New Rules for Greensboro Drivers.

I had this crazy idea on the way to work, and I thought I would share it.

You see there I am driving along at a steady 65MPH with the cruise control set in a borrowed car while mine sits in the driveway lifeless. My drive to work involves mostly freeway driving down the new I-85. Interestingly enough I get passed by cars easily doing 85MPH, 70MPH, and then there are people that seem to want to drive at 45MPH & 35 MPH on a freeway. Somehow they always accomplish boxing me in so I'm forced to look at their "Bush in 04'" Bumper Stickers on the back of there Chevy Suburbans while they talk on their cell phones and leisurely make they're way in to work which is obviously some place where you're required to be a size 2 and a super model.

Anyhow I came up with this idea. What if we could create some kind of traffic rules that would require you to drive no faster then a certain speed? Say something like 65MPH? We'd all agree to drive that speed, and then we wouldn't be all driving different speeds. We could call this something like a "speed limit" and enforce penalties when breaking it to provide everyone safe and efficient means of transporting themselves from one place to another.

If someone needed to drive slower, I'm thinking maybe we could come up with "slow lanes". You know, maybe suggest to people driving below the posted speed limit agree to drive in the right most lanes? That would allow traffic driving at the speed limit to use the left lanes for passing and freeing up traffic bottle necks of Aunt Mae in her 76 Lime Green Impala doing 15MPH in rush hour traffic in the left lane who is exactly matching the speed of a Guilford County School Bus trying to merge onto the freeway.

I might be crazy, but I think if we apply these simple ideas I came up with you find less people likely to have to use those middle finger turn signals out the window, and we'd all get to work a little quicker and safer.

You think it's bad here, try driving around 285 in Atlanta at rush hour pulling a set of doubles and then tell me about how bad it is here.
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Carl Sagan:
"I don't want to beLIEve. I want to know."

Oh I see them occasionally. I'm not critisizing GPD's policing efforts, I'm critisizing people's driving. Seriously get off the freeway and most people in the city are driving 45 in a 35 and on 55 stretched they're doing 65.... 10 over is the norm in Greensboro, because of the penalities. Up to 64MPH in a 55 is nothing but a slap on the wrist. People know that, and push it. Cops know it, judges know it. If we all want to drive 45 in a 35, lets just change the speed limit to 45.... but that wouldn't work would it? We know the average speed of drivers is always higher then the posted speed limits, so we purposely deflate speed limits because of that. For some reason human beings are incapable of (a) being honest. (b) following directions (c) creating anything then some abstract comstruct of laws that merely suggest the appropriate behavior but allow us to break it.

That's a myth. There are no such things as fast lanes or slow lanes. There are passing lanes and non-passing lanes. If ya aint "passing" then stay outa da "passing" lane.

Razz

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"Has it ever occurred to you that nothing ever occurs to God?"

I can sympathise with RebelSnake having pulled many a set of doubles around 285. As a matter of fact: I now drive through downtown Atlanta even though the signs say, "No Trucks except local deliveries." Got a ticket for that once but the judge threw it out of court-- seems the Atlanta law has no legal standing as the Interstates are funded by Federal taxes on trucks, fuel, and tires.

Cincinati was forced to lift their downtown truck bann altogether due to a class action law suit-- it's only a matter of time before Atlanta backs off as well.

Takes less than half the time that 285 takes even when the traffic is stop and go, but make sure you have a smart lawyer before you try it.
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My favorite quote? "I donno, was it something I said, maybe?" -Billy Jones

Oh man, preach on my friend. I'm right there with you on this. I really wish it was like the Autobahn. There, the drivers will actually yield to the faster driver and (hold your breath) actually move over for them! What that means is hardly anyone is forced to pass on the right (which is way more dangerous). What a concept. Oh and usually the cops wont chase you and pull you over. They send you a ticket in the mail if you do something bad.

Pet peeve: I can't tell you how many times I will be in the fast lane at a cruising speed of 85mph, and some yahoo appears in front of me with 3 empty lanes to his right, going about 60! Razz

The best place and time to drive Greensboro? At about 2am, Wendover ave, on a weeknight. That part between the plethora of car lots and downtown is usually completely empty and WAY too much fun at 75mph and above.
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"Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than by the ones you did do" -Mark Twain

I can live with the speeders. I figure if they can afford the insurance points and the extra three hundred or so bucks on your premiums for the next three years - hey, knock yerself out there, Fast & Furious. I'm too old for that crap. I drive 1-85 every day, and generally the cops won't pull anybody unless they're doing at least ten miles over the speed limit. The city fuzz have been working the heck out of that stretch just before you hit Death Valley this past week. Quota time, I guess.

The ones that burn my butt are the others Beth mentioned, the Blissfully Ignorant doing 35-45 in the left lane while they yakk on their cell phones. I know it's not a popular notion, but I think those infernal inventions should be banned except for emergency use while driving. Sorry, but the statistics are there, and the fact is most people just can't drive safely while using one of those things, even if they aren't hand-held. >Everybody< thinks they're an above average driver, of course.

But what gripes me is that 9 of 10 drivers you pass are likely gabbing about nothing more important than last night's episode of American Idol or what they should pick up at Harris Teeter. That can't wait until you get home or reach the parking lot?

We need minimum speed limits that are enforced so you get a ticket for driving too slow just as easily as driving too fast. We also need to have multiple speed lanes. Left lanes would have a higher minimum and maximum than right lanes. This would prevent people from thinking that the idea behind have three or more lanes is for people to spread out their slow driving and impede traffic in ALL available lanes instead of just the right lane.

Studies show that it is slow drivers who are responsible for more accidents than faster drivers because they force cars to drive closer together behind them (the same reason there are more serious wrecks at restrictor plate races in Nascar) which by simple rules of physics, increases the likelihood of an accident. Further, they also cause more people to switch lanes to go around them which increases the chance of an accident.

I am with you all the way on the yacking away on a cellphone bit in the Suburban. This is usually an affliction of females between the ages of 22-37. The moment the phone hits the ear, the speed limit drops 10 mph and the ability to turn right on red or go when a traffic light turns green or realize that you are holding up traffic in the left lane is greatly diminished.

I hope and beleive it is only a matter of time before the use of cell phones while driving is completely banned. It really is more impairing than alcohol.

Brilliant observation, Beth!! I drive I-40 from Greensboro to the RTP area a twice a week and it's pretty much as you described.

I would add the lack of using turn signals. I guess that's hard to do though with a cigarette in one hand and a cell phone in the other...