I live in Southern California. If traffic is flowing I routinely drive in fast lane on a 4 lane highway with posted speed limit of 70. If I’m “only” going my usual 80, cars will routinely pass me as if I’m standing still.
5 for me, too! That’s what Dad said and what I told the boys. They obviously did not listen since oldest had 3 tickets before he was 20.
I just returned from a trip to the gym, so I paid attention to how fast I was driving. On the longest stretch of road, which is posted at 35, my sped varied between 34 and 44. Essentially I stayed with the flow of traffic. If I had a hard and fast rule about only going 5 MPH over the speed limit, I would have held up traffic.
Driving your own pace, whether faster or slower than those around you, is a danger to you and everyone else. I’ve never been more scared than when driving 2 MPH over the speed limit in the right lane of a 3 lane highway. I refuse to do that again, so now I just keep up with the flow of traffic regardless of how fast/slow they are going. To me, that’s defensive driving.
@makemesmart , HaHa! Very funny. (But true.)
However, now that I have a hybrid, I’m always trying to get the best gas mileage, so I drive like the “old people” who live in the retirement communities my area is polluted with. I love that my car can tell me what my gas mileage is in real time.
@Jugulator20 - I’m in Southern California too and I agree with what you are saying. Sometimes I’m even going 75 and the cars are flying past me so I speed up.
5 in town. 9 on the highway. I do not hang out in the passing lane, but I don’t get that annoyed when someone goes the speed limit in the fast lane. I always keep a safe distance.
My s-i-l gets overly angry and tailgates/gripes when someone is going “too slow” in front of her. (“Too slow” could be 5-10mph over the limit.) She is late for everything, which is why she is always in a frantic, impatient rush. Instead of blaming other drivers, she could easily solve her problem by leaving 5 or 10 min. earlier
I generally drive 1-5 miles over the speed limit and use cruise control whenever possible. I care not at all if everyone speeds around me. My husband, on the other hand, tends to drive crazy fast- he’ll easily go 90 in a 65. We both hate driving with the other.
There are some roads in my New England state (and others, I’m sure) that are designed for much higher speeds than are appropriate. Some straightaways with really long lines of sight through a residential area that includes a K-8 school and front yards with toys in them, for example. One of the worst is a two-way two-lane road that was originally intended to be a two-lane one-way segment of a highway project. It’s very, very inviting, and the site of quite a few fatalities until the state made some design changes that included rumble strips along the yellow striping in the middle.
Same and I taught my kids to do 5 miles safely over. However, I recently found out that the hubsy told them flow of traffic and they may have taken that to mean, “Lead the pack!” Oof.
The only speeding ticket I ever got was for going three miles an hour over the speed limit on the freeway in Ohio on a cross-country trip. I was pretty annoyed at that one. Also, in my current state at least, you can technically end up in jail for speeding. It’s a criminal misdemeanor to go over 80mph or more than 20 mph over the speed limit- doesn’t stop people though.
You must live in a rural area to find posted speed limits of 70: http://catc-test.dot.ca.gov/hq/roadinfo/70mph.htm .
Unless it’s just insanely slow, I’m okay with the slow drivers being in the right lane (“slower drivers keep right”). But I have encountered drivers going so slow that as you are coming in on the entrance ramp and accelerating in order to merge, it’s a real problem and not safe at all as the slow driver apparently believes.
Of course, what often causes traffic jams is slow merging on the entrance ramp, even when the ramp is long enough and the traffic is not already jammed. In light traffic, it is not uncommon to see drivers merge onto a 65mph freeway at 40mph (causing others to have to brake and swerve to avoid them), then somewhat later blast by at much higher speed. The slow merger problem gets worse when a group of tailgaters collects behind the slow merger.
On the freeway, I routinely go 10 MPH over the limit (and sometimes 15 +), conditions permitting. California freeways move fast (when they are not at a dead stop). There is essentially zero chance of getting pulled over JUST for speeding. You need to be doing something aggressive, like tailgating, weaving, etc. One thing I realized when I was teaching my son to drive is that hanging out in the slow right lane actually requires very attentive and skilled driving, due to all the cars entering and exiting and to the extreme variances in speed.
Anything other than a freeway, I stick to the limit. In dense urban or residential areas, I tend to go 5+ MPH below the limit. I grew up in a rural area, so I definitely get the rationale for exceeding the limit on certain roads. But I rarely do that type of driving anymore.
Not the case here! They love to nail you for speeding.
The time DH got pulled over for going 79 in a 75, he had gotten pulled over for going 81 in a 75 just 15 minutes earlier! Both times got warnings.
Still didn’t change his behavior either. He’s not aggressive in a mean or deliberate manner, but he does drive too fast imo. And has paid the price many times.
Really? Why is that? It seems unwise to annoy other drivers behind you.
Perhaps the previous poster drives where the default or posted speed limit is 25mph, but features of the road (sight lines, kids playing on the street, etc.) make it risky to drive faster than 20mph. Remember always to drive a safe speed for the conditions.
Well, yes, there are exceptions, but to make it a general rule to go five miles under the speed limit, that I don’t understand.
A highway near my house has a speed limit of 45mph but most people go 55-65. Driving less than 45 would be dangerous, to the point where I had to tell my kids to ignore the posted limit and just go with the flow of traffic. One of my kids got a ticket because he had just bought a new car and was driving conservatively. He was pulled over because an officer thought he might be drunk!