Technically speaking, speed limits are set for worst conditions.
As in very rainy, very windy, poor visibility, etc.
So no, in your day to day life in ideal conditions — you do not need to follow the speed limit. Am I saying go double the speed limit? No. 10 miles above the speed limit is fine, though.
That being said, people who tailgate others can go fuck themselves. There’s never a good reason to be so close behind another car.
Flocklesscrow@lemm.ee 3 days ago
Nah. Drive by the flow of traffic.
Unobservant people who are “following the rule” in dynamic situations usually create more danger than people adapting to the situation.
Allero@lemmy.today 3 days ago
The danger is created in the first place by normalization of speeding.
I am aware that, technically, if I’d drive by traffic at any given time, accidents will be less likely. But this danger of variable speed is not created by me moving too slow, it’s because of others moving too fast, because speeding is normalized in the first place. The lane speed should be the within bounds of speed limit, the rest is not and should never be my problem or fault.
Now, don’t get me wrong, if my actions can prevent an actually imminent accident (such as speeding up to let someone return to lane before reverse traffic traps them) - of course I will. But for regular driving, I will strictly adhere to the rules and regulations. If this gets someone who breaks the rules in an accident - that’s on them, maybe it’ll teach them a lesson.
Flocklesscrow@lemm.ee 3 days ago
The “normalization of speeding” is because human beings didn’t evolve to travel at the speeds available to anyone with a driver’s license. In other words, you’re asking for a revision of human nature, which is simply not a practical solution. What would be practical is a system of public transportation that makes individual cars moot, or at least less of an intrinsic necessity, but in the US, there are moneyed interests who will fanatically push back on any alternate options. Car makers, insurance companies, bars and restaurants, and even the “healthcare” industry all profit from people having to own a car and use said car to navigate living in this country. You’d need to provide a broad and low-cost alternative, while dismantling those entrenched interests to make a new paradigm stick.
So, in the meantime, it sounds like your driving habits are stick-in-the-mud and you likely create impediments to the flow of traffic, as others adapt around your unwillingness to modify behaviors to the situation. The fact that you see yourself as some kind of shining example of driving purity and hope that other drivers get into an accident as some weird punitive recourse means is really troubling. Maybe you should talk to a professional about your moralistic judgementalism and anger issues.
Allero@lemmy.today 3 days ago
No, I’m asking drivers to follow the rules designed to make driving safer, which is something a human is fully capable to do. If that means installing speed cams at every corner, I’m all in. As long as it’s not that, we have what we have to enforce those limits.
I also fully support and actively use public transportation and only engage in driving when necessary (which is actually quite little).
And please, do not jump to the conclusion about someone’s mental health based on a comment on the Internet. All I strongly state there is that it is insane to blame someone who follows the rules on the road instead of those who routinely break them out of habit and convenience.