Community Forums

Chuck 1935 · 08-31-2011, 03:05 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BryanL

casting judgment on others is never a good idea.

People are different and have different values, skills, and viewpoints. You may not understand them and that should be taken as an opportunity for learning, not castigating or bad mouthing.

You might not like how others drive nor feel comfortable about it but that is really your problem, not theirs.

Where it gets worse is when you try to rationalize your feelings with irrational thinking. Matters of speed and safety tend to fall into this category and are especially pernicious IMHO.

Let others be. Learn to cope with other drivers on the road. You can adjust your driving so you stay away from those who bother you for the most part. Those who are really out there will get their due from law enforcement or the natural turn of events.

Very well put BryanL. Life is too short to be annoyed about what the other people are doing. Enjoy the trip wether it be at 57 3/4mph or 70mph. If a motorcycle wants to play chicken with your front tire, let him. If it doesn't work out for him you can buff out the spot. It seem that more and more folks are worried about what other people are doing and not about themselves. I have a friend that thinks like an old fuddy duddy. He [Moderator Edit] about everything, dinner, other drivers, the weather. He has been this way his whole life. Needless to say, he's not fun to be with.
How about all of you folks ?.

BigSkyBob · 08-31-2011, 03:24 PM

I don't really care what other folks do or what other folks think. Does that make me an old fuddy duddy? I say live and let live unless it's directly jeopardizing my life or the lives of others.

Elf · 08-31-2011, 03:52 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BigSkyBob

I don't really care what other folks do or what other folks think. Does that make me an old fuddy duddy? I say live and let live unless it's directly jeopardizing my life or the lives of others.

The thing is, the way a lot of drivers operate their vehicles DOES jeopardize others. As a matter of fact, a lot of what other people do affects others whether it's directly in the way of an accident or indirectly through higher insurance premiums for all.
If people would drive as if there were a police officer driving behind them all the time the roads would be much safer. It's not that hard to do.

CarlGeo · 08-31-2011, 03:59 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BryanL

casting judgment on others is never a good idea.

People are different and have different values, skills, and viewpoints. You may not understand them and that should be taken as an opportunity for learning, not castigating or bad mouthing.

You might not like how others drive nor feel comfortable about it but that is really your problem, not theirs.

Where it gets worse is when you try to rationalize your feelings with irrational thinking. Matters of speed and safety tend to fall into this category and are especially pernicious IMHO.

Let others be. Learn to cope with other drivers on the road. You can adjust your driving so you stay away from those who bother you for the most part. Those who are really out there will get their due from law enforcement or the natural turn of events.

It is not casting judgement on those who break the law. When you observe those exceeding the speed limit, you are not judging, you are merely observing their law breaking. We should all observe the speed limits because they are for our own and others safety!
CarlGeo

BryanL · 08-31-2011, 04:11 PM

examples of the sort of hysteria that are irrational and without empirical foundation:

"What they seem to forget is... the MAX SPEED RATING"

" or kill someone---but live and let live you say?"

"They are speeding and endangering my life, yours or a member of my family."

The OP wasn't talking about speeds well in excess of those commonly found on freeways if I read right. That is the context in which I replied.

While I do not recommend exceeding any rating, do note that there is a reason why it is called a rating and not a limit. Tire speed ratings are, essentially, heat tolerance ratings. Many ST tires, for instance, have speed ratings of 65 but one manufacturer suggests that you should exceed the max sidewall psi by 10 if you routinely drag your trailer on freeways. You won't blow a tire rated at 75 mph by going 76 or even 80. You should make sure that they are properly inflated and take other precautions as heat can do a job on tires. (usually, the heat problem is due to under-inflated tires, not speed)

As for the 'kill someone" - have you ever looked at highway crash statistics? What kills is people who get distracted, not moving with prevailing traffic. The last crash book I looked at (Nevada 2006) didn't even have 'exceed speed limit' in the top ten causes of crashes. The fact is that speed limits have very little to do with safety and studies indicate that the only time most traffic pays attention to them is when there is a threat of enforcement. See the MUTCD or the page on speed limits at the AZ DOT site.

re: "The thing is, the way a lot of drivers operate their vehicles DOES jeopardize others." -- I agree with this and it is why I keep an eye on other drivers to stay well clear of those whose behavior looks odd to me. Nevada has a program that puts NHP officers in the cab with cross state truck drivers because there has been a problem with folks cutting off the big trucks and doing similar tricks that put the truckers (and the crazy drivers) in jeopardy.

Speeders? they go right by as I do all I can to help them get past and they are soon out of mind. It is the left lane vigilante, the lady farding on the way to work, the LOL who can barely see over the steering wheel and has a death grip on it, they guy so busy with something he can barely stay in his lane, the blind spot formation driver, the dude who is getting road hypnosis because he hasn't taken appropriate breaks, the driver who is working his GPS, PND or whatnot and not watching the road, ... these are where the worry should be IMHO.

