Contrary to popular belief, speed limits are set for ideal conditions. The safe, and legal, speed may be considerably less, depending on lighting, road and weather conditions.
I see plenty of “aggressive” drivers who will travel at the speed limit or above in fog, rain and snow. They also tend to be the people who weave through lanes, tailgate, and fail to use their signals.
Present company excluded, right? 
Oh, and you know that, just like every governmental institution, these laws are created with a significant safety margin. Again, if driving 10mph was sooo very dangerous, then there would be faar more killer accidents on the highways because it’s just so common.
Whoops, that should have been “if driving 10mph over the speed limit was sooo very dangerous, then there would be faar more killer accidents on the highways because it’s just so common.”
Bad weather can eliminate that safety margin, and more. Some people scare the hell out of me. When I’m driving in moderate or heavy rain, there seems to be no shortage of morons in SUVs and small trucks*, flying down the road as if driving conditions were perfect. If anything does go wrong, they will get a quick lesson in hydroplaning, stopping distances on wet pavement, and why a high center-of-gravity is not your friend. I just pray that I am not in the area when things go wrong.
I’ve got a reputation for driving fast, but there are conditions under which I’ll drop below the speed limit. Usually it’s because I want to be sure I’ll be able to keep control of my car at the speed I’m going in the current conditions. I do get a bit paranoid in snow and ice or even heavy rains (I do mean heavy, not drizzle), which is why I keep to the slow lane. If I’m not sure I’ll be able to keep control of my vehicle, I’ll slow down. If I’m not sure I can stop my vehicle in the distance I can see, I’ll slow down. I like driving fast, but if my windshield wipers are going full blast, I will slow down. If it gets too bad, I’ll even find a rest stop or a business where I can pull over and stop until things get to the point where I can see again. In my state you can also be ticketed for driving too fast for conditions. This happened to a former co-worker who skidded off the road one wintry morning. Even though he was going below the speed limit, he was ticketed for driving too fast for conditions, the skid itself being evidence that he was.
This brings me to the second reason I’ll slow down: police officers. I got a speeding ticket once; I’ve got better things to spend my money on. If I’m driving on a stretch of road which I know is patrolled regularly, I will be more careful about how fast I’m going. I have been tailgated for going the speed limit on roads where I know full well there’s likely to be a policeman waiting a mile or so down the road. Unfortunately, the days I was tailgated, the policeman wasn’t there.
There’s one other significant reaon I’ll drive slowly. I love backroads and I love exploring. If I’m driving down a road I’ve never driven down before, or have only driven down a few times, I’ll go more slowly because roads around here do twist and turn and go up and down hills. I’d prefer not to come over the top of a hill and find the curve that was coming was a lot sharper than planned or that there’s a policeman with a radar gun sitting and waiting for me.
Look, I get as impatient with slow drivers as anyone, and there’s an on-ramp near me which is beautifully designed for hitting the interstate at speed which is why it annoys me when people take it about 30 miles below the speed limit. On the other hand, sometimes there are legitimate reasons.
Now, if only someone can explain to me why people insist on driving through tunnels in my city at 20 or 30 miles below the speed limit! I promise, you folks, the dreaded Tunnel Monster died years ago! 
CJ
Yep, that would be why I said earlier…
Everybody drives slower than the speed limit from time to time. You have to sometimes. But there are some people that NEVER drive AT the speed limit. I think it’s those people that the OP is addressing.
Oh, and I’d like to add… I don’t care one iota about the speed you drive, provided you allow room for me and my fellow considerate drivers to pass safely. Don’t drive right next to anyone else that is driving the same speed as you… EVER! (Unless traffic is too heavy.) And never ever drive in someone’s blindspot. And don’t EVER let someone else drive in YOUR blindspot. You should ALWAYS allow at least two car lengths between your car and the car in front or behind you in all 3 lanes around you. (Again, unless traffic is too heavy in which case you pretty much can’t switch lanes anyway, and no one can pass anyway.)
Not necessarily. Note all of the fairly recent increases in speed limits on highways. What was once 55 is now 65 or 70. The roads have not changed, just the speed limit.
Under normal (good) road conditions, there’s really no reason to drive below the speed limit, generally it’s perfectly safe to be at the limit, or 5mph above. I consider it a bit rude to block traffic this way, sort of like going through the grocery line and pulling out your blank check at the very last minute. Is it the end of the world? No. Is it annoying? Yes.
I’m condemned to driving like a Buick driver for the next couple of years. I got two speeding tickets in two weeks – remember, this is Ohio – so now, I tend to drive at the limit, if not a few MPH above. Lots of people give me the “you’re number one!” sign now; that’s my punishment for being a leadfoot in the past.
