"In a BMW, speeding comes very
naturally..."
Wilfred Lee
G7,Fall 97
"Decreasing the speed limit is not
the main solution for traffic accidents."
Wing Sum Kwong G9
Summer 98
"I was in a fifty mile an hour zone
and I was just driving when I saw the cops lights go on behind me. I then looked at the
speedometer and I was going 90 in a 50 zone."
Ryan Shintani G8
Spring 98
How I Feel
I think the speed limits that are posted, should be abided by in some instances, school
zones, narrow residential streets and the like. I feel that those persons who set the
speed limits have developed "safe" speeds for most of the areas using valid
reasons for doing so. Most of the interstate I-5 on the west coast has speed limits set
from 65 mph through most areas. The only areas that have lower speed are through the
mountain passes that curve and may have ice during the winter. I have driven throughout
the West coast and even though I had been going 30 to 40 miles over the posted speed
limit, (weather permitting, of course) I have usually just been keeping up with the local
traffic. There lies the conflict that I have with posted speed limits, for me and
many other "experienced good" drivers exceeding the posted limits is not a
problem but on the other hand. I do feel that if most of the other drivers go within
10 miles an hour of the posted speed limit, then they are driving at a relatively safe
speed for their driving skill, still other drivers should not even be driving at all!
I think when they start to get up in the range of 20 mph. or more, then we may have
a potential problem on our hands. This could cause a very dangerous situation. Slow down,
pay attention, and drive at the speed that you are capable of driving and no more.
My attitude to the law
I think my attitude towards the law is pretty normal. They know what they are doing, for
many persons the speeds actually exceed their driving capabilities, so why mess with a
good thing. None of us are above the law. If you want to break the law, you may get caught
and have to pay the price. It's up to you.
My Behavior
I would have to say that my attitude is consistent with my driving behavior. I try to stay
within 10 miles of the speed limit most of the time. I feel that my reaction times are
good enough to handle most any situation at that speed. At times when my judgment
tells me that a faster speed can be used and still be safe I will. I always pay attention
to the road conditions including wind, rain and sun. I'll say it again I race my
motorcycle and have been driving for over 20years with out an accident, must be doing
something right. Oh by the way I have a clean abstract too.
Searching The Net for Sites that Discuss The
Speed Limit.
National Coalition for the
Abolition of Speed Limits - http://www.missouri.edu/~c669885/ncasl/
The participants in this site are unknown. Their motive is to abolish speed limits across
the country. It states that speed does not kill, drunk drivers and careless drivers do.
The US highway death rate has decreased since the repeal of the federal speed limit laws
in 1996. Twenty Eight states have since then raised the limit to 70 mph. or more. The site
offers a links page to 20+ additional Speed Limit related sites.
New Jersey Speed Limit
Abolitionists Homepage - http://speed.down.main.st
. It talks about the fact that New Jersey is trying to pass a law that would allow the
speed limit to be changed to 65 mph. This would be a 10mph. increase. They talk about
different legislative meetings that are coming up to discuss the issue. It states that
Governor, Christine Whitman, will not approve of the raised speed limit. It states on a
later publication that she will allow only certain areas to have the raised speed limit to
try it out and see if it works.
Texas Department of
Transportation - www.dot.state.tx.us/tdotnews/newsrel/97-013a.htm
This site does not reveal the participants other that the Texas Department of
Transportation. It talks about the fact that Texas has had an increase of their speed to a
current 70 mph.. It reports that there has been no increase in the rate of serious
accidents involving an automobile in rural areas. This is somewhat different for urban
areas. In areas where there is a population of over 5,000 people, the number of serious
auto accidents has increased.
I like this one - http://www.speedtrap.com/
This site is commercially funded and highlights the listing of speed trap and other oriented item. This site is for all of us who may speed on occasion.
Reasonable Drivers Unanimous - http://sunsite.unc.edu/rdu/
As the site states: "A
site about saving lives, having the smoothest traffic flow, and getting the bad drivers
off the road (until they improve).
A site about promoting traffic safety and creating laws that will do that.
And a site about making American roads the safest in the world. "
To enter the site it requests that you fill out a Speed limit Views Questionnaire. Good site.
How do I stand now? Well I am not really sure that I would want to have my kids (when I have some), to drive where there is no real safe speed to go on any street due to the lack of driver education and the county's inability to remove drivers that cannot safely drive with others. What I mean by this is that some persons can move the car straight, park and generally drive places as long as there are only a few others on the road and the speed is slow. When these persons get in traffic they freeze up and do irrational things which others on the road must avoid. Thus the inexperienced or cognitively slowed drivers may not actually be in many accidents but they cause them to occur by their bad driving. My one concern about raising the speed limit is that by increasing the normal speed without removing the bad drivers accidents will increase.
What should traffic psychology do?
I think that it should be focused upon the differences in innate driving abilities, ( I am a great driver but cannot paint worth a dam!), and using this information influence drivers education. Publishing information that hopefully might inform people more and educate them. Perhaps if the qualified drivers could go faster in safer conditions the road rage experienced could be lessened.
I searched speeding on Dejanews and came up with almost 5,700 postings. After reading dozens of them, I decided that people who are posting to these sites mainly want to grumble and bitch about the tickets that they have received. They are quite unconcerned about the issues of speeding but just wish to share their woes with other "humans". A lot of people are in favor of abolishing speed limits on the open roads altogether, most indicated a middle america orgin. I didn't view any postings that were against doing away with the speed limits. I came across a few postings that spoke about the different "speed traps" that they have run across.
When doing this report I really had to do a lot of thinking and processing (cognitive). I didn't realize that there were so many hostile people out there. I was thinking about how they could justify that they didn't really care about increased fatality rates in certain areas with raised speed limits. I felt shocked (affective) that people could be so callous. I did learn that the speed limit is higher in other states than Hawaii, but I really don't feel that we need it here. I think that there are enough accidents on this small island already.