Off the road, IMHO the problem is those people who have bought into they myths about traffic and are pushing ever more rules and regulations to try to make drivers do what they think is right. That got us the double nickel, speed traps, traffic cameras, LEO's in hiding along roads, and a lot of other things that often made safety worse, not better.

re: "When you observe those exceeding the speed limit, you are not judging, you are merely observing their law breaking." -- there is a difference between observing a vehicle traveling faster than a posted speed limit and judging that driver as unsafe, incompetent or whatever. The OP seemed to be the latter to me.

Fred Longhi · 08-31-2011, 04:12 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by CarlGeo

It is not casting judgement on those who break the law. When you observe those exceeding the speed limit, you are not judging, you are merely observing their law breaking. We should all observe the speed limits because they are for our own and others safety!
CarlGeo

That's absolutely correct! The safety of our family members is important enough for us to try to convince others to drive safely. The person who says "live and let live" is the one who would be the first one to call his lawyer and sue the speeder who injures or kills his loved one.

Chuck 1935 · 08-31-2011, 04:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fred Longhi

That's absolutely correct! The safety of our family members is important enough for us to try to convince others to drive safely. The person who says "live and let live" is the one who would be the first one to call his lawyer and sue the speeder who injures or kills his loved one.

It seems to me that if you want to stay safe on the Highway, you better improve your driving skills rather than try and convince a jerk to drive better.

RustyJC · 08-31-2011, 04:43 PM

See the attached ARTICLE. I suppose Mrs. Torres shouldn't have worried about these two boys' driving habits. Come to think of it, she probably didn't have time to worry. An excerpt follows:

Quote:

Christopher Yovino, 18, was sentenced to eight years probation on each charge and Brett Taylor, 19, was sentenced to six years on each charge. Both were convicted of three counts of manslaughter, in the crash that killed Mayra Castillo Torres, and two of her four children -- her son Christopher Nuno, 14, and her six-year-old daughter, Katia.

Those two teenagers were going more than 90 miles an hour down Gessner when one of them plowed into Mayra Castillo Torres' minivan. She and two of her children died.

The defense says it was just a terrible mistake, while the victims' family says the boys need to be held accountable.

Lawyers for these two teens say they used very poor judgment when they went street racing and killed three people, but say they do not deserve to go to prison. They add that no public good would be served in doing so.

Last September, Torres was in her minivan when the teens were racing each other at speeds of up to 93 miles per hour. When Yovino's Tahoe hit Torres' minivan, she and her son were killed immediately. Katia later died at the hospital.

Rusty

Dog Folks · 08-31-2011, 04:45 PM

All other considerations aside that have been mentioned by other posts:

I can't AFFORD it! My mileage goes way down at 65-70 compared to 60 mph.

Actually, I am considering slowing down to 55, as it seems to increase mpg even more! I just don't want to hold others back. If they want to go faster, more power to them!

IMPULSE DRIVEN · 08-31-2011, 05:28 PM

I myself don't want to be trying to regaining control after an 18,000 rig has blown a tire, that is not my idea of a good time.

melvonnar · 08-31-2011, 05:35 PM

Matter" = Somewhere its written; an object in motion will tend to stay in motion; the faster you go; no matter what; the longer it takes you to stop.
I don't care how many brakes you have.
Speed kills; period.
I live beside a 4 lane road; most of the deaths on this strech of highway are the result of speed.
I've lived here nearly 40 years, so I believe I'm an expert; (at least) for this part of the highway.

wa8yxm · 08-31-2011, 06:31 PM

There is a Science Fiction magazine that commented on it in a feature they ran called "Probility zero" (for very good reason) every month.

The story (Which ran 2 pages, I'm going to cut it way down) had two researchers commniting to/from work each day working on a faster than light drive, and commenting on the people who passed them as they drove the speed limit (posted) Finally one of them got a bright idea, went before congress and got the speed limit raised to .. Well we call it 1C (Speed of light) IT was 2 whole weeks before someone invented an FTL car and broke said limit.

The story was a comment on the "God given right of AMericans to go faster than the law allows" as many seem to feel they have.

I drive 55-60. The reason.. Well 55-60 I loose perhaps 0.1MPG, 60-65 perhaps a mile per gallon.. GAS IS EXPENSIVE..

I do admit though, downhill, with a tail wind.. I might let it go faster

(Got 13.8 MPG once coming across Texas..The tumbleweeds were heading straight down the road at closer to 100mph that day.. What can I say, GOD PUSHED!!

Tha_Rooster · 08-31-2011, 06:41 PM

Me personally I would rather have someone blow by me than drive so slow they are holding up the flow of traffic, out of site out of mind.

Triker56 · 08-31-2011, 06:53 PM

I'm a 55-58 MPH guy. I have had one of those 70-75 MPH RV's pass me 2 to 3 times in the same day.

I have only seen one 5r that passed me doing at least 70 plus.
When he got around 2/10 mile ahead of me. I seen a lot of fiberglass, parts and pieces come from the rear of the 5r and went all over the road.
He must have noticed it and was pulled over and stopped when I went by.

I never seen him the rest of the day. At least he never passed me again that day.