Not sure if there is really any 'proper', as in legally mandated... more like 'recommended'. Certainly not the lady (?) alongside me today, cigarette in one hand, phone in the other, in apparent 'knee-steer' mode.
Only one crosswalk criminal today -middle aged guy in a black fancy GMC pickup who apparently didn't look. Green walk sign, what's that?
Also drove behind a woman in a Lexus LX who was sitting about 2" from the wheel and had another 11:30-12:30 death grip on the wheel. I bet she's skilled! I shudder to think what would happen upon airbag deployment.
Holds up traffic at a light that's been green for more than 5 to 10 seconds in the left lane (only 2 lanes available to go forward).
I abruptly change lanes to the right lane because I don't have time for someone to hold up traffic in a lane when the light has been green for nearly 10 seconds now.
As I pass him on the right I see that he has his right blinker on and isn't moving forward. I honk as I'm passing and hold the horn for 5-10 straight seconds (eye for eye time wise). As I honk he eventually speeds up to move up to speed, changes into the right lane finally, and then proceeds to make an illegal U-turn behind me.
I have no idea what they were thinking. This was at an extremely busy intersection with traffic backing up severely because of him, and soley him.
'18 Porsche Macan Turbo, '16 Audi TTS, Wife's '19 VW Tiguan SEL 4-Motion
The state of Texas gets significantly higher royalty payments from the toll road operators if the mph limit is above 80 mph thanif it's 80 mph or lower.
I imagine they'll still have a leeway of 5 to 10 MPH, if only because no judge and/or officer wants to argue over a couple MPH in court. Radars are really not all that accurate and prone to error anyway, they need some margin of certainty to appear to be impartial.
85 MPH speed limits; gotta love it, why is CA so backwards!?! We've got 15 MPH to go to catch up! Maybe in 2025.
On a related note about inconsiderate auto insurance companies; this story is about home insurance, but it's related in that the company that basically represents the insurance industry for what it is (one big ponzi scheme and scam), also is involved in Auto Insurance as well, and in giving those free radars to local law enforcement officers out of the good of their hearts :P :sick:
Reading that link you provided further, it goes on to show the arbitrariness of speed limits over the years (such as in TX) with speed limits varying from 55 MPH to 80 MPH (even soon to be 85 MPH) with no significant change in roadway characteristics to justify the changes.
It also talks about how the gov't will count every crash as speed related even if the speed being traveled was a "safe" speed just because it exceeds the posted signage (which we all now know isn't set at the maximum safe speed typically).
'18 Porsche Macan Turbo, '16 Audi TTS, Wife's '19 VW Tiguan SEL 4-Motion
interesting calculator...on a 30 mile daily commute by going from 60mph to 80mph you'll lose hundreds of dollars in gas just to save a few minutes on the commute time.
Yesterday my commute was a breeze, the easiest in weeks. Today I made up for it.
Turned to hell right off the bat, trying to turn left out of the street where my workplace parking garage is located. A car on the cross street was looking to turn left onto my street - but the driver (looked like a newbie...) was very timid and wouldn't go until nobody was coming for a block. So numerous cars backed up waiting to go.
After that, no issues for a few minutes. Then got behind a distracted woman in a late model MB GL. We get into a left turn lane. Light changes to green, traffic moves, but she doesn't as of course she's playing with her hair or something. So we miss the light. I honk, she wakes up, then decides she's too important to wait, and jerks into the lane to her right, no signal and speeds off. If I could have slammed her head in the door of the tank (she likely didn't pay for) a few dozen times, it would have felt nice. The "we built this" set, I'd wager.
Then the finale, finally get home through the negligently managed traffic controls. I pull into the parking garage, a little voice tells me to keep a careful eye out. Right then I meet up with another newbie pulling out of a blind corner on the wrong side of the road. He gives me a look like I scared the hell out of him, daring to be in front of him. I hope I did.
Interesting. I'm not sure the percentages they indicate are spot on, but it would be a difficult one to test on the fly because you'd need replicable conditions with the only significant variable as the speed.
I was able to pull 38 mpg on a highway trip a couple weeks ago, total of 800 miles with some combined local driving while we were at our destination. Our highway speed was 70, with four passengers and probably 150# of additional cargo. It is rated for 38 mpg highway.
