Speeding

[Alidar Jarok]

I stumbled across this today and it might be relevant. Basically, in the same year, a seatbelt law was passed in Illinois and Yugoslavia. In Illinois, people decried the law and filed lawsuits trying to challenge it. The police announced they weren't going to enforce it unless you committed some other offense. In Yugoslavia, the people were silent and the police were vigorous in enforcing the law.

The end result, the people of Illinois generally complied with it. The people of Yugoslavia generally circumvented it (they would wear the strap but not the belt or passengers would hold the seatbelt without buckling it). The author of the article describing this phenomenon had an interesting interpretation. In our country, law serves some kind of nature law goal. If a law doesn't contribute towards this, it is abhorrent (therefore, paternalistic laws like seatbelt laws are decried). In Yugoslavia, law is simply something a government can enforce on a people. Therefore, trying to avoid law enforcement is simply part of the whole thing rather than morally wrong. It was an interesting take on traffic laws as a whole.

 

[{ Emilia }]

I don't speed much at all. Like somebody in the thread already said speed rules are pretty arbitrary and don't always make sense. In general I think I'm a pretty relaxed driver but some of the more obvious silly speed limits in harmless areas are just there to be slightly bended.

I'm pretty sure I never speed in 30kph zones, those are there for a reason. And within city limits 50kph is fine. On the freeway I tend to be about 10kph too fast but it's mostly about going with the flow.
A big chunk of German freeways doesn't even have a speed limit. I think the fastest I ever went was 190kph but that was on a completely empty 3-lane road somewhere in the wilderness of East Germany.

Usually 120-140kph is just fine. I try not to speed when I'm in a hurry. I get annoyed when people pass me in dangerous spots just so they can reach their destination about 30 seconds earlier.

 

[spooky spice]

I only "speed" in situations where you're allowed to (Irish law) such as when overtaking a slower vehicle

[who suddenly speeds up just as you are passing]

There's a road near me with a 50kph limit (30ish mph) thing is it's crescent shaped and on a steep hill. You have to put your foot to the floor to get up the hill in the first place - so by the time you get to the top (where it levels off) you're now doing 60 or 70 kph and there's a speed trap right there. Then when you get passed the level bit you start going downhill again, and -unless you stand on the brakes all the way you can end up doing 80 or 90kph (it's a seriously steep hill!) thankfully they don't put a speed trap there, but there is a crossroad at the bottom of the hill and some eejit always pulls out in front of you, and since you're already flooring the brake...

 

[Deckerd]

[who suddenly speeds up just as you are passing]

Oh lordy don't you hate them? This is where the rpg fitting on the front of the car would come in immensely useful.

 

[Alidar Jarok]

I don't speed much at all.

You are a terrible Italian!

 

[{ Emilia }]

I don't speed much at all.

You are a terrible Italian!

I know. I also fasten the seatbelt and brake for kids. I love driving in Italian cities, though. They're not all as chaotic as Naples. Driving in Milan and Bologna was good fun usually. And Turin's traffic is about as boring as you can imagine.
I just love big cities anyway. Paris is hilarious to drive in.

The size of the city doesn't really matter, though when it comes to scary drivers. I remember my uncle using his car horn to shoo people off the cross-walk because... (cliché...) an Italy match was about to be kicked off (World Cup 2002) and he had to rush home.
And that was in cuddly, peaceful Treviso.

 

[Roger Wilco]

I just love big cities anyway. Paris is hilarious to drive in.

The circle around the Arc de Triomphe is ridiculous. It's a miracle if there aren't 10 crashes every day there.

 

[FPAlpha]

Yeah.. saw that when i was in Paris and thanked god we went by rail and not car.. i don't know if i'd ever make it out of there alive (much less as the driving noob i was back then).

Another horror, if it ever came to this, would be driving in Britain (or any other brit road system in the world). It is so mindboggling to drive on the "wrong" side of the road and it made me feel like a beginner when i was in Edinburgh a few years ago as a passenger in a car.

 

[auntiehill]

I do have a tendency to speed--about 5 mph over the limit, but it's most often not intentional. I'm just keeping up with the traffic around me; when I check my speed, I see I'm going too fast and correct it.

I'm actually pretty good about not speeding on long trips. I set my cruise control to one mile under the limit and just go. It's the daily, around town traffic that usually has me going a little bit over. But I try not to, which is probably more than most drivers here can say.

 

[Sean Aaron]

I doubt it. 90 is pushing it on many popular models of car.

