The speed limit in Utah and Colorado is 80 miles per hour. This is about 130 kph. For reference, the default speed in most of Europe seems to be about 120 kph, or 75 mph. Default! Most people seem to drive about 130 (80 mph), and no one seems to be too put out by 140 kph (87 kph). This is largely on two-lane freeways, not unlike the worst parts of the I-15 between LA and LV, or most of I-70.
We can do the experiment of extending this to ridiculousness, because the Germans have [1]. No speed limit in some sections. Average traffic moves at about 140, trucks and punters alike, and the fast lane is kept clear for the drivers cruising at 160-220 kph. That’s around 100 mph in real numbers, folks. Sustained speeds. Two-lanes. Shared with trucks.
And what do you know, in both Utah and Germany, slower traffic keeps right. People pass, and pull back over. Passing cars don’t get upset if a truck pulls out and slows them down, and passing cars don’t block cars in the right lane behind slower trucks. They let them pull out and maintain speed, at cost to their own. Whaddaya know, people are polite. Most people seem to drive between 80-85 mph, and the passing lane is reserved for those going 90 mph.
But drop the limit to 70, as it is in California, and it’s mayhem. It’s often faster to stay in the “slow” lanes than it is in the passing lane. Faster traffic still moves at 90 mph, and slower at 75 mph. But more people think it’s their god-given right to park in the passing lane at whatever speed they want, whether it’s the limit, or whatever cushion they deem appropriate for themselves and now others. More speed-moralism, enforced by pairs of cars going the same speed for miles and miles in parallel lanes. So there’s more lane-changing, and passing on the right, and angry fingers.
These are the same drivers who were perfectly polite and law-abiding over the border in Utah, following the big signs that said “SLOWER TRAFFIC KEEP RIGHT”.
There’s some moral calculus there between that law and the unwritten law that says Thou Shalt Not Suffer Others To Go More Than 10 MPH Faster Than the Official Limit.
Therefore BWare’s Law of Polite Speed:
The higher the speed limit, the more polite the drivers.
Something about bopping along at high speeds focuses one’s attention, and makes one more polite to other drivers. Something something armed society polite society.
But it’s a well-known fact that people ignore speed limits and drive the speed that they feel is safe. So the only difference between sections of road where things are sane and the law of slower traffic keep right is followed, and those where the passing lane is clogged, is the posted speed limit. Thus the corollary:
The higher the difference between the actual speed and the posted speed, the more rude the drivers.
[1] Don’t get me wrong, I know it’s not perfect. Or as I found out recently the German word for “construction” is “autobahn.”
I’m not talking about whether it’s perfect or not – I’m talking about the effect it has on drivers and their attitudes.
The higher the difference between the actual speed and the posted speed, the more rude the drivers.
–B. Ware 20170924
The higher the speed limit, the more polite the drivers.
–B. Ware 20170923
Tagged QotDThis is the day of the expanding man
That shape is my shade
There where I used to stand
It seems like only yesterday
I gazed through the glass
At ramblers, wild gamblers
That’s all in the pastYou call me a fool
You say it’s a crazy scheme
This one’s for real
I already bought the dream
So useless to ask me why
Throw a kiss and say goodbye
I literally had an old man yell at me [1] today to “Get off my lawn! [2]”
And here I was thinking that was just a phrase on the intertubes.
[1] Well, at my dog. Then other things at me.
[2] With more adjectives.
We shape our buildings, and afterwards our buildings shape us.
–Winston Churchill
Tagged network, QotD, smartphoneTagged QotD[…] there is no such thing as “Deregulation.” The choice is always simply between regulation by the public for the public or regulation by private powers for their personal benefit. In short, we must regulate our society through democracy, or the plutocrats will regulate our lives for us.
Are both big fans of Moby Dick and The Odyssey.
Now I’ll have to read All Quiet on the Western Front.
I may not be the strongest guy in the world.
However, I just got back from a climbing trip, so I’m not in the worst shape, and I can’t get this prescription pill bottle open without some serious rrrrrr.
What the heck is Kaiser thinking? Yeah, it’s safe from kids. Safe from anyone who doesn’t spend five days a week training too.
Trash
I just went for a walk at the local mountain bike trailhead. In the full-to-overflow parking lot, there’s one trash can, no toilet, and cars parked down the street for a mile. Behind the first tree on the trail are uncountable fresh human turds, not to mention the inevitable dog and horse shit [1]. Turns out even mountain bikers gotta take a dump.
I also just got back from Rifle Mountain Park. No turds (dog, human, or horse), very little trash. What’s the difference? Could it be the porta-potty in every pull-out and campground, ditto trash cans, ditto full dog-bag dispensers? [2]
Huh. Turns out if you make it easy, people throw away their trash and pick up the dog poop.
There are dog poop bag dispensers on the local trail, which I appreciate. But they are ten minutes away from the start, by which time my dogs have already gone. Thanks, but why not have one at the beginning? And a porta-potty.
I’m no saint – if there are a million dog turds around, I’m not inclined to pick up mine. What’s the point? But if there’s a dispenser and a bin at the trailhead, then I do. Funny old human nature.
I notice the same thing in Europe. There’s a trash can every block, so there’s less trash. Not none – less. We civilized USAns can’t have trash bins cluttering up our nice neighborhood (attracts the wrong element [3]), so people just toss it out, and I pick it up off my lawn every morning.
[1] I don’t know why it’s the law to pick up dog shit and not horse shit. Shit is shit. You’re on a pack animal. Get off the damn horse, shovel it into a bag, and carry it off in your saddlebags. Horse shit is the reason the popular running trails are full of nasty flies. I grew up on a ranch, so I’m a bit more familiar with horse shit than most, having eaten my fair share of it (no getting around getting shit kicked into your face on branding and nut-cutting day – there’s a reason for those bandana’s). But still, shit is shit and flies are flies. Just because they eat hay doesn’t make it nicer.
[2] It could have something to do with the $5 day-use fee too, I suppose. But I just bought an annual pass because I like having the Rifle pass on my car. I’d buy an Arroyo pass for some reasonable fee to have a clean toilet and dog bags and bins at the trailhead. But a toilet would attract homeless people so we can’t have that.
[3] I’ve had people yell at me when I put something in their bin on trash day!
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