In local driving since then, though, I'm holding over 40 mpg with just me in the car 95% of the time. I'm trying to be fairly tame just to see what kind of economy it will return, but I still get into it once in a while (or maybe a little more frequently than that). :sick:
I think the car is rated 29/38, so if it gives me 38 on a highway trip and 40 on my commute, I'll take it! :shades:
2018 Subaru Crosstrek, 2014 Audi Q7 TDI, 2013 Subaru Forester, 2013 Ford F250 Lariat D, 1976 Ford F250, 1969 Chevrolet C20, 1969 Ford Econoline 100
interesting calculator...on a 30 mile daily commute by going from 60mph to 80mph you'll lose hundreds of dollars in gas just to save a few minutes on the commute time.
First of all, it seems they used cars from possibly the 90's for this test. I noticed the BMW had a much flatter curve than the other lesser cars that mostly have engines not sold in the US anyway.
Secondly, if you average 80 MPH for 30 miles you'll make that trip in 22.5 minutes. If you average 60 MPH, you'll make that trip take an ultra long and time wasting 30 minutes. The trip will take exactly 33.3% longer. Hardly insignificant time-wise. In fact, I'd call that a complete waste of time, since you shouldn't be conducting business (such as over your cell phone) while driving anyway. Is the gas savings 33.3%? Highly doubtful if your driving a modern vehicle.
Do you really want to waste 7.5 minutes everyday on your commute? That's a short commute, imagine if its longer and you waste even more time. Over the course of a year, you'll waste 32.5 hours of your life driving idiotically slow to work and back.
If you make $35/hour then your wasting about $1,150 dollars of your time. Is the gas savings going to make up for that; highly doubtful. The savings of going slower just doesn't add up. It's the arithmetic!
'18 Porsche Macan Turbo, '16 Audi TTS, Wife's '19 VW Tiguan SEL 4-Motion
Indeed I would LOVE to get out of the tyranny of artifically low defacto speed limits. In our case, 65 mph vs defacto of 18 to 36 mph.
IF we could go the speed limit, calculations indicate 27 miles would take roughly 27 to 30 mins. per trip x 2 per day or 1 hr per day x 22 days a month x 12=264 hours of R/T commute time.
@ 45 min to 1.5 hours the times become horrific in comparison. 45 min x 2 per day = 1.5 hours x 22 days per mo x12 mo=396 hours of R/T commute time. or 50% more/longer These times are normally a pipe dream.
More likely are 1 hour to 1.5 hours.
@ 1hour x 2 trips x 22 days per mo x 12= 528 hours or 100% more/longer
@1.5 hours x2 trips x 22 days per mon x12= 792 hours or 200% more/longer
Now the governments that create these situations could compensate those of us that have to commute by letting us deduct commute costs, give a tax credit for commute costs, tax credit for hours used for commuting, pay us for the actual hours the commute actually takes, etc. As you can well imagine the liberal as well as conservative view is already incorporated into the IRS tax code, aka NADA.
Another way of putting it : IF we could go the speed limit for 264/792 hours that would be 17,160 miles vs 51480 miles= difference of 34,320 miles. Anyway you slice it: a TREMENDOUS loss of productivity.
Our little adaptation, normal "gathered" meetings that both car commute occupants would normally have to be at, not to mention the fact each would have to leave @ least an hour earlier, which would further "WASTE" more time, are allowed to dial in to the meeting and are counted "@ work" while commuting.
Took a drive on I-5 today. OMG the LLCs - everywhere. So many slowpokes, only a few speed demons. Only had one close call, an old man in a Hyundai "Touring" who signaled and moved into my lane - without making sure of my position, and I had to move sharply to avoid him. Nothing big otherwise, other than the slowness...saw several cars that couldn't have been doing more than 50, trucks moving slow in the secondmost left lane, only one cop out pulling over the speeders.
"Inconsiderate" is doing something like making a lane change without being aware of where other cars are, making them take action to avoid an accident.
This looks more in the criminal category, i.e. vehicular homicide. Or maybe just a very sad accident, e.g. what if the truck driver blacked out and lost control of the truck? We don't know yet. But way beyond "inconsiderate".
