[aj661]

Originally Posted by osat

Everyone criticized fast drivers, tailgaters, but nobody did even mentioned – slow drivers.
Just imagine, speed limit is 65mph, if you pass this limit up to 10 mph no speed ticket will be issued.
Now, you are driving on 101 north bound and on front of you “sit “ on the freeway, I am sorry to use this term, three darn hicks and block whole freeway at speed less then 65mph.
And this is better?
I am European and I do not suggest not even to wish German rules.
Did you know, by European rules, if anyone has to brake because of you, you are in traffic violation?
Yes, that is correct. And do not forget to turn on side sign when you are changing lanes, at list 10 sec BEFORE you are changing lane and not after.
Another one, do you know on Autobahn is no speed limit?

Is not so perfect idea to criticize the others, we need to ask our self how moral drivers we are.
I am not so good: I am driving fast, almost always 8mph above speed limit, sorry, bad habit, when somebody block me on LEFT lane, and ahead of him a mile no one, yes, I am sitting on his tail …

And on the end, the most drivers who you can meet on 101, would pay a lot penalty in Europe, but not because of speed, but other traffic violations are more deadly, like changing lines w/o no sign, cut off at high speed, to slow driving on left lane, using a cell phone when driving, etc.

If I hurt anyone I apologize. I just thought might be good to se other side also.
Have a nice evening

Sorry I didn't mention every possible violation in addition to speed. Arizona has two statutes that apply to driving slow. Both can be hazardous, although most often only in that they induce frustration in other drivers, who then commit more severe traffic offenses which are truly dangerous. Also, I wouldn't have mentioned Germany if I wasn't somewhat familiar with their traffic laws.

With regard to speed, IF you are on the road alone and IF nothing darts in front of you causing you to swerve, then over-correct, then enter an unrecoverable critical speed yaw and IF you don't have a blowout with the same results and IF the car you are tailgating doesn't dynamite his brakes because a couch fell out of the truck in front of him, etc,etc,etc, then, sure; it IS safe to go fast. But IF anything goes wrong, it's a matter of simple physics. Like the joke goes, it isn't the fall off a ten story building that kills you - it's that sudden stop at the end. In other words, it isn't how fast you travel, it's how fast you stop - your change in velocity. The faster you go, the greater the change in velocity is likely to be. Every crash involves three collisions: When the vehicles reach maximum engagement, they stop but the occupants are still moving. After the occupants are stopped by seatbelts, airbags or dashboards, they stop but their internal organs are still moving. Finally, the internal organs stop after hitting the chest cavity wall. If that change in velocity is too great, the organs are damaged and you may die. I saw two people walk away from high speed crashes, only to die shortly thereafter because a ruptured aorta caused them to bleed out internally. Do you know why cars have airbags, crumple-zones and seatbelts? Because they slow the change in velocity, which increases your chance for survival - up to a point.

Stopping distances begin increase almost exponentially at higher speeds. Reaction times become hyper critical. The average perception-reaction time is between 1.50 to 1.75 seconds. I use the higher number because most drivers do not have a plan and allowing 0.25 seconds for that moment of "deer in the headlights" freeze-up, panic and disbelief is not unreasonable. At the 80-85 mph used by brittZ, you'll travel approximately 205 to 218 feet before perception becomes reaction. Question: If you have a blow-out (not just a flat) of your right rear tire at that speed, do you know what your car will do and can you safely bring it under control without over-correcting? If you can you are in a minority. Not many driving schools teach this outside a classroom. They may have written instructions and you can memorize them, but until you actually get on a track and practice over and over (at much lower speeds), chances are you'll get it wrong and you will lose control. As for tailgating, if the driver ahead does make a panic stop, practice all you want. You will rear end him. Is it unlikely he'll suddenly stand on the brakes? Maybe, but honestly, how times in your life would it have to happen to be considered a bad thing? And if he happens to be a little unstable and does it because you pushed him over the edge by riding his bumper, are you going to feel better knowing that it's illegal to brake unsafely?

Many years ago I attended an advanced collision investigation school put on by one of the best reconstructionists in the United States. He started the first day with a realistic sounding scenario of a child running onto a residential street in front of a car. Using formulas plugging in perception-reaction time, coefficient of friction, braking efficiencies etc., he demonstrated how an average driver traveling at 25 mph would stop in time to avoid hitting the child. Using the same data but with a speed of 30 mph, only 5 miles per hour over the posted speed limit, that same driver would not be able to stop until he was 11 feet past the point he struck the child. That day had a very profound effect on me. The scenario he used was realistic because he investigated the collision in which that child was run over. I drive 20-22 mph in residential areas and I don't care who I p*** off. If there are cars along both curbs, it's 15 mph. In my world, residential streets are potentially more dangerous than school zones. There aren't any crossing guards looking after the kids.

TRY to let the numbers sink in. Over 45,000 deaths every year. That's fifteen times the number killed on 9/11. Imagine everyone at a sold-out D-Backs game dying. Imagine it happening at a different stadium, every year. I know I've said this before but my God, that's almost as many people as were killed in the entire war in Viet Nam.

I apologize for giving a lecture and preaching, but not for making anyone uncomfortable. This is a subject I'm very passionate about. I lost a friend seven years ago when he was rear-ended and burned to death in his patrol car on US60. But the hardest thing for me that I had to do, and more times than I care to remember, was tell a family that a loved one was killed in a senseless, preventable collision. In 1986 I had to tell a man that everyone else in his family - his wife, sister and two adult daughters - were dead, crushed in their car by an 80,000 lb. tractor-trailer. I'll never get the look on that poor old man's face out of my mind. The list goes on and on and on. But this isn't about me. I chose that job and I'd do it again in a heartbeat.

This is about the 30-35,000 people who are still waiting their turn to die in 2007.

Today is Good Friday and I promise anything I post for the rest of the day will be humorous or I'll stay away from the computer. (Schools out!!!!) Not to mention we are WAY off topic here. Just promise me you will drive safely, even if only for this weekend. Take care people.