You can't drive 55!

How many times have you driven on any road, and after passing the posted speed limit sign, noticed that everyone around you is speeding? Why is this? Why can't anyone obey the speed limit law? What is wrong with our society that it seems that almost everyone ignores these safe speeds?

These people: Leon James, professor of psychology, University of Hawaii; co-author, Road Rage and Aggressive Driving; Judith Stone, president, Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety; Richard Retting, senior transportation engineer, Insurance Institute of Highway Safety: discuss this very issue here:

Psychology Behind the Wheel: Why do we speed?

Most states are tough on drunken drivers, but speeders actually cause the most deadly car crashes. Yet, even when they're caught, many speeders get off easy. Guests discuss the psychology behind the desire to speed and why drivers think nothing of going above the limit.

Also speeding is indeed dangerous:

Speeding is a major contributing factor in crashes of all types. In 2003, speeding was a contributing factor in 31 percent of all fatal crashes.2 Speeding has serious consequences when a pedestrian is involved. A pedestrian hit at 64.4 km/h (40 mi/h) has an 85 percent chance of being killed; at 48.3 km/h (30 mi/h), the likelihood goes down to 45 percent, while at 32.2 km/h (20 mi/h), the fatality rate is only 5 percent.10 Faster speeds increase the likelihood of a pedestrian being hit. At higher speeds, motorists are less likely to see a pedestrian, and are even less likely to be able to stop in time to avoid hitting one.

PEDSAFE: crash statistics

What happens at 60 km/h vs 100 km/h:



A collection of videos that might make you think twice before speeding:



Slow down, save lives.

No one does because we know that the police won't pull you over unless you're doing 15mph over the limit, in most places.

But I'm the guy that you want to pass because I'm going so slow. I do it to extend my mpg.

On the highway if its posted 55 I usually drive 60-65
It's a more comfortable speed for me and is usually how fast the flow of traffic goes.

Obviously going 100 on a 55 is dangerous. That's just common sense.

While speeding may be the cause of a lot of accidents, it's a little sneaky to put those pedestrian statistics in there when talking about highway speeding. If there is a pedestrian on a highway, they've probably got a deathwish anyway. And if there's only a 15% chance of survival at 40mph, I'd have to imagine 55mph (the lowest "standard" speed limit for a highway) is pretty close to 0%. With regard to pedestrian safety, there's not much difference between driving 55mph and 80mph.

reply to post by AutOmatIc


Of course more speed equals more damage upon impact, but there are not enough studies on what traffic obstructions do to cause accidents.

Extremely slow, defensive, and/or indecisive drivers are much more dangerous in my opinion. If 6 cars see an opening, and are ready to turn and exploit that opening, and one of the front cars starts to go, and then has second thoughts, it is likely to cause an accident, because all of the others have already seen them start, and looked ahead to more important things. Even on a race track a hesitant, scared, or rookie driver is much more likely to cause an accident than the ones travelling much faster!

Since the defensive driver is rarely involved in the accident, they move on afterwards even though they are the underlying cause, and nobody takes their participation into account.

here in the uk the speed limit is also supposed to let you know about the dangers around so 30mph = plenty of people/kids running out / hidden driveways etc, while 40 normally means a bit more space to see whats around you and so on and so on until you hit 70 mph where it basically should be nothing coming at you by suprise from the sides etc but as we know some people only know two speeds stop and the speed of light and wont be happy until their car is as cose to the light speed barrier as possible

reply to post by AutOmatIc


I live in Colorado. We have a provably of everyone driving UNDER the speed limit. It drives me INSANE!! Its a PITA and its a hazard for those of us who do drive the speed limit...or over.

I admit...I have a need for speed. I should have been a race car driver. lol
We also have 75mph roads and they are really fun to drive on. lol
But im also a very safe and in control driver.....

I grew up around fast cars....it is in my blood :/

Originally posted by xEphon
On the highway if its posted 55 I usually drive 60-65
It's a more comfortable speed for me and is usually how fast the flow of traffic goes.

Obviously going 100 on a 55 is dangerous. That's just common sense.

But it's fun!

reply to post by AutOmatIc


I've noticed this as well and it's quite frightening how every time I'm on a 65 traffic is flowing 75 or higher, and in a 55 everyone's doing at least 65. People apparently care MORE about their destination than they do about surviving the journey and having enough reaction-time to survive if something goes wrong. Are mundane every day destinations REALLY worth the added danger of speeding?

60 miles per hour is A MILE PER MINUTE, I don't know about the rest of you but that seems pretty damn fast to me.

Originally posted by Titen-Sxull


60 miles per hour is A MILE PER MINUTE, I don't know about the rest of you but that seems pretty damn fast to me.

How did you figure that out? Did you cut it in half?

The police can't be bothered with speeders cause they can't be bothered with paperwork.

Also, if ANYONE challenges a speeding ticket in court, the issuing officer needs to show up in court as well. If the issuing officer doesn't show up, it gets thrown out automatically.

Most officers know that many speeding tickets just get thrown out, so they don't bother.

Originally posted by babybunnies
The police can't be bothered with speeders cause they can't be bothered with paperwork.

Also, if ANYONE challenges a speeding ticket in court, the issuing officer needs to show up in court as well. If the issuing officer doesn't show up, it gets thrown out automatically.

Most officers know that many speeding tickets just get thrown out, so they don't bother.

This is true for sure, and even the red light camera tickets are pretty much useless nowadays. Can we not invent a system that can be put into place on all roadways that can accurately catch speeders and ticket them so we can cut down on this?

Originally posted by satron

Originally posted by xEphon
On the highway if its posted 55 I usually drive 60-65
It's a more comfortable speed for me and is usually how fast the flow of traffic goes.

