Speeding: It's an addiction

Very true.

Maybe it'll take Google cars, maturity doesn't seem to be catching on. All the expressions: "keeping up with traffic", "he cut me off", and that almost universally accepted premise that the speed "limit" is the minimum.

Yes, sometimes that limit seems punitive, too low. So what, cool your jets, you'll get there taking it easy. It'll take less gas, you'll be more relaxed and courteous, and if something bad happens your odds of surviving are a lot better.

Just to add: I don't think this topic should be relegated to House of Pancakes, more suited to Knowledge Base Articles?

 

Careful what you wish for: We might end-up with national 55 speed limit again. 55 is okay for cities/exurbs but try driving across the country at 55. After you fall asleep & die in the boring areas of Nebraska or Oklahoma, you'll wish for the 75 limit again. (Also if the long roadtrip takes 1-and-a-third days instead of 1, are you really saving money? No. You're wasting it on a hotel stay.)

As for people who think I'm driving too slow when I'm hypermiling: The official legal speed on I-5 is 40 to 65 miles/hour. As long as I am within that range, the guys/gals giving me the finger are outside the range, I am obeying the law and ye are the criminals.

 

I don't know if they still do it because I've been out of the game for a long time, but lots of trucking companies used to govern their trucks to just that or slightly above. Not fun, but doable, and has been done a lot. It doesn't take twice the time since twice the speed would be 110 which not many people could maintain for long stretches, and fuel savings make up some difference between longer stretches of actual travel or hammering down between fuel stops and stopping more often. I remember how some of the same large cars (aka the really big trucks with the really big motors) would pass by several times in a day and mock us poor pitiful governed company truck drivers with our sad little neutered trucks, but at the end of the day, we were all bedded down for the night in the same truck stops. The only difference going that fast really made in terms of time for those drivers was that they had more time to goof off between all the hard running. Which is fine, I reckon, if you like or need to be able to stop a lot. I bet it's pretty similar with cars that hammer down between fuel stops. At the end of the day, I suspect many of them are not covering that much more ground even if they are having more fun by running faster.

Not suggesting I am wishing for another 55 mph national limit. It was just a matter of challenge accepted. Saying it would be boring and annoying makes sense. Not so much IMO the implication that it's not doable or that it would be near impossible.

 

When I drive across the country I do about 900 miles/day. That's 12-13 hours at speed limit 75, but if another President Carter-type comes to office & resets all speeds to 55, then it's much much longer: 17 hours. (So I will need to stop overnight instead of reaching my planned destination.) That's just $60 wasted.

In most situations time is more valuable than gasoline saved. That is why freight trucks run 75 across the country, even though it burns more gas than doing 55. + in my case I've been wondering if my 40 mile/hour hypermiling makes any sense. I save gasoline, but arrive 30 minutes later to my job. I save 2-3 dollars of gas but lose $35 overtime pay. I'd be better off going 70 and getting more wages.

 

The quote and post didn't work for me for some reason.

Anyway, ok. That says all the reasons why slowing down won't work for you and maybe some others. However, that's a long way away from your earlier suggestion that it is near impossible.

 

What is the point of having a speed limit if it's not enforced. It wouldn't take much effort or cost to enforce it with today's technology. Ultimately, those in power have this issue at the bottom of their lists. I really wish autonomous cars were available and commonplace today. Maybe in 10 to 20 years from now.

 

Please quote where I said a National Speed limit of 55 was "impossible". Obviously it's possible since we did it before. What I said: It would make for very boring road trips across the midwest & add expensive stops in hotels (because it takes longer to get places). I'd rather continue seeing 75 (or even 80) speed signs. Leave it to the states & their citizens to decide (self-rule).

 

So you can get 68mpg going 75mph or faster? We need you to post your driving system.

 

Please quote where I said you said it was "impossible."

Now you're saying it would be boring, and you're sharing what your preferences are and why. That's pretty much the point I was making-- preference is not synonymous with necessity. You'd rather drive faster to get where you're going. You have reasons and things and stuff to justify it. Well, ok, then. I'm not disagreeing that you'd rather drive faster to get where you're going or that you have valid reasons for it. I am disagreeing with the claim that people will categorically:

(Hence my earlier comment about the suggestion that traveling in such a way is near impossible; it isn't.)

 

I believe this is the case more often than a lot of people are willing to admit. Well, that and the fun of going fast. Even in the position of being completely unable to speed in governed vehicles, and even on tight schedules, I still got where I needed to go when I needed to be there. I still do. I think a lot of it is that speeding is more fun than not speeding, and there are a million ways to justify it instead of just saying, "I just like going fast."

 

You ever drive at 75? I thought the previous personality using your forum handle kept all highway driving to speeds below 50 mph.

That was Nixon, signed January 2, 1974. Carter was more than three years away from reaching that office.

 

Thanks for the correction.

When I drive 40 mph from Orange County to San Diego it takes 2 hours. When I drive 70-80 then it's just a little over 1 hour. So yes it saves time to drive faster. (And time is finite; you get about 80 years and no more. Many of us only have half that time left.)

I have made a conscious decision to drive slow, so I can brag about high MPG, but I don't bother doing it with non-hybrid cars (they guzzle gas no matter how slow I go). I speed in my nonhybrids because I want to save that 1-and-a-half hours when I make the OC to SD roundtrip.

 

If you restrict him to facts, he will be speechless.

I drive primarily on two lane roads, so I do not wish to be a burden on other drivers. I find that 61 when 55 is posted and 48 when 45 is posted has me passing about the same number of vehicles as pass me, which promotes smooth flow. On 4 lane, I do 1 MPH over the limit in the right lane, as I believe my speedometer is optimistic. I would just follow semis, but I tend to tailgate if I do that.

 

I drive entirely different in my C6 than when I'm behind the wheel of my Prius. The Corvette will go around another car before its driver can even react. The Prius is only intended to transport me to my destination, and nothing more. Each of them clearly dictates which driving style they intend to support.

 

After some recent local events in 20mph school zones- there's serious consideration (it may have actually been decided IIRC) of installing photo ticket speed cams in some school speed zones.
It's hard to fathom, but some people are actually opposed to the idea?
Are ppl so addicted that they can't even do 20mph for a few hundred feet in front of a school any more?