🚀 go-pugleaf

Jim Titus <"JJTTIITTUUSS_remove doubl_spmblock"@erols.com> > wrote in
message <3596B924.5FF6@erols.com>...
>E. Faubion wrote:
>>
>> Jim Titus <JTITUS@erols.com> wrote:
>>
>> >In our various discussions of aggressive driving, a number of possible
>> >policy options have been overlooked.  One solution would be to simply
>> >arrest anyone who drives more than 10 mph under the speed limit--better
>> >yet, anyone who drives less than 5mph over the limit.
>>
>> Anywhere at anytime or just in specific instances?  And if the 5 mph
>> tolerance is going to be used for the slow driver would it not be fair
>> to also apply this to the fast driver?
>>
>The -10mph mirror image is applied to fast drivers.  Unclear what you
>even mean by applying the +5mph rule to fast drivers--the mirror image
>of that would not be fast.
>In any event, it is probably reasonable to ticket people who deviate too
>much from the flow of traffic whether it is too fast or too slow.

Drivers at about +12 mph from the average have the lowest rate of
involvement in accidents.  Drivers at -10 mph have a much higher accident
rate.

>
>Along those lines, just as the penalty for driving too slowly should be
>great in you are in the fast lane but small (or even tolerated) for
>driving slowly in the right lane, so it would make some sense for
>speeding in the right lane to have a greater penalty than in the left
>lane.  Say I am driving 74 mph in the center lane where the limit is 65
>mph, and someone is overtaking me in that same lane at about 84
>mph--that overtaking driver should always pass me in the left lane
>(assuming that it is not blocked by a slowpoke). Yet about 50% of the
>time, people will pass on the right even though left is open.

Some people pass on the left because they believe that CHP's watch the left
lane most closely for speeders.

>This is
>annoying because in this case, I would tend to pull over to the right to
>let the overtaking car pass--and I fear that some time I may get
>rearended.

If you have clear lanes on both sides and someone is coming up fast behind
you, you should stay right where you are unless they flash lights at you or
something.  Moving suddenly in either direction is stupid.  From the
viewpoint of someone who usually drives faster than average on CA freeways,
I expect drivers I overtake to be nearly asleep (or overtly hostile).  Those
who make unnecessary lane changes as I approach (especially late, quick
ones) are a pain in the ass and a needless hazard.

>(I tend to assume that if you are 10 mph over the limit it
>is reasonable to cruise in the center lane unless someone behind you
>needs to pass.)

It would be better to assume that if you aren't overtaking anyone, you
should move to your right.  Then things would be a little more orderly and
predictable.

--
Mark Folsom, P.E.
Consulting Mechanical Engineer
http://www.redshift.com/~folsom