This is yet another driving thread (I spend way too much time in my car, it seems :().
There is a road I travel on routinely. The speed limit on that road is 35 miles per hour, and most of the traffic is going along at 40 or 45. Eventually, that road crosses a river, and as soon as you get to the bridge, the speed limit increases to 45, but the actual speed of traffic, while doing 10 miles over the limit beforehand, tends to slow down to about 35 (10 miles under the speed limit, for the mathematically challenged). This is not a particularly narrow bridge, there is a decent shoulder on either side. No curvature to it either, it is dead straight!
Is there some kind of psychological phobia relating to crossing bridges? If so, would this strange slow-down of traffic be a symptom that driver of the lead car has it?
Are some people just afraid of bridges?
Shit yes. I hate the damn things. I usually don’t even notice though and drive right across. But put me on a real high footbridge and I’ll sweat like bullets the entire time. I was forced to walk across this thing once as a kid on vacation and nearly broke down crying. Thanks Mom and Dad!
I have no idea if it’s affecting traffic in your area.
Have you considered that it may not be fear, but awe or curiousity which makes people slow down? If people were slowing down on a bridge crossing a river, my first guess would be that they were enjoying the view rather than fearing it.
If I was scared, I think I would punch it and try to get over as quickly as possible. I’m agreeing with “slowing down to enjoy the view” theory. We have a drawbridge here and I especially love riding my bike over the middle because it feels like I’m going to fall, like there is not much underneath me.
Oh yeah. Any long and/or high-elevation bridges give me the willies big time.
C’mon over to Michigan and drive the Mackinac Bridge. In the winter. With a high-wind alert. (remembering the fact that a woman driving in her Yugo got blown right off the side of the thing into the straits 400 feet below).
Yep… crossing the Mighty Mac can twist otherwise sane drivers into curled up balls of sweat.
I’ve been back and forth across it at least 30 times in all sorts of weather in my lifetime, but those crossings have caused me to cast a hairy eyeball at any bridge crossing anywhere I may be.
Well, Wikipedia Answered one part of my own question, anyway.
As to all the speed demons I end up gaining on when the speed limit goes up, perhaps they are just enjoying the view, I guess. Having lived in the area so long, I guess I just never thought it was much to look at.
In a column, Cecil was once asked why traffic slows down on crowded highways, and he referred to a psychological phenomenon called “the fear of violent death.” It’s the same principle. Many drivers realize that the bridge adds another dimension of danger to the driving experience, because on an ordinary road, even if a tractor-trailer comes hurtling at you and forces you off the road, you’re not going to fall forty feet and risk drowning. With less room to maneuver, it’s not irrational to try to minimize distractions and improve one’s ability to respond to the unexpected, and for some drivers, that’s going to mean slowing down.
The Chesapeake Bay Bridge (Lane Bridge) in Maryland is also considered infamous for frightening people. Problem is, it’s a major thoroughfare between DC and Baltimore on the west and the Eastern Shore (Ocean City MD, Rehoboth, Chincoteague) on the east. There’s a business that makes money renting drivers to people to drive their cars over the bridge. Just recently, there was a accident on the bridge where a car was pushed off the bridge after being hit by a truck and the driver survived by climbing onto a piling until a boat came by. I’ve driven over this bridge lots of times. Great trip, very scenic.
The slowdown may be a result of the particular surface of the road. I’ve encountered some bridges that felt like I was driving on small speed bumps. And slowing traffic may actually be the purpose of that kind of surface.
I don’t mind bridges as long as it’s not windy or icy. And at least they’re not tunnels.
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I hate bridges. I had to drive over the Sunshine State Skyway in St. Petersburg and I still get sweaty thinking about it.
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I was in high school when 35 people died driving off that bridge when it collapsed. I still drive the skyway sometimes. It’s hard not think about that when you get to the top.
Interesting. I hate bridges. I literally could not walk across the Brooklyn Bridge when I was in NYC. Knowing that it had been standing since 1883 and that people don’t tend to fall off it for no reason didn’t help. I have walked across the Victoria Falls Bridge, and it was absolute hell, I’d take a double root canal any day.
I always thought the slow-up was attributable to another issue that has not been mentioned, namely down-shifting trucks. Bridge approaches can be pretty steep, and trucks need to get into a lower gear to handle the incline. Am I right?
Following your link I eventually landed on a list of the scarriest bridges in the world. I found this one (pedestrian, with a video made by someone crossing it) particularly frightening.
