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Car Forum / Driving, Maintenance, Tuning / General Car Topics / August 2005Construction Speed Limit
Hi folk I live in northern virginia. There is supposedly a 50 mph zone for 10 mile stretch wilson bridge which crosses from virginia t maryland http://www.wtop2.com/index.php?nid=30&sid=52295 I cross this section on the way to work every day, and I drive a exactly 50. I seem to be the only one Why are they not passing out speeding tickets for $500 to dangerou speeders, as per the news release?? I stay in the right lane and ge tailgated, honked at at least once a day. Once this truck stuck to m bumper and was honking after sticking to me for 2 miles. I got th license plate and was tempted to call the cops (on my hands-free o course, I dont break THE LAW) I agree that 50 for that stretch seems silly. Cars are better and so' the road. 60 is a better limit. However I refuse to break THE LAW, an get angry when people behind me expect me to. Any thoughts >I agree that 50 for that stretch seems silly. Cars are better and so's >the road. 60 is a better limit. However I refuse to break THE LAW, and >get angry when people behind me expect me to. > >Any thoughts? ============ Yes simply move over and allow them to pass you on the right if necessaary... Much easier on your nerves, saffer for all the other drivers on the road and you get rid of the truck on your bumper... Sorry but the best speed to drive is the same as the other cars are traveling..keeping your distance of course... Just my opinion... Bob G. It always seems strange to me that they reduce the speed limit when they funnel traffic into one lane. Seems to me if they expect two lames of traffic to run in one lane the speed should be doubled. After all it is the backed up traffic that leads to all the wrecks not the speed. ;) mike hunt > Hi folks > [quoted text clipped - 19 lines] > > Any thoughts? > Hi folks > [quoted text clipped - 19 lines] > > Any thoughts? I agree with you, Dude. That area is the workers' 'office'; their turf needs/deserves respect, as they often have to make maneuvers inconsistent with normal traffic routines. These become dangerous, and lives are lost EVEN at the 50mph by drivers, at least partly due to unexpected movements such as sideways driving/backing of vehicles across the lanes. Their lives are much more at risk than so many drivers tend to consider. Even this 50mph can often be hazardous! Their slogan is so relevant >let 'em work; let 'em live<. s Strict enforcement of ALL speed limits (65,55, 40,35,25 even 15) an ALL traffic rules ($100 ticket for "rolling" stop on red etc.) wil prevent tragic accidents like this. The article even says that th accident was avoidable if speed limits were more strictly enforce http://www.cnn.com/2005/US/07/29/crash.ap/index.htm > Hi folks > [quoted text clipped - 19 lines] > > Any thoughts? Yes, I have a thought. I think you are likely to cause an accident. Driving a different speed from the flow of traffic is much more likely to cause an accident than avert one because you are "following the law". If the law said to jump off a cliff would you? When an accident is caused because you are disrupting traffic flow and a small child is hurt or killed two things are true. a) the death could have been averted if 100's of people slowed down b) the death could have been averted if 1 person, you, sped up Who's fault is it? Have you considered that 100's of other people might be right and you might be wrong? If you want the speed limit more strictly enforced then vote for it. Don't risk the lives of the innocent. Hope this helps, William I guess Dean wants me to decide what laws to follow and what laws t ignore. If 70% of a town decided that murder were legal and decide to waylay all travellers passing throiugh town then I guess th remaining 30% should join them. The line about the law saying to jum off a cliff is a red herring and I wont even respond to it. I __DO_ vote by the way, pray inform me whom I have to vote for to enforc EXISTING LAWS Even if I agree with you to some extent in normal highway areas, i CONSTRUCTION ZONES I will follow the law to the T. If an accident i caused then my conscience is clear. I FOLLOWED THE LAW!! Furthermore as Bob G above suggests, if someone tailgates me in the right lane will go to the lane to the left, still at 50 The following cartalk rant expresses my views succintly, except that do not endorse holding up traffic by driving side by side at spee limit. I DO think people should have more courtesy. http://www.cartalk.com/content/rant/r-rlast31.ht Regard Shaw > William.Deans@gmail.comwrote > Hi folk > > I live in northern virginia. There is supposedly a 50 mph zone fo > 10 mile stretch wilson bridge which crosses from virginia t > maryland [quoted text clipped - 6 lines] > Why are they not passing out speeding tickets for $500 to dangerou > speeders, as per the news release?? I stay in the right lane an ge > tailgated, honked at at least once a day. Once this truck stuck t m > bumper and was honking after sticking to me for 2 miles. I got th > license plate and was tempted to call the cops (on my hands-free o > course, I dont break THE LAW) > > I agree that 50 for that stretch seems silly. Cars are better an so' > the road. 60 is a better limit. However I refuse to break THE LAW an > get angry when people behind me expect me to > > Any thoughts Yes, I have a thought. I think you are likely to cause an accident Driving a different speed from the flow of traffic is much mor likel to cause an accident than avert one because you are "following th law". If the law said to jump