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As another driver on the road, I'd far rather that autonomous vehicles maintain speed with the flow of traffic around them, in lieu of strictly sticking to the

As another driver on the road, I'd far rather that autonomous vehicles maintain speed with the flow of traffic around them, in lieu of strictly sticking to the posted limit.

cpncrunch 9y ago
There is no traffic "around" them, just the car behind. And if the car behind is speeding it's up to them to slow down if the car in front is obeying the speed limit. This kind of argument is just used to justify speeding.
- tarheeljason 9y ago
  > There is no traffic "around" them, just the car behind. How about when merging, or changing lanes? The speed limit is not _always_ safe or practical to obey strictly.
  - cpncrunch 9y ago
    >How about when merging, or changing lanes? The speed limit is not _always_ safe or practical to obey strictly. In the case of overtaking, you just need to make sure you don't cut someone off in the overtaking lane. No need to go over the speed limit just because you're too impatient to wait for a proper gap in the traffic. I've never seen a situation where you're merging onto a freeway and everyone in the right-most lane is speeding excessively. That would be a very dangerous situation, and if you yourself go significantly faster than the speed limit to merge you're just adding to the dangerous problem.
- lhorie 9y ago
  You don't seem to drive. If you don't follow traffic flow, people will cut off in front of you, tailgate, zigzag, and do other dangerous lane changes/maneuvers much more frequently. And that's when the trigger-happy ones don't yell obscenities at you.
  - cpncrunch 9y ago
    >You don't seem to drive LOL. I'm not sure if you're trolling, rude or just don't pay attention to the cars around you when you're driving, but I'll guess it's a combination of all 3. >If you don't follow traffic flow, people will cut off in front of you, tailgate, zigzag, and do other dangerous lane changes/maneuvers much more frequently. From my 45 years of observing people's driving and driving myself for about 30 years, I find that most people generally obey the speed limit or don't go much faster. Probably about 90% of people in general. At rush hour, it drops to about 50%. Some of the other 50% certainly do do all those fucked up, rude and dangerous things you mention, but it doesn't mean that the 50% of people obeying the speed limit are at fault. It's the impatient speeders who are at fault. It's sometimes a bit of a Darwin award scenario. I live on Vancouver Island, and there is only a single highway over the mountains to Victoria. During commute times, about 50% of people speed significantly, and they do some of the dangerous and rude shit you mention. A few times a year one of them drives too fast for the conditions and ends up killing themselves, which then shuts down the entire north-south highway (the only fucking route) for 4 hours. The government is currently spending a shit ton of money to put barriers in the centre of the highway to try and prevent the excessively speeding idiots from killing themselves so often. So no, I don't have much patience for the rude people who tailgate me, go 50km/h over the limit even in rain, and then get themselves killed and hold up the entire island for 4 hours because of their stupidity and lack of knowledge of basic physics. (And I'm not calling out everyone who speeds, I do it myself sometimes, it's only the ones who go way over the limit with no consideration for weather conditions or safety, and the rude idiots who are in too much of a hurry to extend basic courtesy to other road users).
    - mrep 9y ago
      > I find that most people generally obey the speed limit or don't go much faster. Regional culture definitely plays into this. I grew up in the midwest and almost everybody speeds. Now I live in Seattle and I'm the fast guy in the left lane going 5 MPH over the speed limit.
    - lhorie 9y ago
      You are ranting about reckless speeding, which I agree 100% with you that it's a stupid thing to do. But the comment you replied to was talking about following traffic flow, which is about minimizing speed differentials between vehicles so as to minimize triggering fits of impatience in drivers around you.

As another driver on the road, I'd far rather that autonomous vehicles maintain speed with the flow of traffic around them, in lieu of strictly sticking to the posted limit.

cpncrunch 9y ago

There is no traffic "around" them, just the car behind. And if the car behind is speeding it's up to them to slow down if the car in front is obeying the speed limit. This kind of argument is just used to justify speeding.

tarheeljason 9y ago
> There is no traffic "around" them, just the car behind. How about when merging, or changing lanes? The speed limit is not _always_ safe or practical to obey strictly.
- cpncrunch 9y ago
  >How about when merging, or changing lanes? The speed limit is not _always_ safe or practical to obey strictly. In the case of overtaking, you just need to make sure you don't cut someone off in the overtaking lane. No need to go over the speed limit just because you're too impatient to wait for a proper gap in the traffic. I've never seen a situation where you're merging onto a freeway and everyone in the right-most lane is speeding excessively. That would be a very dangerous situation, and if you yourself go significantly faster than the speed limit to merge you're just adding to the dangerous problem.
lhorie 9y ago
You don't seem to drive. If you don't follow traffic flow, people will cut off in front of you, tailgate, zigzag, and do other dangerous lane changes/maneuvers much more frequently. And that's when the trigger-happy ones don't yell obscenities at you.
- cpncrunch 9y ago
  >You don't seem to drive LOL. I'm not sure if you're trolling, rude or just don't pay attention to the cars around you when you're driving, but I'll guess it's a combination of all 3. >If you don't follow traffic flow, people will cut off in front of you, tailgate, zigzag, and do other dangerous lane changes/maneuvers much more frequently. From my 45 years of observing people's driving and driving myself for about 30 years, I find that most people generally obey the speed limit or don't go much faster. Probably about 90% of people in general. At rush hour, it drops to about 50%. Some of the other 50% certainly do do all those fucked up, rude and dangerous things you mention, but it doesn't mean that the 50% of people obeying the speed limit are at fault. It's the impatient speeders who are at fault. It's sometimes a bit of a Darwin award scenario. I live on Vancouver Island, and there is only a single highway over the mountains to Victoria. During commute times, about 50% of people speed significantly, and they do some of the dangerous and rude shit you mention. A few times a year one of them drives too fast for the conditions and ends up killing themselves, which then shuts down the entire north-south highway (the only fucking route) for 4 hours. The government is currently spending a shit ton of money to put barriers in the centre of the highway to try and prevent the excessively speeding idiots from killing themselves so often. So no, I don't have much patience for the rude people who tailgate me, go 50km/h over the limit even in rain, and then get themselves killed and hold up the entire island for 4 hours because of their stupidity and lack of knowledge of basic physics. (And I'm not calling out everyone who speeds, I do it myself sometimes, it's only the ones who go way over the limit with no consideration for weather conditions or safety, and the rude idiots who are in too much of a hurry to extend basic courtesy to other road users).
  - mrep 9y ago
    > I find that most people generally obey the speed limit or don't go much faster. Regional culture definitely plays into this. I grew up in the midwest and almost everybody speeds. Now I live in Seattle and I'm the fast guy in the left lane going 5 MPH over the speed limit.
  - lhorie 9y ago
    You are ranting about reckless speeding, which I agree 100% with you that it's a stupid thing to do. But the comment you replied to was talking about following traffic flow, which is about minimizing speed differentials between vehicles so as to minimize triggering fits of impatience in drivers around you.