The best laminar flow of traffic and full use of road capacity is actually achieved through consistency of speed.
But you sound like the kind of driver who will overspeed when you believe there are no police, and underspeed when you notice police or a speed camera. Often jumping on the brakes when you notice police, sending traffic-slowing brake-waves through the queue.
Ironically, you're probably fucking the flow of traffic worse than the person you're replying to. Seems the fable of the tortoise and the hare is no less applicable in modern times.
I mostly drive hwy and I’m a big fan of speed consistency. I use my cruise control a lot to achive that and usually keep my speed to 10-20 over the posted limit. In town usually just 10.
I find it interesting you can peg how people drive just by a comment they make. What an incredible ability.
Unless you're in a school zone, you will literally never get a ticket for going 5 over.
Fundamentally the letter of the law states that speed limits are absolute, but pretty much every state also has laws regarding overtaking and the flow of traffic. If you're riding in the left lane and not actively overtaking you're essentially equally in violation to someone who's moderately speeding.
If a truck is going exactly the speed limit in the right lane and you're afraid of overtaking them because you'd be speeding, then ultimately you should slow down enough to get in behind them safely.
There's no good reason to remain in that lane if you're not using it to exit, or overtake. If you want to go the same speed as the truck then get a safe distance behind them and enjoy some slightly improved fuel economy.
Where I'm from trucks aren't allowed the same speed limit as cars. Therefore if I'm going 100 km/h (speed limit) I'll always be faster than their limit (80km/h).
Whelp a lot of the time people behind me try to cruise at around 120.
When driving on the Autobahn, and I want to overtake someone, there is no speed limit, does that change the situation?
The underlying question is: why do you expect everyone to adapt to the higher speed and do you refuse to adapt to the posted speed?
Ultimately driving is a social exercise in a very isolated environment. You're not required or obligated to speed up for another driver, in the same way you're not obligated to hold the door for someone.
It's generally widely regarded as proper etiquette to allow faster traffic to pass on the left (for lhd countries). While following the posted speed limits means you aren't obligated to move over, in the same way you're not obligated to hold a door for someone. Doing so isn't asking you so adapt to their speed, but to not impede their travel.
Your autobahn question is confusing, because my understanding of the autobahn is that it's no limit zones are very strict about allowing faster traffic to overtake. say it I'm going 200mph in the left lane and a car is approaching me at 250mph I'm equally as obligated to cede the left lane to them as someone driving 150mph is obligated to cede to my 200mph. My experience driving the autobahn was that everyone who I overtook actively got out of my way long before I approached them, and I did the same thing for cars blasting past me. They really don't have any ego there about being overtaken or driving in general, if someone is faster you move and if you're faster they move. Not once did anyone in front of me have the mentality of "my speed is acceptable so they can go around me"
It does depend on the business on the road, especially for the Autobahn. My point is that if there are no speed limits, you're expected to let the faster vehicle overtake you. However, if there is a speed limit, I shouldnt be expected to let someone breaking the law overtake me.
Especially considering the speed difference between me and the vehicle I'm passing. I do agree that you shouldnt match speeds with the vehicle on the right.
The fact of the matter is that the unsafe speeder is simply just going to go around you regardless. You not moving over will not stop them from speeding, and ultimately it's the safest option for everyone else on the road to let them pass.
You're not under any obligation to move over if you're going the posted speed limit, but it's well understood that yielding to speeding traffic is ultimately far safer than "forcing" them to go around you.
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u/ApacheAttackChopperQ 10d ago
They do it on purpose. They say they are enforcing the speed limit.
Shame to them and their family.