 45 minimum :) n/t

[GoddessOfGuinness]

13. I think I have seen minimum speed limit signs posted

and that they were usually 45 where they were posted. I don't recall what the maximum speed limit was, however.

[TroubleMan]

16. Amen to that.

Also, to merge into traffic, you have to be going the same speed or faster as the traffic you're going to merge to.

I hate people who are trying to merge in front of you and they slow down....then they wonder why nobody will let them in. IT'S BECAUSE YOU'RE GOING TOO FUCKING SLOW!!! Nobody wants to be behind a slow-ass. They're not going to let you in because they have to bend over backwards to do it. If you speed up to the same speed or faster, people let you in all the time, because they can let you in and stay with the flow they already had.

[GoddessOfGuinness]

38. One reason for this is that people on the ramps

don't bother to look at the flow of traffic until they're in the last stretch of the merge lane.

That said, it's also annoying when the folks who are driving in the slow lane don't leave enough space between themselves and the car in front of them to allow merging traffic onto the freeway.

[Briarius]

19. And for the love of god

stay out of the center lane if you are going slow!!!

granted, I take I-84 to the pike (aka the ne ct 500) but seriously, when people are passing you on both sides because you're screwing up the traffic flow by going so slow, MOVE OVER!

:rant:

[qnr]

21. No. If I'm doing the speed limit, and people are passing me on the

right, that's their problem. The center lane is the traveling lane, which is right where I'm supposed to be. As mentioned above, I just drove 6,300 miles, doing the speed limit, and had people passing me on the right all the time.

[Briarius]

23. if you're refering to the

|fast|travel|slow| lane designations, then if traffic is running +10mph from you, then aren't you the slow traffic? No offense, sometimes I'm the slow traffic at 70mph and I get outta the way, over to the right.

[qnr]

24. I spent my years on the authbahn and autostrada. They're in the wrong

if they're exceeding the speed limit. Period. If someone doesn't like the fact that I am obeying traffic rules, they can go complain to a cop.

[Briarius]

25. fair enough

I look at it from the saftey standpoint. The farther I am from the idiots doing 80+ in the left lane the better.

[qnr]

26. I understand your point, but I'm ornery. If I'm doing the speed limit

and someone comes flying up behind me at 95 miles an hour, I'm not altering my speed, they are altering theirs (depending upon circumstances - if there are people on the shoulder, I will do what I can to ensure their safety). If I get hit from behind, they're the ones that any court/insurance company will find responsible.

[Redstone]

30. Boy, they WOULD have a damn hard time explaining to a judge

how they managed to ass-end you when you were going the speed limit, wouldn't they?

I actually saw that happen once...a SAAB doing the limit on I-287 in New York, in the middle of three lanes (I was in the right lane, fortunately, and a bit behind him), and a Greyhound bus came whaling up at about 90 and hit the SAAB so hard that its frame bent up in the middle...

The truckdrivers are bad enough, but those damn bus drivers are a stone MENACE, at least around here. And you never see one of them getting a ticket, do you?

Redstone

[qnr]

31. Really. And worse, you're starting to see them broken down all over

the place, like Greyhound can't afford to maintain them anymore, which makes them even more dangerous.

[Redstone]

33. What we have around here is chartered buses going from NYC

to the casinos (most of them with Chinese lettering all over them...and no, I'm not being racist, that's just the truth), and they don't seem to break down much, though you'd think they would, charging up the highway at 95 MPH all hours of the day and night, and polluting the hell out of my air so people can piss away their money at the slot machines.

Redstone

[qnr]

34. I saw a lot of those on the trip. I was pretty impressed that such small

bus companies were able to get such unique toll-free numbers, actually. (doesn't take much to amuse me on a long, solitary drive)

Edit: typo

[Redstone]

35. Long, solitary drives do tend to result in a lowering of

amusement thresholds, don't they?

Even the hallucinations get to be pretty entertaining after you've been on the road long enough.

Redstone

[gypsy11]

47. One almost ran me off the road

a few weeks ago, up around Branford. The guy was doing like 90mph and he was up my butt. I mean inches away from me. He then decided to pass me on the right and never even got all the way over to the right lane to do it. Ran me right up to the divider. It was scary.

