4 ms·
I'm just going to throw this out there, people don't pass marked cars so a marked car driving the speed limit causes traffic to back up behind them for no ot
by pitt1980 14y ago
I'm just going to throw this out there,
people don't pass marked cars
so a marked car driving the speed limit causes traffic to back up behind them
for no other reason than to alleviate traffic congestion, it probably makes sense for them to drive 15-20 miles over the speed limit
(that obviously doesn't excuse driving 130 mph)
- freehunter 14y agoI would argue that for the sake of the law, having a backup of cars behind an officer all doing the speed limit is a good thing. It's called the speed limit, not the speed range. As in, the maximum you're allowed to do on that road in perfect conditions. If we want to enforce the laws, having everyone follow a pace car going exactly the speed limit is a good thing. Having an officer going 65 in a 55 just to relieve congestion means the law is irrelevant.
- pc86 14y agoI suspect a lot of people would may the majority of speed limits are irrelevant, but I digress.
- jisaacstone 14y agoAgreed. Having laws that _everyone_ breaks is worse than useless, as it encourages a disregard for the law and resentment towards enforcement officers, as well as leaving lots of room for unequal enforcement.
- jamesaguilar 14y agoAlso, having pace cars alleviates traffic jams (assuming the pace car is leaving appropriate space in front of him to absorb traffic shocks). This obviously doesn't work in the current situation because no one feels bad passing a cop in a traffic jam, but there's something to this idea.
- a_m0d 14y agoWhat's the problem with the marked cars driving the speed limit? If all the cars drive at the speed limit, that's good, right? I always thought the speed limit was there as a speed limit. I've found that in Australia, speed limits are obeyed much more than in North America, where they seem to be suggestions or lower bounds on speed. Many times in Canada I've been travelling in traffic that's doing 30 - 40 kph over the speed limit. That's enough to get your car confiscated in Western Australia!
- pitt1980 14y agofirst thing that pops up when googling cost of traffic jams http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/story/2009/11/10/oecd-traffic.html http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/story/2009/11/10/oecd-... the cost is real, and should be accounted for
- talmand 14y agoI would have to see a study that shows that the speed limit is the source of traffic congestion. I seriously doubt it is. Most sources of congestion seem to be more along the lines of disabled vehicles, accidents, several roads converging in the same area, merging issues, and just stupid drivers at any speed. Increasing the speed limit by 10 or 15 MPH doesn't address any of that and in fact would likely make it worse in some of those examples.
- pitt1980 14y agoI don't have a study to link to but I'm seen how one slow driving cop can cause a bottle neck behind him as noone wants to pass him some links about about how seemingly minor factors can cause traffic jams http://auto.howstuffworks.com/car-driving-safety/accidents-hazardous-conditions/traffic.htm http://auto.howstuffworks.com/car-driving-safety/accidents-h... http://www.amazon.com/Traffic-Drive-What-Says-About/dp/0307277194/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1366212870&sr=1-1&keywords=traffic http://www.amazon.com/Traffic-Drive-What-Says-About/dp/03072...
- 14y ago