Forum Discussion
D.E.Bishop wrote:
We have we have what is termed a safe and prudent speed regulation. If the speed limit is 55mph for a vehicle towing, and the average speed in the right lane is 65, then it is neither safe nor prudent to drive at exactly 55 mph.
That's good to know. I haven't towed in Ca. for quite some time but when I towed the TT down there, it was plain to see that driving only 55 when everyone else is doing 70~100+ was stupid dangerous. I towed at 65 and was passed by just about everyone but at least they wern't coming up on me like I was standing still. Before I spead up, I had people having to make last second lane changes to get around me. Very dangerous.- I have found that in California, seldom does anyone follow the traffic laws. Everything here is a suggestion and safety be da**ed. We have a very restrictive(logically so) cell phone law for drivers, when it was first implemented the enforcement was high and you seldom saw anyone talking or texting.
It was sooooo nice for about two months. Like so many laws in so many places, good intent and terrible enforcement.
In my never to be humble opinion, the truck and towing laws are a little too restrictive and too many truckers take chances they shouldn't need to take if the speed limit was upped by 5 or 10 mph. I tow the Suzi and try to keep my speed around 58 to 60 mph. I do this mostly for personal reasons, I'm close to 80 and I need 3/10 of a second more time to react than a younger person. The other reason is, in CA. the set speed limit is considered the most safe speed, it is not an absolute. We have we have what is termed a safe and prudent speed regulation. If the speed limit is 55mph for a vehicle towing, and the average speed in the right lane is 65, then it is neither safe nor prudent to drive at exactly 55 mph. I am retired and can afford to drive at times when traffic is lighter and slower.
I must say, however, that this last week when we returned from AZ that too many CA RVers were not in the prescribed lanes and were trying to keep up with the morons driving their little hot rod imports and domestic muscle cars. Fortunately, most RVers are smarter than that. - It's been my experience that it's not just the 'stay right' that causes the problem, it's that coupled with a very aggressive speed limit enforcement.
What ends up happening is someone is cruising along with the cruise control set to 65 mph, they then come up on someone doing 64.996 mph and move into the left lane to "pass" them, at 0.004 mph faster than the other car.
In the end they are in the left lane for 20 minutes trying to pass a single car.
If there was some common sense used in enforcement of the speed limit there would be some tolerance for over-taking a slower vehicle.
Thankfully up here in Canuckistan the LEO's are very tolerant of excesses in speed, provided the offender isn't driving like a madman or in an unsafe manner.
A few years back the head of the Province of Ontario's police force (our version of State Troopers) made a public statement that his officers wouldn't enforce the speed limit as long as drivers were 'moving with other traffic and not driving aggresively'.
It's not unusual to be traveling a major highway with all the cars doings 80 even though the speed limit is 60. - Towing on I-10 going west in Texas the right lane was very rough and saw the semi driving just to the right of the white so I did that and it made the tow much smoother but soon it seemed to be hard to keep that up because it wasn't a normal way to drive so back into the normal and soon the road was better.
chevman - Illegal most places, enforced pretty much nowhere. A few times I've seen a CHP hit their lights on someone in the left lane, but then just keep on going when they move over. More of a - "hey, get out of the way" type situation.
I do know CHP around here will sometimes enforce the no trailers in the fast lane law (if the road has three or more lanes). Not everyone seems to know that's a law. - Yea, in Texas most roads have signs telling you to keep right except when passing. I really don't think it is enforced just real tight.
- All this talk about moving back into the right lane, lol. If people would leave a proper safe following distance between vehicles it may be possible, most times it's not. Biggest thing I have noticed is that as soon as I leave a lane, left OR right lane, someone is there to fill the gap and prevent you from changing lanes even if you wanted to. Tailgating is the major cause of impeding traffic because no one can change lanes. No one pays attention or cares what that blinking light on the back of my trailer is.
I passed a semi one time on I 40 and at a reasonable distance ahead of the truck I put on the turn signal and looked in my mirror, no one there, started moving over and noticed a car on the shoulder. Idiot tried to pass me on the right so quick I never saw him until he was on the shoulder. You just can't fix stupid. People refuse to let you change lanes. wrktfsh wrote:
I always love the semi trying to pass another semi for miles oblivious to the backup behind them
Or the person that slows down so the semi can get into the left lane.- "Often the roads are just crammed with far more vehicles than the road was designed."
This is very true, and a real issue in urban areas. And much of it is driver obliviousness I believe: they are mostly unaware of what is going on around them. Driving is a task to be done, and many seem to feel they can multi-task while performing this task. Unfortunately they're wrong.
