What rules do nts use about speed limits?

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In order not to annoy other drivers, simply obey the "slower traffic keep right" law, which shockingly, some people don't know exists! I get ULTRA-frustrated when somebody is poking along in the left lane of a highway, often right beside a truck or other slow vehicle, and make it so nobody can pass safely. I like to drive as fast as is safe for the vehicle and the conditions, so I might go 25mph over the speed limit on a straight desert highway with miles of visibility in nice weather, etc. Or I'll go at half the speed limit in foul weather, and I will NOT be in the left lane except when necessary to pass slower traffic.

Why can't people find it in themselves to do this??? It would prevent MOST freeway accidents, according to two police officers I've spoken with about it.

In most states, the "SLOWER TRAFFIC KEEP RIGHT" law is separate and supersedes the the speed limit. This means that if the speed limit is 65 (as it is on most freeways and highways here), and you are going OVER 65 but in the left lane, and someone comes up behind, you MUST pull over and let them by, even if you're both also speeding. That's just common courtesy, and it's the law. Also, if you're on a 1-lane/each direction road, you MUST pull over and stop to let people pass if you get more than 5 vehicles behind you, and if you're polite, you'll do it at earliest opportunity when there's only 1 car back there.

Charles

I just received my driver's license a few months ago; while studying the Driver's Education Manual that all young drivers in the state have access to (our state has one of the highest automobile accident rates in the U.S.), the Manual explicitly stated that the speed limit is the speed limit and that it is illegal, although perhaps ill enforced, to go any amount over the posted speed limit.
In practice, even my own excessively-cautious parents (people in which other excessively-cautious parents have rolled eyes at) instruct me to drive 30mph + in a 20mph zone and often yell at me to speed up.
While you risk breaking the law, at least in my state, by going over the speed limit, neurotypicals tend to use a rule of "reasonable danger" (the standard for "reasonable" being their own standard); the speed is not considered excessive as long as the conditions do not warrant a high risk of injury or death. Going 28mph in a 25mph school zone as school is letting out, especially for elementary and primary schools, is a likely cause for arrest. Going 80mph on a long stretch of interstate with a posted speed limit of 70mph (the maximum speed limit in my state) with a relatively low number of cars, on the other hand, usually does not gander much attention.

The other advice outlined in this thread is also good advice.

( Not read posts yet, doing it now. )

Actually they have shown that at 40mph as long as you don't feather the throttle, is the most efficent fuel zone. Take top gear when they speed down the motor way, it burns more fuel, faster you go it burns more fuel.

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You know the more I think about what you did, to the car that was travelling in the middle lane.

Why did you not indicate & pull out into the fast lane & over take them & then pull back into the middle lane?

Because at that point you joined up to the the car in front of you in a convoy, excepted you did not want to. Then everyone else joined up behind you. ( Maybe you were the only one who was bothered by it? )

Here is my logic, truckers join up in a convoy, to travel together. When they want to leave the convoy they pull out. But you stayed where you are, & you did not want to pull out into the fast lane. But I normally pull out into the fast lane before I get near the car, because I know it will be easier to pass & I know I took a opening that I could get out to & if no one is coming up behind me who is planting they foot to the ground I keep going & then join back into the middle lane in front of the car going slower.

I seen them do the same thing with the automatic convey cars, that drive in a straight line down a motor way & take over each other.

Last edited by TechnoDog on 09 Apr 2012, 12:03 pm, edited 1 time in total.

I usually pull off onto the shoulder if someone's on my tail because I just hate having someone right on my tail, especially at night. I try signalling that I want them to pass me when there's no good place to pull off, but it's frustrating as most drivers don't seem to get it that I want them to pass me. It's funny though, in a lot of countries outside the US I'd never have that problem as people pass like maniacs, even crossing a double yellow on a hairpin turn.

I don't particularly like driving fast if there's no rush to be anywhere and I want to be able to let my mind wander and/or enjoy the scenery. Also, having to pass slower traffic all the time takes too much energy.

No my second language is not English. Are you referring to my grammar?.

Are you sure? Motorways are well-lit, and it's actually easier to see other cars well in advance at night, because of their lights. There are no pedestrians, people opening car doors into the road, cyclists, kids playing football etc. It's a motorway.

I'm not saying speeds above a ton should be approached casually. It takes a lot of planning and concentration to do 140mph in a car. It's easier to get carried away and do stupid things on motorbikes, and that's one of the reasons why I won't have one.

