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Why do you attempt to follow the letter of the law? Not even traffic officers follow the letter of the law; it's rare to get pulled over for going 60mph in a 55

Why do you attempt to follow the letter of the law? Not even traffic officers follow the letter of the law; it's rare to get pulled over for going 60mph in a 55mph zone, for example. Do you ever find yourself on a road getting passed by all the other cars? Isn't that annoying? Why not just speed up a few mph and join the herd? I'm honestly asking; I just do not get the appeal.

kthejoker2 8y ago
If I planned my trip accordingly, I find few reasons to arrive somewhere too early. You just enter into hurry up and wait mode.
zamalek 8y ago
> Why do you attempt to follow the letter of the law? Cars are objects that have an extreme amount of kinetic energy. The point isn't to avoid getting pulled over, the point is to avoid dying or killing. > 60mph in a 55mph Air resistance increases at a squared rate. The amount of fuel you use (and your emissions) is not linearly associated with your speed. So does your kinetic energy. Going at 25, 5 over is not the same as going at 55, 5 over. > Do you ever find yourself on a road getting passed by all the other cars? Isn't that annoying? All the time, but it's not annoying because I don't care about being in front of everyone - I have left for my destination with ample time to make my appointment. I'm on the road to reach a destination, not to win the race. I don't care if people cut in front of me, because I have chosen not to and give them the safe room to do so. Driving aggressively is stressful, you [not specifically you] are fighting with everyone else on the road. You're going to risk your health in order to be directly ahead of me at a red traffic light two minutes later? I'll just pull to the right and give you room to pull in front of me. I try my best to get out of the way of aggressive driving; the further those drivers are away from me, the better. In those two minutes where you've [again, generalized "you"] been racing everyone else on the road, I've probably let someone in front of me - saving them minutes and costing me seconds (before the next traffic light equalization). I feel good about myself, you are in the throws of fight or flight. The only appeal of courteous driving is that there is less than an appeal to aggressive driving. The only way to win is not to play.
- dastbe 8y ago
  > All the time, but it's not annoying because I don't care about being in front of everyone - I have left for my destination with ample time to make my appointment. I'm on the road to reach a destination, not to win the race. I don't care if people cut in front of me, because I have chosen not to and give them the safe room to do so. > Driving aggressively is stressful, you [not specifically you] are fighting with everyone else on the road. You're going to risk your health in order to be directly ahead of me at a red traffic light two minutes later? I'll just pull to the right and give you room to pull in front of me. I try my best to get out of the way of aggressive driving; the further those drivers are away from me, the better. the problem here is that you are (socially) forcing more cars to overtake in what sounds like nonstandard manners (from "I'll just pull to the right and give you room to pull in front of me" I can't tell if you're moving out of the left lane or pulling into the shoulder). by driving slower than other cars, you're impeding the ability for traffic to flow evenly which results in more frustration and more lane changes. both of these increase the likelihood of accidents occurring as they lead to more dangerous maneuvers occurring more frequently and with more emotion. or rather, do you not see how your slow driving could be the cause of their aggressiveness? which doesn't really fit the adjective "courteous".
  - zamalek 8y ago
    > in what sounds like nonstandard manners Not moving into the shoulder, that's illegal and dangerous. Once I've overtaken traffic that is _actually_ slow, I move to the right lane. There is nothing nonstandard about letting traffic pass me on the left when multiple lanes are available. Because I am not tailgating, they have ample room to safely move in front of me (5 seconds at highway speeds is a very large distance). > both of these increase the likelihood of accidents occurring Speeding and tailgating is a process that occurs all the way to a destination - it is a consistent threat. Lane switching doesn't need to occur frequently and can be done well in advance when it is generously safe to do so - it is a momentary threat. > by driving slower than other cars, you're impeding the ability for traffic to flow evenly By tailgating or anything between safe following distance, you are not giving adequate room for people to merge into traffic. Traffic that is entering is forced to come to a near-stop because they can't find an opening, slowing down or stopping traffic behind them when they do eventually enter the highway. Everyone traveling at an agreed speed, with ample room for traffic to enter and leave is traffic flowing evenly. > slow driving Driving at the speed limit is not slow. > which doesn't really fit the adjective "courteous" You have _moved_ that word completely out of the context that it was used in. "Courteous" is letting people in (which aids traffic flow, especially in gridlock).
weaksauce 8y ago
Is it not annoying to stop at every traffic light? The traffic lights are tuned to the speed limit. I stopped going faster than the speed limit(maybe 5 over sometimes max) and it’s a smoother experience.
reaperducer 8y ago
it's rare to get pulled over for going 60mph in a 55mph zone, for example Maybe where you are, but someone I work with got pulled over for 63 in a 60 recently. She also got nailed recently for 93 in an 80MPH zone. Her excuse was that she was just keeping up with everyone else. The cop didn't buy it. I'm honestly asking; I just do not get the appeal. I like keeping my money, instead of risking it in fines and higher insurance rates to satisfy the peer pressure of a bunch of strangers.
- dsfyu404ed 8y ago
  Wanna tell us where this place is so we can all avoid it? If I had to guess I'd say DC, Maryland, Virginia area since they go full 1984 on traffic stuff there but unfortunately any non-white driving a beat up older car is a magnet for fishing cops which leads to unreasonable tickets like what you've described so it really could be anywhere.
  - jstarfish 8y ago
    Few places have speed limits as high as 80 (certainly nothing on the east coast, sheesh), so you're looking at Texas or Montana or somesuch.
dwighttk 8y ago
>Do you ever find yourself on a road getting passed by all the other cars? Yes, often. >Isn’t that annoying? No, it is much less stressful when everyone else is passing me than it was when I was driving about 5 mph over and always coming up behind cars trying to find space and time to pass them. (Or even now, the few times I come up on someone who is going under the speedlimit and I have to safely pass them.)