More like criminal negligence. From the bike wrecks I have seen, I bet it was a careless left turn or lane change on the part of the truck, motorcycles always fall victims to cagers who pull those moves.
Not here, but in Brazil it's the other way around.
Motorcycles are prominent in Brazil and act like they own the road. They pass on the left and often hit cars who signal and try to make legal turns.
They split lanes like mad. Cars used to but they ratcheted up enforcement, but 2 wheelers still do.
I witnessed 2 close calls while I was there in July. In both cases had our car not stopped there would have been a serious accident. Remember they're passing on the left, usually at speed.
often have up hill passing lanes which enable cars to overtake the RV's. But, the dirty drivers just behind the RV pass the 5th wheelers going up hill very slowly so as to prevent following cars from also passing before the passing lane runs out. That's inconsiderate. :mad:
I think the only US state where lane splitting is legal is California. It is not legal in Germany either, but it is an unenforced law - probably safer to do it there than here simply because of better drivers in cars. I wouldn't want to split lanes in the Seattle area - the passive aggressive locals might go nuts, and they don't do a good job of staying straight in their lane anyway. For Brazil...well, the motoring culture is still underdeveloped, to put it nicely...so anything goes :shades:
A guy who teaches MSF classes told me, in his opinion, bikers are probably at fault in about 70% of their crashes. Seems to be right. The main thing I worry about here is left turners and blind lane changers, and those who pull blindly into traffic...which is why I don't often go on 2 wheels of any kind.
I've never had any type of remotely serious accident riding.
Whether or not it's true, a motorcycle cop I know, about my age, who also does rider training, claims he has statistics on bike accidents that show about 90% of bike accidents involve one or more of these 3 things...
1-first year rider, 2-alcohol related (rider) 3-driving after dark.
From what I've seen over the years, I tend to believe him.
The NHTSA link that I have posted several times talks about the epidemic in Motorcycle accidents and fatalities. It is even more stark in that the over all safety records are literally the BEST since they have been recording these things
"If you make $35/hour then your wasting about $1,150 dollars of your time."
Some of you waste more time posting here, so I figure if you guys are more than willing to waste over $1,150 dollars of your time posting to edmunds, then driving slower to conserve energy, use less gas, and save money seem more than worth it. If 7 minutes of your day is so critical that you're using it as an excuse to speed, I think you could easily find 7 minutes in your day that's really being wasted to more than cover it :P
Bottom line is that cars get better MPG at 60 mph than at 70 and higher MPG, and it really does drop off fast after 75mph. So for the ones wanting to save money, then slow down, add a few minutes to your drive, save money, and get to your destination more relaxed. You're not "wasting" money, but are saving money. Nobody is paying you to sit in your car!
Or using your logic, you should sleep one hour less per night and gain $35 a day! Or like saying if it takes you 2 hours to mow your lawn, you should pay someone $50 to do it because if you do it your self it costs you $75. Pretty stupid way of looking at time and money.:P
Bikes are in their own world. More popular than ever now, for reasons from fuel saving to fashion accessory. Key problem groups are the typical under 30 year old thrillseekers on overpowered supersports bikes, and retirement aged boomer types on huge heavy cruisers. Both make up virtually all crashes I see here.
The hipsters on their cafe racers and jerky midlife crises execs on top spec Ducatis who never get it past third gear seem to be safer.
The money savings argument is kind of ridiculous. Money savings is a personal choice, anyway.
As is the "relaxing" line - IMNSHO, if the difference between 60 and 70 is the difference between relaxed driving and frantic scared driving, maybe the Prius and penalty box set should stick to state highways and surface streets.
Real world mpg vs speed differences aren't always gigantic. Car in question is a 2012 MB E350 gas:
According to this NHTSA posting "Going Straight" is one of the percentage more to most dangerous (AND by a LOT) . The next dangerous is Negotiating a Curve"
I tend to do that when someone camps in my blind spot (when I'm in the right lane and I see that their lane is clear for passing).
I'll check if there is someone there and wait about 30 seconds for them to complete a pass. If they have made no progress, I signal... and then move into their lane, freeing up the right lane to pass.
Usually, the LLCer then gets hot under the collar, moves into the right lane... and passes like a bat outta hell.
