Yes, the first post I made in this thread was an attempt at humor.
The other two are certainly not.
When there is traffic and everyone else is trasveling at 65mph or so and some A-S-S-H-O-L-E is weaving in and out of traffic going at least 10 and often 15 or 20 mph faster than everyone else, yes, I do have a problem with that. I see it everday on 635, 35, and 75 during rush hour.
If you are on a stretch of interstate and away from city congestion, knock yourself out. Hit 90, 100, whatever. I'm sure we're all impressed.
But if your speeding is endangering myself, my daughter, and other law abiding citizens that's a different story.
Originally Posted by Sweet Heather
You are right about trying to outrun a radio. It doesn't work.
Those who slalom through traffic pose a hazard, slow down the general flow by causing everyone else to hit their brakes, and in my experience don't get there any faster than I do. I see it most often on Central Expressway when I'm headed downtown. All that energy and action generally gets them stuck in a right lane when they guess some particular car's next move wrong, and I end up passing them in the end, from the passing lane.
If everyone on the highway was (by my definition) a good driver, you would rarely ever have to use your brakes. Making a move that causes someone else to brake is inconsiderate, slows the general flow, and in heavy traffic causes a chain reaction that results in stop and go traffic. That includes entering an expressway while going slower than the lane you are trying to merge into.
There is no excuse for that.
I am not trying to impress anyone with the speed I drive. If 90 - 100 mph impresses someone, so be it. After about 140 mph I become impressed, not with the driver, but with the car. It takes a good motor, suspension, tires, and aerodynamics to maintain those speeds, and every mph after takes a lot more horsepower. I'm impressed by the engineering, not the "talent" it takes to push your foot down.
One of the best compliments a woman ever gave me was that I was a "smooth" driver. It meant a lot that she noticed, and immediately endeared me to her. If she had said "fast" I doubt I would remember it.
Speed limits have very little to do with saving lives, and everything to do with money and control. If the government wanted to limit everyone to 70 mph, they could mandate that all cars sold in the US have limiters and make it a crime to tamper with them. They did it with catalytic converters, and tampering with a limiter would be much more obvious than using an off-road exhaust system. German auto mfg. already does this, (at a liberal 160 mph) so the technology is there. If the US did this it would take a major source of revenue away from municipalities and give the police one less reason to pull people over, question them, search their vehicle, and check their ID.
I warn oncoming traffic of revenue traps whenever possible. We all pick and choose the laws we respect. This board is proof of that, hypothetically anyway (it's all fantasy as far as I know). Laws that stop me from doing something that hurts nobody, get little respect from me. I find no civic duty in helping the police enforce those laws, and a little bit of pleasure in warning others, when there is an immediate danger of getting caught.
Perhaps this discussion should be moved to the sand box. Driving seems to have hijacked the thread, and for that, I apologize.
Can I still be "infantile racer boy"? It has a ring to it.