radar detector

[Steeldrifter 0]

I look for that magic spot at 8-9mph over limit that I hope is the PTF. Police Tolerance Factor. When I blow by a cop on side of road I never hit brakes or panic, just watch that he doesn't come out after me

 

 

So you call j8000 a hazard for going 8-9mph under the limit, then you say you go 8-9mph over the limit? Pot meet kettle if you ask me.

 

If people would realize there is a speed limit for a reason and simply drive with in 5mph of it either way the roads would be a lot safer place for everyone.

[vicrider 0]

Sorry Steel, at 8-9mph over the speed limit this is basically travelling with traffic. I am speeding by the letter of the law but only passing an occasional car and occasionally getting passed. I could handle driving the speed limit if there was a way to enforce it and everyone did it but with no cameras in this country for speeding driving the speed limit on the majority of interstates and 4 lanes in this country puts you at a lot more risk than 10 over. The closer the traffic flow is to the same speed the safer the road is. Someone running much faster than the flow of traffic is an accident either waiting to happen or going to cause one. Same with the person under the speed limit UNLESS that is the speed of the flow of traffic. Spent a lot of years working in traffic and freeway design and studied many accident reports on areas in need of major corrections. Speed limits are there for a reason yes, but most traffic flows at what the average driver feels is safe for him and this is usually over that posted limit but not always. It is the rogue above or below the "perceived safe speed" on any road that causes the majority of accidents, whether he is speeding or excessively slow.

 

An interesting program we had was based on normal drivers in normal situations. We could identify cars in the program ( which looked much a big video game ) to be either excessive speed or too slow and turn the same program loose on a stretch of highway. It was not long before the normal flow of traffic was being altered by either of these individuals and it all played out on our screens how the speeder cut people off and caused emergency braking down the line and often brought traffic to a stop and go after he's 5 miles down the road, and similar but different circumstances with the excessively slow driver.

[mikechell 0]

I have to agree with vic on the "slower than speed limit" guy being a problem.

As I said before, I set my cruise to just barely over the limit. I am usually the slowest on the road. BUT ... the people going slower than me ... they're the ones that are distracted.

If you, J8000, are intentionally going 10 UNDER the speed limit, you are causing people to avoid you. Even people who are doing the limit. You might think you're not causing a problem, but to everyone who has to go around you because you're UNDER the limit, you're just another idiot, distracted driver, even if you aren't.

[Steeldrifter 0]

Vic that's fine if that's what you want to believe. Facts are just because everyone breaks a law does not make it correct. And saying "everyone else does it" is not a valid argument to justify something no matter what. That sort of reasoning does nothing to solve a problem, it just helps to continue the problem. IMO if you drive 10 under or 10 over you are causing a safety issue. And you can say you studied traffic reports or that you design hwys, that's fine & dandy, hell you could be the guy that designed I-75 for all I care, truth is not everyone goes 10 over, there are still a good deal of people whom go with in 5mph of the limit so I'm not buying that whole 'everyone drives 10 over so speeding to keep the flow is safer" statement at all. Not to mention the fact that when there IS an accident the amount of damage and extent of injury is based on speed so I'd rather not have A-holes slam into me doing 80+mph.You can disagree with me that's your choice it doesn't bother me, but facts are if you are driving 10 under or 10 over you are part of the problem. And that's all I'm personally gonna say on the topic.

[Crackaig 0]

You should see how things are here with driving. Recently the North Coast 500 tourist rout opened. A popular motoring programs presenters only went and raced around it! Now every petrol head thinks he should do the same. Add to that that there is no dual carriageway on the rout and 1/3rd of it is single track roads. Then you get convoys blocking it up completely. Most passing spaces accommodate 2 or 3 cars at most. A convoy of 30 cars that is determined to stick together is a total block.

Add to that there are different speed limits for different vehicles (Remember at most one lane in each direction) 60 for cars, 50 for trucks, plus the joy of farm vehicles, and you can imagine the havoc. Also throw into the mix that people are now hiring "performance" cars to do the NC500. A car you are not used to, with many times the power of what you usually, drive, on a road system you have no understanding or experience of. It is all just fun fun fun.