Which is what they were supposed to do in the passing lane, but didn't. Either way, it clears up the road for the free flow of traffic.
If they're in your blind spot for 30 seconds, meaning they are very close to your car and haven't moved much, they deserve to have others cut in front of them.
What irks me is when there is plenty of space in the left lane to pass someone without excessive speed and drama, if only the driver behind me in the left lane would maintain his speed. But the instant they see my lane change signal, they speed up so I need to wait for them to pass or risk a too-close encounter of the insurance adjuster kind. Not too bad if they do that quickly, but it's the mentality of "how dare anyone get in front of me!" that's annoying.
Comments
Certainly not the lady (?) alongside me today, cigarette in one hand, phone in the other, in apparent 'knee-steer' mode.
http://www.legalexaminer.com/automobile-accidents/distractred-driving-reaches-ne- w-low-woman-rear-ends-vehicle-while-shaving-her-privates.aspx?googleid=279480
Only one crosswalk criminal today -middle aged guy in a black fancy GMC pickup who apparently didn't look. Green walk sign, what's that?
Also drove behind a woman in a Lexus LX who was sitting about 2" from the wheel and had another 11:30-12:30 death grip on the wheel. I bet she's skilled! I shudder to think what would happen upon airbag deployment.
I abruptly change lanes to the right lane because I don't have time for someone to hold up traffic in a lane when the light has been green for nearly 10 seconds now.
As I pass him on the right I see that he has his right blinker on and isn't moving forward. I honk as I'm passing and hold the horn for 5-10 straight seconds (eye for eye time wise). As I honk he eventually speeds up to move up to speed, changes into the right lane finally, and then proceeds to make an illegal U-turn behind me.
I have no idea what they were thinking. This was at an extremely busy intersection with traffic backing up severely because of him, and soley him.
You really have to wonder where this lady's mind was at the time she was driving.
I hope she didn't "nic" herself with the razor when the collision occurred!
Can't you see her boyfriend asking "Oh, baby... How did you cut yourself?"
Lol!
That's a pet peeve of mine; some of my HPDE students even try that.
Not for long, however...
Mine: 1995 318ti Club Sport-2020 C43-1996 Speed Triple Challenge Cup Replica
Wife's: 2021 Sahara 4xe
Son's: 2018 330i xDrive
Safest
Mid Atlantic doesn't stand a chance. We'd be on the bottom of that chart.
http://www.google.com/search?q=texas%2085%20mph%20toll%20road
Seattle drivers will rank high for polite, low for common sense.
Big as Texas is, it would still take forever to cross that state.
And let me send a shout out to Texas drivers - best that I've observed.
The state of Texas gets significantly higher royalty payments from the toll road operators if the mph limit is above 80 mph thanif it's 80 mph or lower.
http://abclocal.go.com/wls/story?section=news/national_world&id=8801954
Think that has anything to do with the mph decision?
85 MPH speed limits; gotta love it, why is CA so backwards!?! We've got 15 MPH to go to catch up! Maybe in 2025.
On a related note about inconsiderate auto insurance companies; this story is about home insurance, but it's related in that the company that basically represents the insurance industry for what it is (one big ponzi scheme and scam), also is involved in Auto Insurance as well, and in giving those free radars to local law enforcement officers out of the good of their hearts :P :sick:
http://abcnews.go.com/US/state-farm-faces-criminal-investigation-hurricane-claim- s/story?id=17167218
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Speed_limits_in_the_United_States
Unfortunately MD is 5mph lower than some of its neighbors.
It also talks about how the gov't will count every crash as speed related even if the speed being traveled was a "safe" speed just because it exceeds the posted signage (which we all now know isn't set at the maximum safe speed typically).
http://www.mpgforspeed.com/
interesting calculator...on a 30 mile daily commute by going from 60mph to 80mph you'll lose hundreds of dollars in gas just to save a few minutes on the commute time.
No. Got to come to Chicago for a real city of inconsiderate drivers on the Dan Ryan and shooters on the weekend.
Want a thrill? Put your lives at risk? Drive around Chicago in certain places on a weekend night. Better not be an inconsiderate driver. Very risky.
Turned to hell right off the bat, trying to turn left out of the street where my workplace parking garage is located. A car on the cross street was looking to turn left onto my street - but the driver (looked like a newbie...) was very timid and wouldn't go until nobody was coming for a block. So numerous cars backed up waiting to go.