Last week I nearly bought it because, on my way home from work, I was driving happily down the highway at approximately 57 mph, stuck in the right lane because of a long line of traffic in the left, when all of a sudden the 9000 year old man who had just pulled off the highway onto an exit ramp decided he really didn’t want to exit. He gets out of the exit lane about one micron from my front bumper and is going approximately 40 mph. Thankfully, the people behind me also had good brakes, as we all had to slow down immediately to accomodate the turtle in the twenty year old station wagon who could not see over the steering wheel. He was one of those tiny, tiny old people who drives by looking between the dash and the top of the steering wheel.
After five miles of him speeding up to 50 and then slowing down to 35, I was finally able to pass him, which is when I determined that he couldn’t see over the steering wheel and was rapidly closing in on his 9000th birthday. He was weaving all over the place, and apparently couldn’t hear the honking of horns of various cars around him.
Please people, if you’re going to do 35 in a 55 on I-70 when everyone else is quite naturally trucking along at 60 to 65, put the flashers on, stay in ONE LANE, and don’t use the exit ramps to play slalom.
There’s two slightly different types of ‘slow’ drivers. There’s those that always drive below the speed limit, no matter what. That’s bad driving - in the UK you’d fail your test because of it ("excessive caution’’).
But as has been pointed out several times, it’s not always safe to drive at the speed limit on all roads and in all conditions. In that case, we’re all making our own assessment of the safe speed at which to drive, and in circumstances when we might still feel just about comfortable to stay on the limit, there’s other drivers who will make a slightly different judgement. There’s cases where I know a road well, and are aware of a patch of poor surfacing and potholes that’s up ahead, or a patch that’s prone to sudden patches of fog, and I’ll take my speed down appropriately. People behind often don’t know why I’m doing this and get irate. Until they hit one of the potholes.
And to put it in perspective - if you’re forced to drive at 55 rather than 60 for a whole hour, you’re still only five minutes later than you would have been.
(And IMO any complaint about slow drivers is invalidated when the complainer is arguing that they’re being prevented from going above the limit. It implies they’d also complain about somebody who sticks to the limit itself.)
Aggressive drivers particularly tailgaters cause me to slow down, possibly to less than the speed limit. The closer you get to my rear bumper the more room I have to give the car in front of me. Otherwise I run the risk of having you rear end me should the car I am following decelerate. The more room I give the car in front the more reaction time you will have because I can brake more softly. Slowing also encourages aggressive drivers to pass which is a good thing.
Good driving is about cooperation not aggression.
Just wait till you are 75 or so and eysight is not up to par and YOU are driving at 5 to 10 mph below the limit.
Maybe a great big semi will ride your bumper and play tag with you. Then you may recall your impatience.
What do you do when you get where ever you are going in such a big hurry. Anything to justify such haste? Something that can’t wait?
MODS Take this bad boy to the pits.
If my eyesight is the problem, I hope the DMV doesn’t allow me to renew my license.
Again, many people are assuming that those of us who drive above and beyond the posted speed are in some kind of hurry, stressed, impatient, etc. Consider the opposite: the old man who drives 35mph in a 35 zone. Do you think he’s trying to be late? No, it’s just the speed at which he feels comfortable handling the car. The same with us.
The limit is supposed to be at the 85[sup]th[/sup] percentile, at least in Michigan, and so it is, in many instances, too slow.
That said, driving slow and not letting people by is just plain rude, agressive driving. They’re aggressively imposing their standard on other people by blocking up the highway. If someone did the same thing on the sidewalk, schlepping along at a slow pace and blocking up the flow of pedestrians, the slow-walkers would be considered quite rude and selfish. But when they’re on the roads, they somehow become the champions of good just because they’re being rude to people who have no ability to say, “excuse me.” Slow drivers are just as rude as someone blocking the sidewalk.
Which is why you don’t let them by. :rolleyes: You are being aggressive and extremely rude. I once heard a defense attorney on some documentary remark that bad people don’t know they’re bad. Well, now you know that you’re being aggressively rude by behaving that way. If you’re going to prosletyze cooperation, then practice it and pull over to let the faster drivers by.
Who said anything about not letting tailgaters by. How about I said:
:smack:
Walking is a rather bad analogy. Pedestrians and cars are not subject to the same laws of operation or physics.
Hey!!! I have to take offense at that “Buick” statement dagnabit. Take a look at this car. It’s what I drive. And it’s a Buick. And I am a madman by many people’s driving standards. Also, many larger more luxurious Buicks can have big motors and be driven quite fast.
Sounds like you do have an idea. Yesterday, I observed a car doing about 20 mph under the speed limit on the freeway, and posing an obvious hazard to the other motorists. At one point, it swerved in front of another car that was doing the full speed limit, and very nearly caused an accident. As I often do, I wondered what type of person was in the driver’s seat. As I passed, I glanced over and saw an elderly woman reading a piece of paper that she was holding in front of her face. There has long been a bias in which it is almost always assumed that the faster driver was at fault in any accident. Yet it goes against common-sense, as we all witness these slow, oblivious drivers every day.