off a cliff would you? When a accident is caused because you are disrupting traffic flow and smal child is hurt or killed two things are true a) the death could have been averted if 100's of people slowed dow b) the death could have been averted if 1 person, you, sped u Who's fault is it? Have you considered that 100's of other peopl might be right and you might be wrong? If you want the speed limi more strictly enforced then vote for it. Don't risk the lives of th innocent. Hope this helps William[/quote:feed05d517 Greetings Shawn, You say that the "line about the law saying to jump off a cliff is a red herring and I wont even respond to it" but yet the FDA denies millions of citizens potentially life saving drugs. If you are terminally ill and there is a drug which can save your life but it is illegal in the US I most vehemently suggest you start thinking about which laws to break and which to follow. If someone is attacking you with a screwdriver but all you have is a gun I suggest you shoot the attacker even though this is considered "unequivocal force" in some states. There are also outdated laws which do not take into account new realities. If you are sitting in a park in NYC with your laptop and happen upon an open WI-FI connection I suggest you use it and enjoy your day even though you could be committing a felony "unauthorized access to a computer network". (Yes, people have been arrested for this even when there was no malicious intent.) Who do you have to vote for to strictly enforce existing laws? Ticketing all those people going 51 in an 50 is a lot less popular than you might think. There might be someone in the primaries who would agree with you about the strict enforcement but I am not sure even there. Luckily if no one running agrees with your views there is an answer: run yourself. The problem is your views are unpopular so you probably won't be elected. I am glad supervillan Schindler didn't feel the way that you do about laws and having a clean conscience, William > I guess Dean wants me to decide what laws to follow and what laws to > ignore. If 70% of a town decided that murder were legal and decided [quoted text clipped - 67 lines] > Hope this helps, > William[/quote:feed05d517] 1. Apples and Oranges. Odious comparisons of traffic laws with naz laws and FDA regulations about "potentially" life-saving remedie (who decides this potential? highly qualified doctors at FDA or th snake-oil salesmen pawning them? You as a patient are NOT objectiv in the risk/reward analysis!!) will be ignored. I see that you di not address my analogy about the town that decided to ignore law about murder. 2. What makes this nation great (and different from nazi germany) i that we are a nation of laws, not of personalities/capricious whims There is a law in NC that says you cannot co-habit before marriage While it is not enforced on all and sundry, a woman was dismisse from the police force coz she refused to marry her boyfriend or liv apart. In true-blue american fashion, she SUED the police department Hence if you get a traffic ticket, GO TO COURT. If you get an advers ruling, GO TO THE APPEALS COURT. Get the law overturned if you thin it is unjust. You can go all the way to the supreme court. Outdate Sodomy laws were thrown out of many state constitutions by th supreme court. On the other hand, if you think the law is not unjus (i.e. you are not working to overturn it) then follow the law Ignoring the law is never a solution 3. Did you think about the construction workers' lives saved by the 5 mph limit? There are more sides of this issue than you address. Som state (I think it is illinois) has a new law thats says firs construction zone ticket is $350 and second one is $1000 with point on license. BTW according to this law these tickets can be issued b speed camera. I say apply the same law in virginia/maryland an station the speed cameras!! Even if ONE worker's life is saved it i worth it 4. Did you think of the possibility that someone who hijacks a wi-f can traffic in kiddie porn with impunity? For the sake of th children, this must not be allowed. If the person charged with felony disagrees, he has recourse in the courts, upto the suprem court. That is the american way Regard Shaw > William.Deans@gmail.comwrote Greetings Shawn > You say that the "line about the law saying to jump off a cliff i > red herring and I wont even respond to it" but yet the FDA denie > millions of citizens potentially life saving drugs. If you ar > terminally ill and there is a drug which can save your life but i i > illegal in the US I most vehemently suggest you start thinkin abou > which laws to break and which to follow. If someone is attackin yo > with a screwdriver but all you have is a gun I suggest you shoo th > attacker even though this is considered "unequivocal force" in som > states > > There are also outdated laws which do not take into account ne > realities. If you are sitting in a park in NYC with your lapto an > happen upon an open WI-FI connection I suggest you use it and enjo > your day even though you could be committing a felony "unauthorize [quoted text clipped - 3 lines] > Who do you have to vote for to strictly enforce existing laws > Ticketing all those people going 51 in an 50 is a lot less popula tha > you might think. There might be someone in the primaries who woul > agree with you about the strict enforcement but I am not sure eve > there. Luckily if no one running agrees with your views there i a > answer: run yourself. The problem is your views are unpopular s yo > probably won't be elected > > I am glad supervillan Schindler didn't feel the way that