After that, no issues for a few minutes. Then got behind a distracted woman in a late model MB GL. We get into a left turn lane. Light changes to green, traffic moves, but she doesn't as of course she's playing with her hair or something. So we miss the light. I honk, she wakes up, then decides she's too important to wait, and jerks into the lane to her right, no signal and speeds off. If I could have slammed her head in the door of the tank (she likely didn't pay for) a few dozen times, it would have felt nice. The "we built this" set, I'd wager.
Then the finale, finally get home through the negligently managed traffic controls. I pull into the parking garage, a little voice tells me to keep a careful eye out. Right then I meet up with another newbie pulling out of a blind corner on the wrong side of the road. He gives me a look like I scared the hell out of him, daring to be in front of him. I hope I did.
I was able to pull 38 mpg on a highway trip a couple weeks ago, total of 800 miles with some combined local driving while we were at our destination. Our highway speed was 70, with four passengers and probably 150# of additional cargo. It is rated for 38 mpg highway.
In local driving since then, though, I'm holding over 40 mpg with just me in the car 95% of the time. I'm trying to be fairly tame just to see what kind of economy it will return, but I still get into it once in a while (or maybe a little more frequently than that). :sick:
I think the car is rated 29/38, so if it gives me 38 on a highway trip and 40 on my commute, I'll take it! :shades:
First of all, it seems they used cars from possibly the 90's for this test. I noticed the BMW had a much flatter curve than the other lesser cars that mostly have engines not sold in the US anyway.
Secondly, if you average 80 MPH for 30 miles you'll make that trip in 22.5 minutes. If you average 60 MPH, you'll make that trip take an ultra long and time wasting 30 minutes. The trip will take exactly 33.3% longer. Hardly insignificant time-wise. In fact, I'd call that a complete waste of time, since you shouldn't be conducting business (such as over your cell phone) while driving anyway. Is the gas savings 33.3%? Highly doubtful if your driving a modern vehicle.
Do you really want to waste 7.5 minutes everyday on your commute? That's a short commute, imagine if its longer and you waste even more time. Over the course of a year, you'll waste 32.5 hours of your life driving idiotically slow to work and back.
If you make $35/hour then your wasting about $1,150 dollars of your time. Is the gas savings going to make up for that; highly doubtful. The savings of going slower just doesn't add up. It's the arithmetic!
IF we could go the speed limit, calculations indicate 27 miles would take roughly 27 to 30 mins. per trip x 2 per day or 1 hr per day x 22 days a month x 12=264 hours of R/T commute time.
@ 45 min to 1.5 hours the times become horrific in comparison. 45 min x 2 per day = 1.5 hours x 22 days per mo x12 mo=396 hours of R/T commute time. or 50% more/longer These times are normally a pipe dream.
More likely are 1 hour to 1.5 hours.
@ 1hour x 2 trips x 22 days per mo x 12= 528 hours or 100% more/longer
@1.5 hours x2 trips x 22 days per mon x12= 792 hours or 200% more/longer
Now the governments that create these situations could compensate those of us that have to commute by letting us deduct commute costs, give a tax credit for commute costs, tax credit for hours used for commuting, pay us for the actual hours the commute actually takes, etc. As you can well imagine the liberal as well as conservative view is already incorporated into the IRS tax code, aka NADA.
Another way of putting it : IF we could go the speed limit for 264/792 hours that would be 17,160 miles vs 51480 miles= difference of 34,320 miles. Anyway you slice it: a TREMENDOUS loss of productivity.
Our little adaptation, normal "gathered" meetings that both car commute occupants would normally have to be at, not to mention the fact each would have to leave @ least an hour earlier, which would further "WASTE" more time, are allowed to dial in to the meeting and are counted "@ work" while commuting.
http://www.cnn.com/2012/09/09/us/florida-motorcade-officer-dies/index.html?hpt=h- p_t1
This looks more in the criminal category, i.e. vehicular homicide. Or maybe just a very sad accident, e.g. what if the truck driver blacked out and lost control of the truck? We don't know yet. But way beyond "inconsiderate".