Agreed. I've had my 1.1l Saxo up to 110mph, but that was only possible because I was on a downhill incline. The engine is too loud for me to want to do anything above 75mph for any length of time (and there's the fuel economy to consider as well). I cannot say I see why we would go to 80mph in Scotland - hell they were talking about lowering before to save on petrol!

I don't speed much at all. Like somebody in the thread already said speed rules are pretty arbitrary and don't always make sense. In general I think I'm a pretty relaxed driver but some of the more obvious silly speed limits in harmless areas are just there to be slightly bended.

Pretty much my rule of thumb: I do the limit because I don't like checking my mirrors for cops or being paranoid about speed cameras. If the limit seems arbitrarily low (especially the M8 flyover near Glasgow airport - 40mph? Really?) I'll do 5-10 over.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

I just love big cities anyway. Paris is hilarious to drive in.

The circle around the Arc de Triomphe is ridiculous. It's a miracle if there aren't 10 crashes every day there.

Yeah.. saw that when i was in Paris and thanked god we went by rail and not car.. i don't know if i'd ever make it out of there alive (much less as the driving noob i was back then).

Another horror, if it ever came to this, would be driving in Britain (or any other brit road system in the world). It is so mindboggling to drive on the "wrong" side of the road and it made me feel like a beginner when i was in Edinburgh a few years ago as a passenger in a car.

This also looks like quite the horror...

How are newbies supposed to figure out how to navigate that damned thing?

 

[Kirby]

I never speed in residential areas or school zones; I've seen way too many kids run out in the middle of the street without looking.
I will speed on highways though, not more than 10 - 15 miles over the speed limit.

 

[Nerys Ghemor]

This also looks like quite the horror...

How are newbies supposed to figure out how to navigate that damned thing?

Man, that is just wrong.

This was the worst thing I ever dealt with in one of the places I lived growing up. It has since been changed.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marlton_Circle

However, this is a smart invention that saves a lot of trouble...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jughandle

 

[ares93]

This also looks like quite the horror...

How are newbies supposed to figure out how to navigate that damned thing?

Bugger me sideways! I knew there was a reason God gave the Brits an island. He was trying to contain them.

 

[Sean Aaron]

One thing that would make the roundabout at the Arc de Triomphe less scary is that people in the roundabout are supposed to yield to incoming traffic on the Continent, which is contrary to the way it works in the UK. Nevertheless I only rent a car when I'm in the UK and the States!

 

[RobertVA]

This also looks like quite the horror...

How are newbies supposed to figure out how to navigate that damned thing?

Man, that is just wrong.

This was the worst thing I ever dealt with in one of the places I lived growing up. It has since been changed.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marlton_Circle

However, this is a smart invention that saves a lot of trouble...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jughandle

Norfolk VA, USA had two similar to Marlton Circle, but one was subject to horrible congestion and converted to an ordinary intersection. Now traffic volume has built up enough there's a weird proposal for left turn traffic to cross the oncoming traffic early (with a light) and drive a short distance down what would normally be the wrong side of the road.

A few other problems are occurring with what some call cloverleaf intersections, where four "left turn" ramps form a cluster of four loops resembling a four leaf clover. With high traffic volumes cars decelerating to use the ramps and cars accelerating onto the highway interfere with each other. At one location the loops were eliminated and lights were installed where the remaining ramps intersect one of the roads to facilitate left turns. That new configuration is referred to as an "urban intersection", but wouldn't be appropriate if both highways are limited access (where traffic lights aren't used).

 

[MacLeod]

This also looks like quite the horror...

How are newbies supposed to figure out how to navigate that damned thing?

Man, that is just wrong.

This was the worst thing I ever dealt with in one of the places I lived growing up. It has since been changed.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marlton_Circle

However, this is a smart invention that saves a lot of trouble...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jughandle

Never been on it myself, but it seems easy enough to follow you just treat it as a series of roundabouts, and yeild to traffic to your right.

 

[cultcross]

Yeah the magic roundabout isn't that bad. People get confused because they try to treat the whole thing as a roundabout, which doesn't work. Treat each mini as a separate roundabout, and it's quick and easy to navigate. The same applies to the one in Hertfordshire.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

^ But like I said, how are newbies supposed to know all that before they get there? Do they have a lot of accidents in that thing? Is there a kind of 'cheat sheet' that can be used to figure it out before drivers have to do it for real?

 

[RoJoHen]

^ But like I said, how are newbies supposed to know all that before they get there? Do they have a lot of accidents in that thing? Is there a kind of 'cheat sheet' that can be used to figure it out before drivers have to do it for real?

This.

Roundabouts don't exist anywhere around where I live. I have encountered maybe two in my entire life, and both times I had no idea what the hell I was supposed to do.