XPost: comp.mobile.android, comp.mobile.ipad   
   From: jollyroger@pobox.com   
      
   On 2014-03-11, nospam  wrote:   
   > In article , Jolly Roger   
   > wrote:   
   >   
   >> > If you drive 55mph where the flow of traffic is 70mph then *you* are a   
   >> > hazard. Many of those idiots you see are trying to avoid an   
   >> > un-anticipated impediment.   
   >>   
   >> Depends very much on the circumstance. What if the speed limit is 55?   
   >   
   > then the road is underposted.   
   >   
   > the safest speed is the prevailing traffic flow, not the number on the   
   > sign.   
      
   Prevailing traffic flow is 55-60 MPH, as I described.   
      
   >> What if there are multiple flows of traffic - some obeying the speed   
   >> limit, and others not?   
   >   
   > there aren't multiple flows. there may be a few people who want to go   
   > significantly faster and occasionally some who want to go slower. most   
   > of the traffic will be around the 85th percentile speed.   
      
   You must be playing some sort of word game. If I'm driving on the   
   highway and most people are going 55-60 mph, and then a pack of 2-6 cars   
   comes from behind going significantly faster than everyone else, then   
   when they have passed, everyone but them is still doing 55-60, then I   
   would describe that as two different packs of drivers - one that is   
   driving normally and safely, and another that is going significantly   
   faster, following way too closely, and making dangerous maneuvers in   
   multiple lanes with disregard for safety.   
      
   >> Very often, I'll be driving with cruise control   
   >> set to 55-60 in the middle lane of a 3-lane highway where the posted   
   >> speed limit is 55, where most of the cars around me are doing similar   
   >> speeds (again, around 55-60), and a group of cars (usually anywhere from   
   >> 2 to 6 cars) will come up from behind driving significantly faster than   
   >> 55 (sometimes 15-25 miles faster (yes: 75-85 mph in a 55), speeding much   
   >> faster than the traffic around me), usually with one or two idiots   
   >> leading the pack in some sort of apparent race to see who can get   
   >> wherever faster.   
   >   
   > if you're going to be going 55-60 in a 55mph zone when there's faster   
   > traffic, you should be in the rightmost lane. if not, you're the   
   > problem, not the others.   
      
   I very often am in the right lane, and sometimes I'm in the middle lane   
   as there is slower traffic in the right lane. I almost never use the   
   left lane, except to pass. Nevertheless, often the "fast and furious"   
   pack that comes from behind everyone else is the one introducing danger.   
   It seems like you want to blame everyone but them for the problem.   
      
   > it's also rare that people go 85 in a 55, particularly on an urban   
   > highway which has too many curves for that to be realistic.   
      
   First, I didn't say they all go 85 in a 55. You're picking the biggest   
   number you can to make a point, apparently. I can see right through   
   that. Second, you aren't in a position to make any claims as to road   
   conditions or length of straight aways. It just so happens more than one   
   of the highways I mentioned does have significant stretches of straight   
   aways (one has a 20-mile stretch). Again, what I described above is not   
   uncommon here.   
      
   > and how are you measuring speed anyway?   
      
   Several ways. On one occasion, I got into the left lane and increased my   
   speed to their to see they were doing 78 or so. In other circumstances,   
   I know my own speed and judge theirs (albeit roughly) by how fast they   
   pass others on the road.   
      
   >> Inevitably one or more drivers in the speeding group   
   >> gets upset that the drivers in my group are "in their way", usually in   
   >> various lanes (almost never just the left lane), and start tailgating   
   >> and using aggressive and fast lane switching maneuvers in all three   
   >> lanes, often making double-lane-switches without signalling within a few   
   >> feet of other cars and pulling other dangerous stunts to get past these   
   >> "slow" drivers that are imposing such an inconvenience on their little   
   >> racing game as quickly as possible, safety be damned.   
   >   
   > not the norm.   
      
   It happens frequently enough, and it's dangerous.   
      
   >> In such a   
   >> situation, I'd typically like to gradually decrease my speed, and make   
   >> safe lane changes to the right to get as far away from the idiots as   
   >> possible, if and when such opportunities safely become available.   
   >   
   > wrong solution.   
   >   
   > decreasing your speed when you're already below the prevailing speed   
   > increases the chance of a crash, more so than speeding up.   
      
   As I have already said, the prevailing speed is 55-60 because   
   most everyone on the road is driving that speed. If I am in the second   
   lane of a four lane highway and a pack of fast and furious idiots comes   
   from behind in multiple lane, making rapid, dangerous lane changes and   
   tail gating multiple cars, I'm going to try to get as far away from them   
   as possible. Doing that entails moving into the slower lanes of traffic,   
   which means I need to merge, which often requires slowing down, since   
   there are cars in front of you and behind you. I guess you'd rather I   
   tail gate the car in front of me or something. Or maybe you just aren't   
   making an honest point to begin with.   
      
   >> Unfortunately, very often, due to the tailgating aggressive behavior of   
   >> the speeding group, there isn't a good opportunity to do that until   
   >> *after* they've finished making their dangerous maneuvers and sped on   
   >> past. I'm probably one of the last people who will just gleefully   
   >> increase my speed to match the speed of the idiot group when I see them   
   >> coming in my rear view mirror - especially if I'm not in the passing   
   >> lane and I'm already at or exceeding the posted limit, and the cars   
   >> around me are doing the same speed as me.   
   >   
   > they're only tailgating because other drivers are going to slow for the   
   > road.   
      
   So you believe tail gating is okay to do if someone "makes" you do it by   
   going slower than you - even if that person is not exceeding the speed   
   limit and is not in the left-most lane? I feel like I'm learning a lot   
   about your driving habits right now. And I hope we never meet on the   
   highway.   
      
   >> Nor am I going to quickly or   
   >> dangerously make lane changes just to get out of their way to make their   
   >> dangerous behavior easier for them to continue. Safety comes first, and   
   >> I naturally value the safety of the well-behaved drivers around me more   
   >> than speeding jackasses. BTW, this isn't a cherry-picked example   
   >> situation - it happens *all* *the* *time* on American highways.   
   >   
   > if safety comes first, then you'd be traveling at the prevailing   
   > traffic flow.   
      
   WHICH IS 55-60 MPH AS I DESCRIBED.   
      
      
   [continued in next message]   
      
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