<SNIP>

Eh? I don't remember saying that I'd done anything, in particular. And besides, you're missing the point. It's illegal to undertake, so the inside lane is empty, and three lanes of traffic are being forced into two lanes. Except one of those two lanes is being bloked by some silly old fool in a 1980s Merc, oblivious to the chaos around him, doing 50mph and doggedly avoiding looking in his mirrors. [Where do these people come from? You never see them anywhere else.] So in fact 3 lanes' worth of traffic are being channelled into one lane - the fast lane. And guess what? It doesn't fit. The fast lane backs up, and if you're stuck in the middle lane you can't get out. That's why a practical understanding of lane discipline is so important. There's ginormous potential for causing misery for large volumes of people by not changing lanes as one should. Watch on the motorway next time you're out, and you'll see it happening again and again. A huge stack of traffic in the two outer lanes, no-one on the inside, and someone at the front of the stack in the middle lane who doesn't know what they're doing.

On otherwise-empty motorways with one lone car in the middle lane I do indeed do what you suggest - come up on the inside, go right over into the fast lane to overtake, and then right back across into the slow lane again afterwards. Most times they still don't get the hint, though.

As for 40mph being "most efficient" there's a huge number of variables there. Gearing in particular. My point, though, was that this in itself doesn't make 40mph appropriate in all situations, for example in 20 zones by school gates. "Sorry for killing your child - on the plus side my carbon footprint is looking good!".

I always keep to the right and I don't even understand why people still get annoyed by slow drivers. They are on the right so pass them, how hard is that?

Also I was told by my mother that if you are going the speed limit and you have rows of cars behind you, you don't need to pull over to let them by. That is only if you are going slow. But we must have lived in a state where it was like that.

I have also moved to another lane or pulled over to let a tailgater by because he or she was too lazy to pass. I know some people drive even slower when that happens but not me because I am afraid of getting rear ended if I had to slam on my breaks. Some people do actually slam on their breaks and have the tailgater rear end them and they end up getting a ticket and their insurance pays for the damage. But it takes guts to do that because what if they don't have car insurance? Then you have a beat up back and what if it totaled your car?

Oh lord. If ONLY.

For the avoidance of confusion, I'd like to point out that I'm agreeing with the American "slow traffic on the right" proponents. It's just that I'm in England, where it works the other way round.

I see you are in the UK and it is illegal there to undertake but where I am from it's not. My mom and I were there in 2004 and she was driving. We were on the motorway and mom was in the right lane. We had rows of cars behind us and none of them would pass us. Then when mom figured out it was the opposite about the lanes as well, she moved to the left and figured it was the slow lane. The men behind us all clapped. All the cars passed us and after that, mom always drove in the left lane than in the right.

Funny I never been pulled over from undertaking. I would only see it as a problem, if I did it near a off ramp. I know you will get pulled over if you weave in & out.

The issue with undertaking is that people changing back across from the outside lane aren't expecting to meet traffic doing the same speed or greater coming up on the inside. There's significant potential for side-swipe incidents, which is why it's illegal.

It should also be pretty much impossible, if everyone changes lanes correctly in the first place.

Conversely there is absolutely nothing illegal in "sarcastic overtaking" (inside to outside lane and back again, to get round a middle lane car) provided you check your mirrors, check the blind spot and indicate correctly - all the normal stuff.

http://bbs.scoobynet.com/non-scooby-rel ... legal.html

Yes, but the exception specifically relates to congestion where the normal flow of traffic is disturbed, all lanes are busy and the traffic is 'bunching' in different lanes at different times. I'm talking about free-flowing traffic, or traffic that would otherwise be free-flowing if it wasn't for someone blocking the middle lane.

Crawling past someone at 15 mph with all lanes packed is somewhat different to undertaking at 60-70mph, and the law recognises this. Meanwhile "sarcastic overtaking" still involves overtaking on the correct side, as per the law - it is not "weaving between lanes". The only reason you have to cross 2 lanes and back again is because the car in front is in the wrong one.

If you want an example of how poor lane discipline reduces motorway capacity, may I point you in the direction of the M25 around Heathrow? It's a stretch with 4 main lanes plus filter lanes etc. Invariably the middle lane drivers mitigate against the risk of inadvertently ending up in Terminal 5 by changing allegiance from lane 2 to lane 3, thus making two lanes redundant. The tarmac might as well not be there.

Now you could chance it, and drive down the inside at 70mph, with one empty lane between you and all the traffic. But it's a busy place, and full of people who don't know it that well and are desperate to get their flight, so there's a high chance of someone turning off across your bows, or worse, into the side of your car. I wouldn't risk it - and that's why the law is written as it is, to prevent that kind of incident.