Road Courtesy

[gvibes]

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So I'm driving through the country roads out by Mt. Rainier, WA this morning. The speed limit is ridiculously low and WA cops are pretty Nazi, so I've got my radar detector out. As I approach a bend in the road, my radar detector goes off, so I begin to slow down. Just as I begin to round the corner, a Jeep Grand Cherokee comes the other way and flashes me three times. Sure enough, just around the corner is a cop parked on the side of the road looking for speeders.

Now, I was quite amazed by this actually. You see, I heard one person back when I first got my license tell me that they like to flash people to warn them a cop is coming, and I've done it ever since. But this is the first time anybody's ever done it for me, and of the dozens of times I've brought this up with others, not a single one of them does it either. I wish I could remember who it was that originally told me, but I can't.

This event has done much to boost my hope that there are other observant, considerate drivers out there. (You know, the kind that will notice when a car behind them at a stoplight wants to take a free right but doesn't have room, so they pull forward a few feet to let them by.) Anybody else do this?

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The car in front once flashed their brights after passing a cop. Of course, the flashed car was also a cop, and the guy got pulled over. So, watch out!

[d10]

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A few miles down the road, he runs over a kid due to his excessive speed and kills him. Are you in part responsible for the death of that child?

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No.

[Benholio]

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Regardless of whether it's legal or not, I got a question for you: A guy who was going real fast and that you warned slows down and avoids a ticket... as soon as he's past the speed trap he starts speeding again. A few miles down the road, he runs over a kid due to his excessive speed and kills him. Are you in part responsible for the death of that child?

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Say someone is coming for the elevator and you don't hold the door for them. Soon after that, they gun down a bunch of people on the street. Are you responsible for their deaths?

[jason_t]

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I don't speed in places where speeding is dangerous.

I speed in places and conditions where the posted speed limit is probably 20 mph below what it's safe to drive.

The speed limit (at least on the highways) was set based on fuel economy, not saftey (or at least that's what I've heard).

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Fuel economy?? In the states?? who are you kidding?

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B_Dids is correct. In the early 1970s, America faced a severe oil shortage so the U.S. Congress imposed a speed limit of 55 mph because this is near the speed for which under ideal conditions most cars are running at maximum fuel efficiency. A car traveling at 75 mph is burning 20% more fuel than a car running at 55 mph.

I'm sure that if you septn thirty seconds using Google to research this instead of being stubborn because of your dislike of America you wouldn't come off looking like a jacka[/i]ss.

[RacersEdge]

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A car traveling at 75 mph is burning 20% more fuel than a car running at 55 mph.

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You know this as a fact? I'm not disputing it, but that's a much higher % than I thought/would have guessed.

[Ray Zee]

yea 20% is just about the difference with my truck. it has a fuel consumption meter in it.

[jason_t]

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A car traveling at 75 mph is burning 20% more fuel than a car running at 55 mph.

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You know this as a fact? I'm not disputing it, but that's a much higher % than I thought/would have guessed.

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Yes, this number comes from the DOE. They report a 5% drop in fuel efficiency for every 5 mph over 55 mph.

[Larimani]

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Regardless of whether it's legal or not, I got a question for you: A guy who was going real fast and that you warned slows down and avoids a ticket... as soon as he's past the speed trap he starts speeding again. A few miles down the road, he runs over a kid due to his excessive speed and kills him. Are you in part responsible for the death of that child?

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Say someone is coming for the elevator and you don't hold the door for them. Soon after that, they gun down a bunch of people on the street. Are you responsible for their deaths?

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This is different. By warning other drivers, you interfered with the system that's in place to prevent people from driving dangerously. If that person had been stopped by the police, chances are he would have slowed down.
Warning other drivers of a speed trap is an irresponsible act. Speed is one of the biggest killers.

To come back to your elevator analogy, let's say that you see that the cable of the elevator is damaged but you don't do anything about it. The cable snaps and plummets to the ground... a few people die. I believe you are partly responsible for their death.

[Larimani]

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I don't speed in places where speeding is dangerous.

I speed in places and conditions where the posted speed limit is probably 20 mph below what it's safe to drive.

The speed limit (at least on the highways) was set based on fuel economy, not saftey (or at least that's what I've heard).

[/ QUOTE ]

Fuel economy?? In the states?? who are you kidding?

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B_Dids is correct. In the early 1970s, America faced a severe oil shortage so the U.S. Congress imposed a speed limit of 55 mph because this is near the speed for which under ideal conditions most cars are running at maximum fuel efficiency. A car traveling at 75 mph is burning 20% more fuel than a car running at 55 mph.

I'm sure that if you septn thirty seconds using Google to research this instead of being stubborn because of your dislike of America you wouldn't come off looking like a jacka[/i]ss.

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Who cares about 1970?

In the present day and age, the U.S. does not give a flying fcuk about energy/fuel conservation.

And although the speed limit might have originated from a fuel crisis, the reason it is still in place now is because it saves lives.


For your info:

USA- oil consumption in quadrillion BTU - 37.706 (share of world total usage = 25.5%)
Oil Consumption in million tonnes
USA - 882.8 million tonnes (25.5% share of world total usage)
Total No. America - 1047.1 million tonnes (30.2% share of world total usage)
Total Europe - 755.2 million tonnes (21.8% share of world total usage)
Asia Pacific - 928.7 million tonnes (26.9% of world total usage)
Total World - 3462.4 million tonnes
OECD share of world total = 62.7%
Oil Consumption in thousand barrels daily
USA - 18490 thousand barrels daily
Europe - 15990 thousand barrels daily
Asia Pacific - 19920 thousand barrels daily
Total World - 73215 thousand barrels daily
OECD share of world total = 62.7%

[edtost]

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And although the speed limit might have originated from a fuel crisis, the reason it is still in place now is because it brings in too much cash to abandon the program.

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