[GoddessOfGuinness]

39. I'm the same way...

Especially since I usually end up passing people when I'm doing the speed limit. Why should I move over to placate some idiot who wants to go beyond the limit?

If I choose to drive over the limit, I do so with the understanding that I'm breaking the law, and those who are driving at the posted speed limit have the right of way. I won't ride their fender, but I'll pass when they move over.

[One_Life_To_Give]

45. Be careful of Ornery Commercial Drivers

Since the "Travel" lane as you call it, is their Passing lane.

[qnr]

49. that's understood n/t

[qnr]

52. Anyway, the only time I drive in the center lane is when the interstate

provides them on the way through cities, so I don't have to constantly deal with merging traffic. Outside of cities, I'm in the right lane. And it is not "What I call the 'Travel' lane" -- it is what the local department of transportation calls the "Travel" lane.

[kwassa]

42. Slower traffic move right

Many states have "keep right" laws.

As long as you stay out of the passing lane, I have no complaints. We often get people driving slowly in the left lane, which forces traffic to pass on the right hand side, bringing about weaving in traffic. This is mistakenly called "aggressive driving" but is really a reaction to those who block the far left lane for whatever personal agenda they have.

[qnr]

51. Again, no. Period. If I'm doing the friggin speed limit, they can move

left. No discussion.

[Awsi Dooger]

29. I drive 6000+ miles every summer

Las Vegas to New York to Miami and back to Las Vegas.

Fast aggressive drivers are the ones who cause the vast majority of problems and accidents, not even close. They zig-zag between lanes even with the narrowest gap, ignore or are too stupid to recognize poor road conditions or an accident situation slightly ahead, and generally don't belong on the road.

The one slowpoke criticism I see all summer and absolutely agree with is merging onto a freeway. It's incredible how drivers who have no trouble bursting to 80 shortly after entering the freeway are content to go 40 or 50 mph on the entrance ramp.

[qnr]

32. I never understood the change from "Merge" to "Yield" - except in

construction zones, of course.

[RebelOne]

40. And if you only want to drive 65 mph, don't take I-75 in Atlanta or

I-285 around Atlanta. No one goes under 75 on those roads.

[matcom]

41. Americans SUCK at driving (at any speed)

if you try and pull that shit on the Autobahn your dead. Period. The Germans KNOW what they are doing. The #1 rule is stay RIGHT. PERIOD. Except to pass. It's really quite that simple.

[Redstone]

43. Well, I don't know if I'd give the Germans THAT much credit.

They do have some pretty spectacular multi-vehicle crashes on the Autobahn now and again, don't they?

I'm not disagrreing with your, by the way. There are a lot of bad drivers in this country, and the funny thing is that people from specific states tend to pick up the same bad habits: Here in Connecticut, if you see someone tailgating, odds are that it's a car with New York plates; if they're weaving in and out of lanes, you'll probably see a Massachusetts plate on the car.

Hey, want to see some REALLY bad drivers? Drive in Montreal. Not for the faint of heart.

Redstone

[qnr]

50. Precisely. Same thing with Italians on the autostrada. Anyway, even

they have speed limits in areas and are supposed to obey them.

[GoddessOfGuinness]

46. My parents had German friends who were forever losing

external rear-view mirrors to other drivers on the Autobahn.

Unfortunately, with the design of the Washington Beltway, anyway, Autobahn standards just wouldn't work. There are too many roads from which traffic must merge onto the left lanes of the Beltway...I-95 South, Wisconsin Ave South, I66 East.

Also, I've noticed that ever since the speed limit was raised to 65 on I-95, drivers around here treat secondary roads as if they were freeways, riding the fenders of cars that intend to turn left, honking their horns and flashing their brights at them.

America needs to meditate or something! :-)

[MissMillie]

44. confucious also say

If you live in the western suburbs, you're going to need sunglasses both in the morning and in the evening.

[GoddessOfGuinness]

48. preferably polarized

:headbang: