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Re: 65 means 65




In article <4061hf$ft9@gap.cco.caltech.edu> Adam Neil Villani wrote:
>In article <404ns0$7st@news-e1a.megaweb.com>,
>KENNY MORSE <kennystar@megaweb.com> wrote:
>>This is true. The majority of my class students have little or no experience with
>>75mph speed limits.  But since the relativity they DO have is going from 55
>>as the law to 65 in the boonies, and NOW they have a chance to fly at a 
>>speed they think is more "fair", they go 75-80.  YOU may have found
>>a few places where the 65 mph has traffic below it, but those are few and
>>far between.  Remember....YOU know what happens to you and your friends...
>
>OK, Kenny, I won't be so confrontational this post.

No prob being confrontational as long as you stay civil, my friend.
I appreciate your intelligence....totally disrespect name calling.
>
>You've often mentioned the fact that people with tickets from city driving
>(limit 55) are often about 70 or so, and people with tickets from rural
>driving (limit 65) are often about 80. You say that this means "people
>will go 10-15 mph over the speed limit." I think you're misinterpreting
>the facts here. I think people go 70 in the city and 80 in farm
>country because those are appropriate speeds in those areas, not because
>those appropriate speeds happen to be 15 miles per hour over the speed
>limit. There's less traffic out on the 5, the road is much straighter,
>there is less merging and exits/entrances. Of course the ambient
>speed is higher. But 65 is no more a reasonable limit in farm country
>than 55 is in the city. Think about it: if people drive 70 in the
>city, then why would they go down to 65 in the country just because
>it's legal? 

Adam....

Although I agree that 55 is a farce and SHOULD be raised, and that
65 MIGHT....MIGHT be too slow for the rural areas (I'll even say
probably too slow)....I think to say that people go what they think
is APPROPRIATE is EXACTLY the point I HAVE BEEN MAKING...
the questions I have been posing is WHAT CRITERIA DO
PEOPLE ARRIVE AT WHAT IS APPROPRIATE FOR THEM???
It is my experience that people do NOT speed because of percieved
unfairness of the speed laws (to which I agree)...it is their own personal
sense of what THEY can "get away" with and hope NOT to get caught.
YOU may drive at a speed YOU consider to be appropriate.  If you
break the law, get caught...don't complain when you have to pay
mega$$$ to the insurance companies.  What IS REALLY appropriate??
This.....drive at a speed that is both SAFE, and probably (keyword) NOT
going to get you ticketed and all the crap that falls from that moment.  Until
the laws change (which they should and are), THAT is what is appropriate.
We CANNOT have everyone deciding what is appropriate at THIS point
in time because of the diversity of cultures evident in this state, the lack of
adequate education and testing, and the lack of courtesy or consideration
that is also evident on our roads....and trying to blame it on archaic speed
laws begs the REAL issue as to why people behave the way they do (which I
addressed in a previous post).

You keep telling me that people speed because they feel it's appropriate
no matter WHAT the zone (like the study says) and I keep answering its
WAY more complex than that....and I only wish it wasn't.

BTW...I'd be interested to know what you are majoring in...what year...how old
if you care to share the info?

Kenny Morse
"Mr. Traffic"
>
>The T&W study is not being touted as showing "People drive at the
>same speed no matter what the limit is," it is being touted as
>showing "People drive the same speed no matter what the limit
>is *on a particular road*." This is an EXTREMELY important difference.
>The roads that have 55 mph speed limits today are different roads
>than the ones that have 65 mph speed limits. The real comparison
>that you want to look at is the difference in speeds on the 5
>before the 65 mph limit at after the 65 mph limit. This is the
>kind of information that you need.
>
>
>
>
>-- 
>Adam Villani
>addam@cco.caltech.edu
>http://www.ugcs.caltech.edu/~addam
>"I was in this prematurely air-conditioned supermarket..."
>




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