View Single Post
      12-17-2012, 03:40 PM   #22
Tsuyoi
Lieutenant
33
Rep
568
Posts

Drives: 2013 F30 328i
Join Date: Nov 2012
Location: New York

iTrader: (0)

Quote:
Originally Posted by F30SD View Post
There is a big difference between reckless driving (weaving in and out of lanes, passing on the right, cutting people off) to maintain 95 mph on the freeway and driving with the speed of traffic which in CA happens to be 85, (limit is 65) Going 10 mph faster than the car next to you is not dangerous. Cutting off cars and weaving around other vehicles is.
I was driving on the autobahn in October and most vehicles drove about 75-80mph, Trucks drove slower around 65. But some cars did 120+ and they slowed down when there were cars in front of them, passed them and accelerated back up to 120. No accidents. Also I think driving 100 makes you pay more attention to the road.
There were no cops, eating up tax revenue, sitting on the side of the road preying on drivers going 100 mph or 80 or 70, no threat of arrest or fine, and everyone was safe, no one died, the world did not end. People passed on the left and if you were going slower than the car behind you, you moved over to the right. There was no bs, I am going the speed limit (65) so I can be in the fast lane and blocking all traffic behind me even though the normal speed on that road is 85.

All in all instead of a top down commandment mandating everyone drive exactly the same, there was a bottom up approach where each driver made a decision to drive safely for the road in question. That means performance cars like my 335 drove faster than a beat up truck.

Not to mention the fact the speed limits are set deliberately below the safe "natural flow" rate to generate income for the state.

I think we would be much better of without speed limits in the US, but strong enforcement of reckless driving. So you can't do 100+ if everyone else is doing 40, and you have to weave through traffic.
I would like to point out the test driver that was in the fatal incident on the Autobahn in a 3 series. While I have nothing but respect and condolences for him and his family, I doubt such an accident would have been fatal had he and all other traffic been going at the same speeds, or even with only a 20mph difference. Accidents like this happen when one driver is doing say 40, while another is doing 80 or 90.

I don't know how driving is around your area, but in NY every other driver is some crazy asshole who'll swerve past 2 lanes without signalling or checking to see if there is traffic. I have to adopt a very "active/aggressive" driving stance in NY, to constantly avoid the idiots who would otherwise cause an accident. If you're doing 100+ on a highway and come across one of these idiots, you'll definitely crash.

As I said, if everyone else drove like a sane person then yes speeding to 90 on a highway is perfectly safe. But everyone around here drives like an idiot, and if you then allowed people to drive at 90+mph without consequences, we'd see at least a twofold increase in deaths on the road. Ultimately I'd rather sacrifice some driving pleasure to save lives, but then maybe that's just my priorities.
Appreciate 0