The police do have a radar van they park in various places on an irregular basis. Sutherland, as I have recently discovered is 2,028 square miles (bigger than Belgium). There is one radar van!

It is like a real life version of Wacky Races here.

Cheers,

C.

[vicrider 0]

Steve, it's not choosing what I want to believe. I spent 22 years working in various capacities in Mn/Dot and a road I did major corrections and had rebuilt on my plans was I494 on top of the city. What did it really accomplish? Pushed the traffic jam farther up the road is all but that's being rebuilt right now and hopefully will correct some more problems. The fact of the matter is that you cannot design roads for the amount of rush hour traffic they get and the drivers that are on the road who shouldn't be there. Maybe in the next century the roads will all be ribboned and you will not have to worry about speeders or gawkers since car control will be autonomous through signals sent up from the roadway itself to keep traffic flowing at speeds safe for the time and place of the moment.

 

The concept of safe speeds on any roadway at any given time is something that will always exist and you and you can type all you want and drive whatever speed you want years of study show things a lot more accurately than your assessments ever will. As for the guy nailing you at 80mph, he is the outlaw car driving well above the flow of traffic. Speed limit signs won't change his habits but a good system of cameras for speeding ticketing would. Other countries have it and we're too worried about our private rights (driving is a privilege not a right) to have cameras keeping people legal.

[Steeldrifter 0]

I stand by the statement of driving 10mph under or over is a problem, wrong and unsafe. Truth is I could sit here all day and disagree with you Vic and tell you "facts" based on "experts" just like you are saying to me, but it does shit but waste both our time. I don't get into the back & forth keyboard warrior expert crap so as I said I'm done with it. You have yourself a nice day.

[rstaight 0]

When I was taking Drivers ED in high school in Ohio we had a Highway Patrolman speak to the class.

 

I remember him saying when driving in traffic forget about the speed limit. Drive with the flow.

 

If the flow of traffic is traveling 10 mph over the speed limit that is the safe speed. If you are traveling the speed limit you become the hazard.

[flytire 0]

Road building aside does anybody use a radar detector?

[rstaight 0]

No, I do not use one. If they want me they can come after me.

[Bryon Anderson 0]

I've never used a radar detector, or "fuzz buster" as they were called in Missouri when I was growing up there. I had several friends who had them as young men--one even received one from his parents because they were afraid he was going to lose his license for getting too many speeding tickets! Craziness....

 

Anyway, every person I knew who used one still got tickets--the cops just switched to "Instant-On" radar guns that could activate and register a car's speed before the radar detector could detect it. I always personally found that amusing.

 

I drive 50+ miles one way to work every weekday, and I have come to a point at which I will not drive on an Interstate highway or expressway unless I absolutely have to. Those things are little better than killing fields in my opinion. You've got the trucks and the slowpokes going 10 under the speed limit in one lane, and a bunch of lunatics all tailgating each other at 80+mph in the other lane. No thank you. Costs me an extra 10 minutes, give or take, to do the same trip on two-lane back roads, and it's well worth it to me. Far safer, and the scenery is better, too.

[j8000 0]

well vic,

I really don't see the problem with driving my speed on the highways I drive when hitting a deer or dark cattle at night is a very serious danger. Rarely do I hold up much traffic and if there are anyone behind me while I'm going that much slower than the limit I use the turn outs which is what they are for. So vic, I've seen many of folks wreck there vehicles, some even die, by going too fast. And besides, if my speed is a danger, why isn't the speed trucks and trailers go, which is limited at 55 as opposed to 65 a danger too? It would be best vic, if you learned the geography of the highways you are traveling to really figure out a good safe speed for daytime and at night or evaluate your driving skills.

 

J.

[j8000 0]

And to add, the highways I travel there are many rigs who go even slower than that. Tractors being the slowest, other slower slow pokes who go 45 to 50mph, snow plows and other county rigs.

[CasualAngler 0]

My cousins in Oregon had them in their cars BITD, when they were all the rage. I didn't see a use for them; once the Radar gun triggered the fuzzbuster, the po-po's had you pegged anyway, so abruptly slowing down was just further proof you got busted!

 

[mikechell 0]

Typing "po-po's" was easier than typing "police".