Obviously going 100 on a 55 is dangerous. That's just common sense.

But it's fun!

It might be fun until you crash and either die, or kill a child in another car....think about it.

reply to post by satron


What?

There are 60 minutes in an hour, so if you are traveling 60 miles in one hour you're traveling 1 mile for every minute.

Originally posted by babybunnies
The police can't be bothered with speeders cause they can't be bothered with paperwork.

Also, if ANYONE challenges a speeding ticket in court, the issuing officer needs to show up in court as well. If the issuing officer doesn't show up, it gets thrown out automatically.

Most officers know that many speeding tickets just get thrown out, so they don't bother.

I want to live where you live!! In this budget crisis the cops here have been told there is "no such thing as a warning!" They are ticketing everyone for everything they can think of! Also, we have dedicated traffic cops, where all they do for an entire shift is write tickets! They even have fancy DL scanners, that scan your license, and print your ticket out almost instantly, so they can get back on the road and give MORE TICKETS!!

The traffic court officials NEVER dismiss a ticket because an officer didn't show. They have set up some special loopholes that require you to file certain things, in writing at least 30 days in advance, or otherwise you end up waiving your rights to the trial, and even if you show up, you still lose. They also will continue your hearing to a later date if the officer doesn't show because of "official duty," and it is always official duty.

No way to get out of ticket here, unless you pay an attorney, then it gets downgraded to a non-moving violation, but the fine gets increased, but there are no points, so your insurance doesn't go up. In that way, you can pay the county a little extra to keep from paying the insurance company even more.

It's all a giant SCAM!

Originally posted by AutOmatIc

Originally posted by babybunnies
The police can't be bothered with speeders cause they can't be bothered with paperwork.

Also, if ANYONE challenges a speeding ticket in court, the issuing officer needs to show up in court as well. If the issuing officer doesn't show up, it gets thrown out automatically.

Most officers know that many speeding tickets just get thrown out, so they don't bother.

This is true for sure, and even the red light camera tickets are pretty much useless nowadays. Can we not invent a system that can be put into place on all roadways that can accurately catch speeders and ticket them so we can cut down on this?

What the hell? Really?

You want more cameras? More automatic penalties? More government intrusion? So that you can feel a tiny bit safer from a danger that may or may not even be real?

Good God I have little hope for the future of our country. This is a scary notion. I'd rather run across the busy interstate blindfolded than to give the governments extra power to punish and regulate us more and more autonomously.

Originally posted by AutOmatIc

Originally posted by satron

Originally posted by xEphon
On the highway if its posted 55 I usually drive 60-65
It's a more comfortable speed for me and is usually how fast the flow of traffic goes.

Obviously going 100 on a 55 is dangerous. That's just common sense.

But it's fun!

It might be fun until you crash and either die, or kill a child in another car....think about it.

many states you can drive 75 on highways......yet there are no more accidents than states were 55 is the limit.

i dont buy into "driving faster" is more dangerous. being a crappy driver is more dangerous. do you realize how many accidents are caused by slow drivers? many! how about distracted drivers?

sorry, i dont buy into driving faster = more dangerous. the driver is what is dangerous....not the speed.

you can run over and kill people driving TWENTY FIVE....

Originally posted by TurkeyTots
While speeding may be the cause of a lot of accidents, it's a little sneaky to put those pedestrian statistics in there when talking about highway speeding. If there is a pedestrian on a highway, they've probably got a deathwish anyway. And if there's only a 15% chance of survival at 40mph, I'd have to imagine 55mph (the lowest "standard" speed limit for a highway) is pretty close to 0%. With regard to pedestrian safety, there's not much difference between driving 55mph and 80mph.

edit on 6-4-2012 by TurkeyTots because: (no reason given)

Sorry if I came across as just meaning highway driving. I had originally meant all roadways. But, I have seen personally someone die from trying to cross a highway by walking across it, it was really bad. Also in a most recent trip to California (San Francisco) I was riding with a friend who I noticed was going at least 90mph, and I was amazed because there were many people passing us....it was indeed scary lol...and made me wonder why people feel the need to flex their machismo muscles and drive that fast...it seems as though we're all in a hurry to go nowhere fast!

Here in BC, the average highway speed limit is 110 kph, about 70 mph, but almost everyone knows the RCMP police will almost always turn a blind eye under 130 kph (about 80 mph for you Yanks).

In Britain, the highway (motorway) speed limit is 70 mph, but police turn a blind eye almost all the time unless you do over 100 mph, or at least, they used to - it might have changed since I lived there.

Originally posted by getreadyalready

Originally posted by AutOmatIc

Originally posted by babybunnies
The police can't be bothered with speeders cause they can't be bothered with paperwork.

Also, if ANYONE challenges a speeding ticket in court, the issuing officer needs to show up in court as well. If the issuing officer doesn't show up, it gets thrown out automatically.

Most officers know that many speeding tickets just get thrown out, so they don't bother.

This is true for sure, and even the red light camera tickets are pretty much useless nowadays. Can we not invent a system that can be put into place on all roadways that can accurately catch speeders and ticket them so we can cut down on this?

What the hell? Really?

You want more cameras? More automatic penalties? More government intrusion? So that you can feel a tiny bit safer from a danger that may or may not even be real?

Good God I have little hope for the future of our country. This is a scary notion. I'd rather run across the busy interstate blindfolded than to give the governments extra power to punish and regulate us more and more autonomously.

Was just a thought. Also, why have speed limits then? If nobody is going to obey the law? Why not just take all the signs down and let everyone drive as fast as they feel like?