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Making my way through the plains from Texas to Canada, I couldn't help but notice how fast I had to drive to keep up with the flow of Oklahoman drivers (picture very related). Also of note, the only cars hogging the fast lane had Texan license plates. On the other hand, Nebraskans seemed to be the most conservative drivers. Which states stand out to you in terms of fast or slow drivers?
Posted speed limit on highways in Massachusetts is either 55 or 65. Regardless, you have to be breaking 90 for a police officer to even CONSIDER pulling you over.
Used to drive back to college after coming home for the weekend at like 92 mph and have never been pulled over in my life.
one of the slowest states = florida. People drive so slow and relaxed down there, I love it.
Though not normally the fastest by any means, a couple of times when I lived in Tennessee I'd be going with the flow of traffic on the interstate, only to look down and notice we were going 90-100. But that was abnormally fast. Usually the fast lane would have people going 80-85, the next two lanes would be a mixture of anywhere from 65-75, and the right lane would be 70, then 40, then 70, then 45, etc. Incredibly annoying. The only time I've driven here in Washington was when I was moving here. I didn't see many people going more than 70. In Seattle, the traffic was somewhat heavy (not rush hour), slow (50-60) but steady, and very polite. I was unfamiliar with the interstates in that area, but I found if I gave a turn signal I had no trouble changing lanes when I needed to. That was a lot more rare in the Nashville area, where sometimes I'd give a signal and people would speed up just to keep me from changing lanes. On my way to Washington, I drove through Kentucky, Indiana, Illinois, Wisconsin, Minnesota, South Dakota, Wyoming, Montana, and the skinny part of Idaho, and I didn't notice any especially fast drivers going through any of those states. Most seemed a little slower than the fastest drivers in TN, but faster than the slowest. I didn't see as much variation, in other words. I did notice an oddly large number of extreme tailgaters in Indiana, though.
Illinois: We drive pretty fast here. In and around Chicago is the fastest. It comes with the fast paced city. The people in rural Illinois are a bit slower but faster than neighboring states.
Wisconsin: The further north you go, the slower you get. Southern Wisconsin is decent, although still slower than most Chicagoans. When I drive though northern Wisconsin I pass every WI plate on the road.
Minnesota: Slower than Wisconsin. You get some faster drivers (especially around the Twin Cities), but most people in this state are slowpokes.
South Dakota: Slowest drivers in the nation, from my experience. I think an SD plate is going unusually fast when they are going the speed limit.
Montana: Pretty damn fast. When I was out west I would pass WY and SD plates, but the Montanans were constantly passing me.
Wyoming: Much slower than Montana. They keep to the speed limit.
Indiana: Fast compared to most of the union, but, like Wisconsin, appear very slow because of their fast Illinois counterparts.
You were doing 105 to "keep up with the flow of traffic"? I don't believe you, sorry.
I agree. Who drives 105mph and whines about having to drive that fast? OP, I hope that picture is not from your car. There is no reason ANYONE should be driving that fast on public roads/highways. I've owned some high powered muscle cars capable of 130mph+ in a 1/4 mile, but I never, NEVER took one of them to triple digits on a highway. If you intend to drive that fast, do it on a track, not a public road. Speed limits are there for reasons, safety. You may be a great driver, good for you. But that does not mean the other drivers are anticipating your fast moving vehicle. It's the law enforcements job to take care of the speeding problem, not for us to drive like the others are.
Now on to the realistic drivers across this region. If that comment is to be about Oklahoma, I've lived here all my life. Yes, most drivers here drive 3-12 mph over the speed limit. There are the occasional drivers who will be driving 80-85 in a 65mph zone, some will get up to 95 down 75mph turnpikes, but 20 over is about the fastest I see on about a 1:20 ratio. A lot of drivers around here are like me, set my cruise at the speed limit, but most often they are slightly faster than me (which is about 8mph over).
I'm sorry if my comment offends anyone, but the law is the law.
Last edited by thegolfer86; 10-25-2011 at 11:08 PM..
Reason: Had to delete my previous comment, because I'm sure it would've pissed some people off.
In Pennsylvania, most drivers are pretty uniform with their speeds, although the average speed seems to get faster from west to east. (In Pittsburgh, speeds are typically slow due to the terrain and the labyrinthine road network.) With that said, I-80 through Pennsylvania has to have one of the highest average speeds of any stretch of Interstate in the eastern United States, due to a high percentage of "extreme" speeders (100+ miles per hour).
In Georgia, there's a large speed differential. The fast drivers are very fast, and jackrabbit away from a stop. The slow drivers are very slow, and they don't even bother accelerating away from a stop -- they simply gain momentum. This creates chaos on any Interstate with moderate traffic since you're combining a high speed differential with the typical American lack of lane discipline.
I agree with Gnutella on the Georgia drivers. The fast drivers are really fast, and the slow ones are extremely slow. Nobody really drives with any common sense in this state or the South in general IMO.
The slowest drivers I've ever encountered were in Northeast Georgia between Gainesville and Athens.
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On my way to Washington, I drove through Kentucky, Indiana, Illinois, Wisconsin, Minnesota, South Dakota, Wyoming, Montana, and the skinny part of Idaho, and I didn't notice any especially fast drivers going through any of those states. Most seemed a little slower than the fastest drivers in TN, but faster than the slowest. I didn't see as much variation, in other words. I did notice an oddly large number of extreme tailgaters in Indiana, though.
