Many years ago, in high school driver’s ed, we were taught all about speed limits and going with the flow of traffic, but that can be confusing.
If I’m on the highway and the speed limit is 65 mph, but I’m doing 58 and everyone else around me is going at 90, who’s wrong, me or all the other drivers ?
Thanks.
The other drivers will be pissed off, but obviously by the law, you’re right and all of them are wrong. Legally, you’re not supposed to speed even when passing…
But can’t you get pulled over for obstructing traffic. For some reason I thought I heard that even if you’re going under the speed limit, you can get a ticket if the general flow of traffic is going faster.
When the average speed is 10-15 mph over the limit and only 5% of vehicles are at or under it (often the case), you have to wonder whether it’s set right.
One thing you can do if you don’t want to “go with the flow” is to be quite good about “lane discipline” – stay as far right as conditions allow, and move left only when passing. (In fact, this is the right rule for everyone on the highway, though not that many drivers seem to follow it.)
The question of right and safe are mutually exclusive on most interstate highways, at least in the US. And where you are doing this is an issue, as well. If you’re in the middle of Montana doing 55 and the few cars you see on Interstate 90 are doing 75, it’s probably not as much an issue as if you were doing 55 on the New Jersey Turnpike where the starship Enterprise can’t keep up with the flow of traffic.
Let’s say you’re on a moderately travelled metropolitan highway, the speed limit is 60 mph, you’re doing 63 mph and the traffic is averaging, say, 70-75 mph. You’re technically right for not violating the speed limit by very much (most law enforcement will give you 4-5 mph, with the exception of those small towns on the Maryland-Delaware Eastern Shore in the Summer where they make SCADS of money off the hordes of out-of-towners going “downy oh-shun” by ticketing them for doing 26 in a 25, non?), but you are not being safe because you are travelling considerably slower that the majority of traffic.
Now, you have two options: (1) speed up, (2) put on your emergency flashers, the same as you would if you were going 10 mph below the speed limit. (Y’all do remember from drivers’ ed that you’re supposed to put on your flashers if you’re 10 mph or more below the speed limit, right?)
Option 1 makes you just as big a risk for an accident as the other spam-for-brains with lead in their shoes. Option 2 should provide you with a modicum of safety, but you still run the risk of being rear-ended because so many drivers have the attention skills of a golden retriever hopped up on Mountain Dew (I include myself in this category sometimes).
Either way, you risk an accident, but with Option 1, you stand to lose on the insurance, whereas with Option 2, the person who hit you will have to fork out those thousands of dollars in repairs to your car. Small consolation when you’re in traction, I know…
If you’re in the rightmost lane doing the speed limit, then you should be perfectly safe, and legal, all at the same time. Some people might be annoyed but this situation shouldn’t expose you to a rear-end collision.
Problems occur when you’re doing the speed limit and lots of people are doing 20 over, and you, for some strange reason, change lanes and someone doing 75 suddenly finds you in front of them.
Also, problems occur if you cruise in the leftmost lane. This is an ongoing and heated debate conducted via the traffic column in the Washington Post. Summary: “I can go the speed limit any lane I want, it’s illegal to go faster”; “Nobody really does the speed limit so don’t interfere with traffic flow.” The jurisdictions here (there are three of them) do not prohibit left-lane cruising, although Virginia (and common sense and courtesy) requires you to move right if the driver behind gives a visual or audible signal (to wit: flashes lights, taps horn).
If you’re not comfortable driving at faster speeds, don’t do it just because others are–you are still responsible for your own driving. Get in the right lane.
Technically if you are doing 58 in a 65 you could be cited with impeding the flow of trafic. More likely is that the cops would pull over someone doing 90 instead. Easier to prove if they fight it in court.
I had a new years resolution last year to drive the speed limit. I made it 3 months before I started to speed. I am now trying to get back to following the speed limit. Just stick to the right hand lane, and you should be fine. Drive the speed you feel comfortable, and not what everyone else is driving. Example is in a school zone I usually do 5mph under the posted because my truck takes longer to stop then a normal car. Gives me a larger safty margin just in case. People might get pissed, but I ignore them. Yes I might get ticketed for impeding the flow of trafic, but I think any officer would understand my reasoning. I’ll say it again. Do what you think is safe.
I agree. If the faster moving vehicles flying by your window make you nervous, stay to the right, assuming there’s more than one lane.
If you’re not in the right lane, and you’re not speeding, at least pull aside for the coming-up-fast types. Blocking and bottle-necking are, I’d wager, pretty common causes for more aggravated driving behavior.