you d abou > laws and having a clean conscience > Willia > > NoVaDude wrote > I guess Dean wants me to decide what laws to follow and what law t > ignore. If 70% of a town decided that murder were legal and decide > to waylay all travellers passing throiugh town then I guess th > remaining 30% should join them. The line about the law saying t jum > off a cliff is a red herring and I wont even respond to it. __DO_ > vote by the way, pray inform me whom I have to vote for to enforc > EXISTING LAWS. > > Even if I agree with you to some extent in normal highway areas, in > CONSTRUCTION ZONES I will follow the law to the T. If an accident is > caused then my conscience is clear. I FOLLOWED THE LAW!! Furthermore, > as Bob G above suggests, if someone tailgates me in the right lane I > will go to the lane to the left, still at 50. > > The following cartalk rant expresses my views succintly, except that I > do not endorse holding up traffic by driving side by side at speed > limit. I DO think people should have more courtesy. [quoted text clipped - 4 lines] > > Shawn > 1. Apples and Oranges. Odious comparisons of traffic laws with nazi > laws and FDA regulations about "potentially" life-saving remedies [quoted text clipped - 3 lines] > not address my analogy about the town that decided to ignore laws > about murder. a) I did not compare traffic laws to "nazi laws" implying that they are somehow the same. I made the point that not all laws should be strictly followed. I believe that you know this but refuse to admit it. b) There are many highly qualified doctors not at the FDA. They may know of a drug which is, for instance, legal and commonly used in other countries but has not yet been approved by the FDA. c) The FDA also prevents people from making their own risk / reward decisions with their doctors. For instance, the FDA does not allow silicone breast implants. There is no reason anyone MUST have them but even if the risk is non-zero people should have the choice to opt for them. > 2. What makes this nation great (and different from nazi germany) is > that we are a nation of laws, not of personalities/capricious whims. [quoted text clipped - 9 lines] > (i.e. you are not working to overturn it) then follow the law. > Ignoring the law is never a solution. I don't think that speed laws are "unjust". I never argued that. I think it is dangerous to drive at a speed significantly different than the normal flow of traffic. Something you profess to do every day. > 3. Did you think about the construction workers' lives saved by the 50 > mph limit? There are more sides of this issue than you address. Some [quoted text clipped - 4 lines] > station the speed cameras!! Even if ONE worker's life is saved it is > worth it. When did I say that the 50 mph limit is a bad thing? Where did you get this crap from? If they set it at 50 mph and everyone drives 60 mph instead of 75 mph and it saves lives terrific. I just don't like the thought of you risking lives by driving a different speed from everyone else - even if you can legally get away with it. > 4. Did you think of the possibility that someone who hijacks a wi-fi > can traffic in kiddie porn with impunity? For the sake of the > children, this must not be allowed. If the person charged with a > felony disagrees, he has recourse in the courts, upto the supreme > court. That is the american way. Why don't you make the thing that you want to prevent illegal instead of trying to figure out what 100 things lead up to it and outlawing all 100 of them? According to your argument we should outlaw VCR's because they make it easy to infringe on copyrights. > Regards > [quoted text clipped - 75 lines] > > > > [/quote:8da43a8823] Speed limits are not laws but rather regulations required of one for the privilege of driving on the public byways. One need only abide by the regulation when they choose to use those public byways. Laws on the other hand apply to all individuals. One can not be charged under those regulation while driving on private property or even need a license to do so, as opposed to being charged if one steals the property of another or kills a person. mike hunt > 1. Apples and Oranges. Odious comparisons of traffic laws with nazi > laws and FDA regulations about "potentially" life-saving remedies > (who decides this potential? highly qualified doctors at FDA or the > snake-oil salesmen pawning them? You as a patient are NOT objective > in the risk/reward analysis!!) will be ignored. I guess the highway around the wilson bridge is private property.. > Anonymouswrote Speed limits are not laws but rather regulations required of on > for the privilege of driving on the public byways. One need onl > abide by the regulation when they choose to use those publi [quoted text clipped - 14 lines] > snake-oil salesmen pawning them? You as a patient are NOT objectiv > in the risk/reward analysis!!) will be ignored.[/quote:69c5e828ec Thanks William Dean I understand your point now and will not drive at exactly 50. I gai nothing by slowing down anyway, and endanger myself in addition t those around me. Flow of traffic is always better. Guess I go paranoid : You see, moved to VA from another state where I got whapped with hug insurance bill for TWO SPEEDING TICKETS. My conclusion was that if go AT speed limit then no chance of speeding ticket Don't you think speed cameras with draconian penalties are a good ide in construction zones I must complement you for the civil and succint arguments rather tha ad hominem attacks (which I myself am guilty of, e.g. "snake oi salesmen") Cheer Shaw |
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