kthejoker2 8y ago

If I planned my trip accordingly, I find few reasons to arrive somewhere too early. You just enter into hurry up and wait mode.

zamalek 8y ago

> Why do you attempt to follow the letter of the law? Cars are objects that have an extreme amount of kinetic energy. The point isn't to avoid getting pulled over, the point is to avoid dying or killing. > 60mph in a 55mph Air resistance increases at a squared rate. The amount of fuel you use (and your emissions) is not linearly associated with your speed. So does your kinetic energy. Going at 25, 5 over is not the same as going at 55, 5 over. > Do you ever find yourself on a road getting passed by all the other cars? Isn't that annoying? All the time, but it's not annoying because I don't care about being in front of everyone - I have left for my destination with ample time to make my appointment. I'm on the road to reach a destination, not to win the race. I don't care if people cut in front of me, because I have chosen not to and give them the safe room to do so. Driving aggressively is stressful, you [not specifically you] are fighting with everyone else on the road. You're going to risk your health in order to be directly ahead of me at a red traffic light two minutes later? I'll just pull to the right and give you room to pull in front of me. I try my best to get out of the way of aggressive driving; the further those drivers are away from me, the better. In those two minutes where you've [again, generalized "you"] been racing everyone else on the road, I've probably let someone in front of me - saving them minutes and costing me seconds (before the next traffic light equalization). I feel good about myself, you are in the throws of fight or flight. The only appeal of courteous driving is that there is less than an appeal to aggressive driving. The only way to win is not to play.

dastbe 8y ago
> All the time, but it's not annoying because I don't care about being in front of everyone - I have left for my destination with ample time to make my appointment. I'm on the road to reach a destination, not to win the race. I don't care if people cut in front of me, because I have chosen not to and give them the safe room to do so. > Driving aggressively is stressful, you [not specifically you] are fighting with everyone else on the road. You're going to risk your health in order to be directly ahead of me at a red traffic light two minutes later? I'll just pull to the right and give you room to pull in front of me. I try my best to get out of the way of aggressive driving; the further those drivers are away from me, the better. the problem here is that you are (socially) forcing more cars to overtake in what sounds like nonstandard manners (from "I'll just pull to the right and give you room to pull in front of me" I can't tell if you're moving out of the left lane or pulling into the shoulder). by driving slower than other cars, you're impeding the ability for traffic to flow evenly which results in more frustration and more lane changes. both of these increase the likelihood of accidents occurring as they lead to more dangerous maneuvers occurring more frequently and with more emotion. or rather, do you not see how your slow driving could be the cause of their aggressiveness? which doesn't really fit the adjective "courteous".
- zamalek 8y ago
  > in what sounds like nonstandard manners Not moving into the shoulder, that's illegal and dangerous. Once I've overtaken traffic that is _actually_ slow, I move to the right lane. There is nothing nonstandard about letting traffic pass me on the left when multiple lanes are available. Because I am not tailgating, they have ample room to safely move in front of me (5 seconds at highway speeds is a very large distance). > both of these increase the likelihood of accidents occurring Speeding and tailgating is a process that occurs all the way to a destination - it is a consistent threat. Lane switching doesn't need to occur frequently and can be done well in advance when it is generously safe to do so - it is a momentary threat. > by driving slower than other cars, you're impeding the ability for traffic to flow evenly By tailgating or anything between safe following distance, you are not giving adequate room for people to merge into traffic. Traffic that is entering is forced to come to a near-stop because they can't find an opening, slowing down or stopping traffic behind them when they do eventually enter the highway. Everyone traveling at an agreed speed, with ample room for traffic to enter and leave is traffic flowing evenly. > slow driving Driving at the speed limit is not slow. > which doesn't really fit the adjective "courteous" You have _moved_ that word completely out of the context that it was used in. "Courteous" is letting people in (which aids traffic flow, especially in gridlock).

weaksauce 8y ago

Is it not annoying to stop at every traffic light? The traffic lights are tuned to the speed limit. I stopped going faster than the speed limit(maybe 5 over sometimes max) and it’s a smoother experience.

reaperducer 8y ago

it's rare to get pulled over for going 60mph in a 55mph zone, for example Maybe where you are, but someone I work with got pulled over for 63 in a 60 recently. She also got nailed recently for 93 in an 80MPH zone. Her excuse was that she was just keeping up with everyone else. The cop didn't buy it. I'm honestly asking; I just do not get the appeal. I like keeping my money, instead of risking it in fines and higher insurance rates to satisfy the peer pressure of a bunch of strangers.

dsfyu404ed 8y ago
Wanna tell us where this place is so we can all avoid it? If I had to guess I'd say DC, Maryland, Virginia area since they go full 1984 on traffic stuff there but unfortunately any non-white driving a beat up older car is a magnet for fishing cops which leads to unreasonable tickets like what you've described so it really could be anywhere.
- jstarfish 8y ago
  Few places have speed limits as high as 80 (certainly nothing on the east coast, sheesh), so you're looking at Texas or Montana or somesuch.

dwighttk 8y ago

>Do you ever find yourself on a road getting passed by all the other cars? Yes, often. >Isn’t that annoying? No, it is much less stressful when everyone else is passing me than it was when I was driving about 5 mph over and always coming up behind cars trying to find space and time to pass them. (Or even now, the few times I come up on someone who is going under the speedlimit and I have to safely pass them.)