Dave Head
Only momentarily though, as the next platoon looms ahead. On many freeways, in fact, there's very little "clear" space between platoons. In the meantime, the speeder has incurred the hazards of close pbuttage to numerous more drivers, through his weaving in and out and speed differential, than a go-with-the-flow driver. The speeder is much more exposed to the risks of a sudden move, one, because he's testing the skills of all drivers in the pack rather than just a few, and two, because he's instigating defensive moves on the part of other drivers tying to deal with his front end barreling down on them.
Sure there is. There is nothing inherently making a speeding driver more "alert" than a typical freeway driver who may also be at the edge of where he feels comfortable driving. Nothing. In fact, whatever alertness you may feel a speeding driver summons up whole speeding is negated by the reduction in his maneuvering options at higher speeds. He'd damn well *better* be more alert just to stay even in the safety equation with the rest of us.
Even if it causes more risk of accidents?
But that's exactly what you're doing as well when you choose to weave and speed by dozens of other unknown drivers. You're putting your safety in their decision-making processes too. This doesn't magically disappear because you're going by them faster; as I say, by doing so you may in fact instigate an unsafe reaction from these folks whom you now suddenly trust. You don't trust them enough to driver with them, but you do trust them enough to weave in and out and speed around them? This is illogical.
What state is that? ;-}
I see clumps of traffic - platoons - on urban freeways, not much out on the rural roads, where it's easy to get around slower traffic and let faster traffic around you. Perhaps we're simply talking about different situations.
This sounds more like wishful thinking than sound driving advice. I do not agree that drunks are most dangerous when they're coming up behind you. Frequently, they're the slower drivers you'd be catching up with.
It may make a difference to the health of your estate then. But my point is that the lesson from your example is don't speed. It's the speeding up from behind that caused the situation you've described. It does make a difference to the discussion - one behavior is safe, another is not.
Only if you're Jeanne Dixon. If you hang in the platoon, you only have to closely watch a few others, and scan the rest. If you're blowing through the pack, you're gonna need that additional alertness you claim. You need to more closely watch a whole lot more unpredictable people in a shorter period of time. That's the risk, and it's greater than staying within the range of flowing traffic.
Look, I pbutt people in a platoon too. I'm not saying everyone should drive the same speed. That's not even possible in the long term. I'm saying it's the outliers with 20+ differentials who are hazardous.
