I’m not a terribly patient person. This fact is most often brought to my attention when I get behind the wheel of a car. It seems there are a lot of people in this world that are content not only to drive the speed limit but to sometimes drive below posted speed limits:eek:. To me this is unthinkable. I might drive below a speed limit if I was experiencing some sort of mechanical problem or under some other special circumstance (e.g. transporting something tied to the roof), but otherwise I’m pretty much going to exceed the speed limit any time I think there is little chance of getting pulled over by a cop.
For the record, I have been driving for 35 year and during that time have gotten a grand total of 3 speeding tickets. That’s not a lot and I think the key is not to speed excessively, or if greatly exceeding speed limits only do so for short durations.
What percent of the time would you estimate you speed?
Given a 70 mph speed limit on a highway what do set the cruise control at?
Local roads, 0-5MPH over the limit depending on the road. Over 45 years of driving I’ve become more and more careful about residential areas for safety, not because I care much about speed limits. On the highway it depends on my chances of getting caught. 5-10MPH over the limit typically, in rush hour traffic it’s whatever the traffic is doing, which could be as much as 20MPH over the limit, or approaching Boston 99% of the speed limit below the speed limit. Sometimes 100%.
I speed all the time, pretty much everywhere I go. I haven’t had a speeding ticket though in over 2 years. Haven’t they done studies where they got rid of speed limits and car wrecks actually went down or was that just stop signs?
Probably at least 50%, usually about 10 mph over. I do it pretty much whenever I think I can (safely) get away with it, but my morning route to work takes me through a bunch of residential areas so I take it easy through there.
Highways around here are mostly 55, with sections of 65 as you get away from DC and/or Baltimore. In light traffic, 80 mph is not an uncommon speed on the Capital Beltway in the far left lane.
There are certain, very familiar spots where I know I can just floor it pretty much with impunity, and I’ll take it up to basically as fast as I can get my car to go in that stretch; I’ve regularly gotten up over 100 (speed limit: 55).
It can depend on exactly where we’re talking about, but I’d probably initially set it at 75 and then adjust in relation to the other vehicles.
I don’t speed - go with the flow of traffic which is typically 5 mph over the limit.
Note some people do not work or are on vacation. And some roads have nice scenic views of stuff to look at and enjoy. So some people are not in a hurry to get somewhere - they are where they want to be. And are driving slowly to look at the sights.
When I am sightseeing, I pull over to let impatient people by.
I drive the limit or less in residential areas, particularly in my own. Our neighborhood’s main streets are shortcuts for a lot of drivers going to and from work, and they act like they’re on their personal speedway. Going the limit or below is just my passive-aggressive way of slowing them down. Added bonus: seeing them in the mirror, waving their arms and clearly cursing at me. Also, photo radar is used a lot here.
On main highways or freeways, I’m usually about 5mph over the limit, just to keep up with traffic flow. I go the limit when passing through towns, as many of them are notorious speed traps.
I rarely do more than 5 over the limit. And yes, I stay to the right. I’ve seen too many stupid speeders.
The ones who crack me up are the one in urban or suburban areas who zip in and out of traffic, only to end up at the same stop light as I do, only a few seconds earlier.
Some years back, there was an idiot tailgating me on a highway till he got a chance to zoom around and speed ahead. (I was doing the limit or slightly over in the right lane.) When I saw him take his exit, I timed myself taking 10 whole seconds to get there. He drove like an ass to gain 10 seconds. I wonder how high his blood pressure got??
Most of all, I don’t like to go fast. It’s not good for fuel economy of my vehicle, it’s stressful, it can be dangerous, and in the grand scheme of things, it would only save me a few minutes on any given drive. It takes me just over 2 hours to drive to my mom’s house. Five minutes either way just doesn’t matter.
Most of my driving is around the town near our home. I drive as fast as I want, because the cops only set up traps in one of three locations. So I slow down passing the trap sites and drive as I please everywhere else.
I’m a right lane driver except when passing, and I try very hard to obey the speed limit. However, I have to say I probably speed 10 to 15 percent of the time. If the right lane is moving over the speed limit, I don’t want to be the one slowing it down.
Conditions permitting, I’m within 5 mph of the limit on highways and local roads. Sometimes I’m right at the limit. It would be very rare for me to go faster than 60 in a 55 zone, for example, or more than 70 in a 65 zone.
Left lane, and it really pisses me off when I come up to left lane drivers going slow and getting passed on the right. To my view very dangerous situation.
I don’t ever speed and those who do should be ashamed of themselves. The Government has set the speed limit based on what is safe because Government cares about us and wants us to be safe and happy so I obey their wise decisions.
I drive the speed limit, or go with the flow of traffic. I try not to impede any one.
In fact, on my way to work every morning I’ll usually get someone behind me that wants to go faster. Admittedly, the SL is kinda slow for the road. Anyway, I’ll just pull over for them.
I seem to attract the POPO when I speed, and in any case, I can’t remember the last time I was in a hurry. I always allow enough time.
Now, If someone else is late for an appointment/meeting… Well, we already had a battle thread about that.
On the highway I generally go 10-20 over the limit when possible.
On the streets of Chicago, I rarely speed anymore. With the proliferation of red light cameras and speed cameras, it’s way too easy to end up with a $100 ticket in the mail, weeks after the infraction.
I’m a speeder. I’ve have slowed down a bit as I’ve gotten older.
I won’t speed in residential areas, and I get pissed at people who do. There are kids and pets out there, and people should have more respect for the people who live there than to speed on their streets.
However, the open highway is another story. I speed, a lot.
I mostly stay in the left lane, I feel like it is the safest lane and it’s where I feel most comfortable. You have a shoulder to pull onto in case of trouble.
Many times when I was driving the beltway everyday, people would have to brake hard and every other car would go onto the shoulder to avoid a collision. I have no idea how we collectively decided who would pull off, but the car behind me would be sitting beside me on the shoulder, and I was at the back end of the car that had been two cars in front of me. You don’t have that option in the middle lane.
It the people behind me want to go faster, I’ll move over so they can.
The middle lane is too chaotic for me, unless there are more than 3 lanes, then the leftmost middle lanes are okay.
The right lane is too slow, with too many people merging at the wrong speed, or too dangerous with people using it as the passing lane.
Also, photo radar is used a lot here.