Too many people are too lazy to signal a turn or lane change these days, and I consider it a major traffic violation that poses significant risks.
Many don't really look before they change lanes, either. Older people and 4x4 drivers seem to be best at that.
On my drive yesterday, saw a [non-permissible content removed] in a previous gen Infiniti M weaving in and out of traffic, never used a signal once.
Plus you'll be 5 minutes early instead of being 3 minutes late.
Get there easly and earn that promotion and you'll easily cover the 13 cents' worth of gas.
Not here, but in Brazil it's the other way around.
Motorcycles are prominent in Brazil and act like they own the road. They pass on the left and often hit cars who signal and try to make legal turns.
They split lanes like mad. Cars used to but they ratcheted up enforcement, but 2 wheelers still do.
I witnessed 2 close calls while I was there in July. In both cases had our car not stopped there would have been a serious accident. Remember they're passing on the left, usually at speed.
Is it? I wonder if that varies by jurisdiction.
When I was a kid, it was total chaos.
You pull up to a green light on a 3 lane road, and there would be 5 cars side-by-side. Plus another 7 motorcycles squeezing in.
Totally nuts.
A guy who teaches MSF classes told me, in his opinion, bikers are probably at fault in about 70% of their crashes. Seems to be right. The main thing I worry about here is left turners and blind lane changers, and those who pull blindly into traffic...which is why I don't often go on 2 wheels of any kind.
Same people who camp in the left lane and are too timid to take free right turns, I bet.
Just over half of all bike crashes are 1st year riders. I think after a year you experience a scare and stop taking stupid risks, basically.
It's all about getting the muscle memory. Once you don't panic anymore and grab the throttle when you want to stop, the crashes go down.
I've never had any type of remotely serious accident riding.
Whether or not it's true, a motorcycle cop I know, about my age, who also does rider training, claims he has statistics on bike accidents that show about 90% of bike accidents involve one or more of these 3 things...
1-first year rider,
2-alcohol related (rider)
3-driving after dark.
From what I've seen over the years, I tend to believe him.
Some of you waste more time posting here, so I figure if you guys are more than willing to waste over $1,150 dollars of your time posting to edmunds, then driving slower to conserve energy, use less gas, and save money seem more than worth it. If 7 minutes of your day is so critical that you're using it as an excuse to speed, I think you could easily find 7 minutes in your day that's really being wasted to more than cover it :P
Bottom line is that cars get better MPG at 60 mph than at 70 and higher MPG, and it really does drop off fast after 75mph. So for the ones wanting to save money, then slow down, add a few minutes to your drive, save money, and get to your destination more relaxed. You're not "wasting" money, but are saving money. Nobody is paying you to sit in your car!
Or using your logic, you should sleep one hour less per night and gain $35 a day! Or like saying if it takes you 2 hours to mow your lawn, you should pay someone $50 to do it because if you do it your self it costs you $75. Pretty stupid way of looking at time and money.:P
The hipsters on their cafe racers and jerky midlife crises execs on top spec Ducatis who never get it past third gear seem to be safer.
As is the "relaxing" line - IMNSHO, if the difference between 60 and 70 is the difference between relaxed driving and frantic scared driving, maybe the Prius and penalty box set should stick to state highways and surface streets.
Real world mpg vs speed differences aren't always gigantic. Car in question is a 2012 MB E350 gas:
According to this NHTSA posting "Going Straight" is one of the percentage more to most dangerous (AND by a LOT) . The next dangerous is Negotiating a Curve"
Bottom Graph or Graphic
I'll check if there is someone there and wait about 30 seconds for them to complete a pass. If they have made no progress, I signal... and then move into their lane, freeing up the right lane to pass.
Usually, the LLCer then gets hot under the collar, moves into the right lane... and passes like a bat outta hell.
Which is what they were supposed to do in the passing lane, but didn't. Either way, it clears up the road for the free flow of traffic.
What irks me is when there is plenty of space in the left lane to pass someone without excessive speed and drama, if only the driver behind me in the left lane would maintain his speed. But the instant they see my lane change signal, they speed up so I need to wait for them to pass or risk a too-close encounter of the insurance adjuster kind. Not too bad if they do that quickly, but it's the mentality of "how dare anyone get in front of me!" that's annoying.