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How Fast Do You Drive?

MACDRIVE

MACDRIVE

macrumors 68000
Original poster
Feb 17, 2006
1,695
3
Clovis, California
Most of the streets in the city I live in are 40mph(64kmh) zones. With the short distance in between stop lights, by the time you reach 40mph, it's time to stop for the red light. People over here are in a constant state of hurry. If they can get to 50mph(80kmh) before the light turns red, they will do so. They are always waiting at the red light before I get there since I drive 35mph(56kmh) most of the time. Why so slow you ask? Because the way I see it, the faster you drive between red lights, the longer you have to wait at the red light when you get there.

Am I wrong to drive 5mph(8.5kmh) below the speed limit? I just don't see the point in driving the speed limit, or 5-10mph(8.5-17kmh) above the speed limit, since you have to slam on your brakes when you get to the red light anyway. :cool:
 
MACDRIVE said:
Because the way I see it, the faster you drive between red lights, the longer you have to wait at the red light when you get there.
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Plus you save on gas by driving slower rather than gunning it. The best is when drive slower and the person next to guns it then you meet again at the next light. Just smile and wave and let them feel good about beating you to a stop.
 
I'm with MACDRIVE - no point in hurtling towards anything really, just to slam the brakes on at the last minute. Festina lente for me. As for the open road, that can be a different thing - but we so rarely have those in the UK, I have forgotten what they are like. And, as edesignuk states, depends on what music is playing. :)
 
When I used to have my car I'd hardly ever drive at the speed limit in town, always under it, I'd go as fast as would feel safe on the road. If its a big open road with good viewability of the road ahead and pedestrians around then sure I'll go at the speed limit. If its a narrow road winding around houses I'll slow right down and crawel along.
I drive like a grandma on country roads, people just don't realise how dangerous they are.

I have to admit it is a bit rich all of this coming from me since I lost my license due to speeding a couple of years back. It was 3am though, big straight motorway and not a single car in sight. :eek:
 
Autoroutes here top out at 130, and my poor Focus has a hard time going much above that :eek: . For the mountain roads, I'm definitely in the slower minority, since people here fly around curves :eek: .
 
gauchogolfer said:
Autoroutes here top out at 130, and my poor Focus has a hard time going much above that :eek: . For the mountain roads, I'm definitely in the slower minority, since people here fly around curves :eek: .
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The French are really good drivers IMO. They drive fast but they use common sense about what's ahead and what distance to keep with regards the vehicle in front. They also know how to use the autoroutes properly, unlike the British who just hog the middle lane.

In the UK, I'll pretty much keep to the speed limit. Never used to, but came to the conclusion that it's better to arrive 5 minutes late than never arrive at all, or even worse, seriously hurt someone else in the process. In France, I will ever so slightly speed because the roads are so good, and in Spain and Italy, just tightly grip the steering wheel and pray that I don't die. You don't even contemplate speeding when everyone around you is being a complete idiot.

EDIT: Aha. I've got a processor upgrade :)
 
On motorways I can average out at 80mph, but on city roads I stick to the speed limit. I've experienced running someone over (their fault, and they were damn lucky I was slowing down to park. He evidentally hadn't been told to look both ways before crossing the road. In his 20's too!!:mad: ) and I'm not keen to repeat the exercise.

When I was in the States last month I did hammer my rental (Pontiac Grand Prix) for about a mile or two to see how it performed... but it was an empty stretch of road.
In Delaware.
 
dynamicv said:
The French are really good drivers IMO. They drive fast but they use common sense about what's ahead and what distance to keep with regards the vehicle in front.
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Hmm... obviously you've never driven in Paris before...

dynamicv said:
EDIT: Aha. I've got a processor upgrade :)
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nice!! ;)
 
dynamicv said:
The French are really good drivers IMO.
<snip>
In France, I will ever so slightly speed because the roads are so good, and in Spain and Italy, just tightly grip the steering wheel and pray that I don't die. You don't even contemplate speeding when everyone around you is being a complete idiot.
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I agree about the quality of autoroutes here, coming from California. They are for the most part phenomenal, with great services to boot. Traffic also flows much better, since people actually move to the right when not passing someone.

Italy is crazy, since slow folks are going 100, while faster ones 170, all over the place. I feel wayyyy less safe when across the border.
 
Spanky Deluxe said:
Hmm... obviously you've never driven in Paris before...
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Never through it, but round it often enough on the Orbital. That gets a bit hairy with the roads constantly splitting and merging around you and all the lane changing that goes with it, but I'd rather take a day of that over one hour driving around Barcelona :)

gauchogolfer said:
Italy is crazy, since slow folks are going 100, while faster ones 170, all over the place. I feel wayyyy less safe when across the border.
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And don't you just love the way they'll sit fifty centimetres off your back bumper and try and force you to go faster rather than overtake. Italians are easily the worst drivers in Europe, even more so than the Spanish.
 
dynamicv said:
Italians are easily the worst drivers in Europe, even more so than the Spanish.
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I'm guessing you've not had the "pleasure" of driving in Greece, then. Wow. They make the Italians look patient. I've not done much autoroute driving there, but the around-town bit is much worse than Italy.
 
Hmm, I-95....80, I-4, 80, I-75,80

I pretty much go 80 while I'm on the highway.

If I see a cop/state trooper's car I slow down.

I've gone to 100 before, but just to see what it was like and I promptly sped back down.

As for city streets, here in Jax they are so far between lights that most just go 60. I usually go about 55 though.
 
You know how everytime someone flys past you, whether its on the highway or a city road, and you say "Look at that jackass!"

I'm that jackass.
 
city = 30-35
interstate = 75-80

although sometimes on the interstate i'm traveling 30 or less too due to traffic.
 
i usually go around 8-10 over the speed limit on a highway, 3-5 on smaller roads. i'm sure i'd go slower if i had a hybrid (or any other car that was telling me my mpg as i drove)
 
I live in a "rural"ish area, so I have to worry more about stop signs at empty 4-way intersections than traffic or red lights.
That said, I like 5-10 over the limit. As long as I don't get a ticket before I get my license :eek:
 
I usually go about 10-15 km over, but I don't race people to the next red light. Just seems dumb to me. I can be pretty aggresive when someone is going too slow though. On the highway, I set the cruise control for exactly 10 km over the posted limit. Insurance is a killer with too many speeding tickets.
 
I speed pretty badly on the highway, 10-20 over most of the time. Even though I know I shouldn't be speeding, nothing makes me angrier than somebody driving the speed limit in the left lane when even the right lane is going faster than them. It's inconsiderate and dangerous. I could care less if I'm stuck behind some puttering granny in the right lane. She can go as slow as she wants as long as she stays right.
 
adk said:
I speed pretty badly on the highway, 10-20 over most of the time. Even though I know I shouldn't be speeding, nothing makes me angrier than somebody driving the speed limit in the left lane when even the right lane is going faster than them. It's inconsiderate and dangerous. I could care less if I'm stuck behind some puttering granny in the right lane. She can go as slow as she wants as long as she stays right.
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I hate left lane campers :mad:
 
I tend to drive fast, but I don't allow myself to be the fastest car on the road. If the speed limit is 45 and cars are going 60 I'll follow suit.
 
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