Why do some people want to drive faster than the speed limit? It is none of your business or mine. Many reasons come to mind, but answering the question belittles our individual ability to make decisions without big brother micro managing traffic behavior.
The fact is that by far most of the vehicles on the road are capable of safely driving well in excess of 55 and 65 MPH. Brakes and steering responsiveness are excellent in the least expensive economy models compared to my '74 Chevy Nova with its straight six engine that struggled to exceed 80MPH. All cars I've owned since 1989 have easily cruised well above the speed limit.
So let's agree for a moment that the practice of driving faster than the posted speed limit is not one and the same as reckless driving or an expression of road rage. If we further agree that reckless driving and road rage deserve the attention of traffic enforcement efforts much more so than merely driving fast, then what driving behavior aggravates traffic conditions, frequently leading to increases in reckless driving and road rage? It is the drivers that comfortably occupy the left or passing lanes without the intent to pass slower drivers.
I'm not trying to justify all instances of speeding, reckless driving and road rage. Some drivers are simply emboldened menaces that should be appropriately penalized for their deliberate flouting of safe driving practice. But these exceptions should not be responsible for justifying traffic enforcement policies that can only practically target violators of posted speed limits.
I'm surmising their implicit intent and perhaps a bit pessimistically, but speed limits are a safety preventative considered imperative by legislators that do not trust drivers to understand the responsibility of handling a vehicle weighing anywhere from 1000 lbs to several tons. Admittedly this distrust is sometimes justified considering the (lack of) quality of many drivers but once implemented, speed limits are slow to be adjusted for the improvements in mechanical performance and average driving behavior. There are many statutes on the books, but it is the ones that are enforced that warrant our attention the most.
I suggest to any readers that speed limits would not be warranted were drivers simply made responsible for any problems they instigated. This is not merely utopian wishful thinking, it depends upon setting expectations and practicing enforcement. As a trained merchant mariner I learned that seagoing travel only establishes speed limits in certain restricted waters due to public safety, depth conditions or underwater hazards. Otherwise, licensed vessel operators are taught to practice "safe speed". Safe speed means go as fast as you safely can but know your vessel/vehicle, understand momentum and be prepared to accept responsibility for any consequence of your neglect.
In fact, my argument is not to wholly eliminate the speed limits but to redirect traffic enforcement to the more appropriate safety culprit, the left lane sitters. Left lane sitters are drivers that are oblivious to the conditions around them, such as other drivers that wish to pass them lawfully and safely in the left lane. I'm going to make some directed assumptions about these people here.
- They were not taught to regularly make use of rear view mirrors; they simply do not know that someone is behind them growing increasingly frustrated. These people often seem engrossed in their music, or in conversations with other vehicle occupants and increasingly with their mobile phones.
- They may not be aware that the left lane(s) are lawfully designated for passing. This is more understandable in the increasing absence of responsible parents.
- They are occupying the left lane solely because they are more comfortable that way.
- Finally and worst of all, they are determined to police the rest of us by enforcing speed limits through the occupation of the passing lane(s).
From negligence to arrogance, these left lane sitters are actually responsible for much of the reckless driving and road rage the highways are experience. Yet it is the drivers driven to impatient and frustration that are targeted and penalized by police officers tasked with traffic enforcement.
Our governors, legislators and police have been stepping up their efforts to improve highway safety, but they ignore one of the largest problems. Who doesn't know that they are required to wear a safety belt when driving? Do we really need to be reminded of this constantly in TV spots and road signs? I testify that anyone not wearing a safety belt is doing so with full knowledge and should expect to reap the consequences if caught. I further testify that every drivers knows not to operate a vehicle under the influence of drugs or alcohol and that the consequences of getting caught are even more obvious. I believe that the expense of these advertising campaigns for "click it or ticket" and "under the influence / under arrest" are in fact wastes of our taxes, much better applied to enforcement policies that can actual improve traffic conditions.
Moreover, when police officers are pulling drivers over for speeding violations, they are actually impairing traffic conditions; the act of enforcing the law amkes the road less safe. Consider driving on single lane roads and having to swerve around a police cruiser that practice remaining partially in traffic to be more capable of the urgent need to respond to an emergency condition. Or, the sudden braking and rubbernecking that ensues on multi-lane highways when police cruisers are spotted. High speed pursuits have received a lot of criticism as to the potential cost in the property and more importantly in the lives of bystanders and the pursued. The same critical logic applies to the distraction of sporadic police enforcement of milder speeding violations. The validity of enforcing all but the most reckless of speed violations is worthy of further discussion.
Rather, if the majority enforcement efforts focused on drivers that violate passing lane statutes, traffic conditions could realize significant improvement. Traffic congestion would be notably relieved in all but the most extreme conditions as the practice of "drive right, pass left" would allow the left lane to regularly relieve and prevent congestion. I'm not a automotive traffic analyst, but similar studies of improving the throughput of business and consumer network traffic apply to automotive traffic.
I imagine it is significantly more difficult for police officers to enforce this type of driving behavior. It's implicitly much easier to sit in a cruiser and use the radar guns on incoming traffic to identify violators. Distinguishing who has been occupying the passing lane for extended minutes while other drivers are motivated to pass on the right would require a blanketing of police presence or higher level of technology that would be too expensive to consider.
I hesitate to suggest that drivers report left lane sitters. The use of cell phones while driving is commonly illegal anyway, it's too easy to abuse and it would warrant a new level of bureaucracy to receive and process the reports. Others that read this article may have recommendations I have not considered.
Instead, I recommend simply starting with the ad campaign and reinforcing the behavior in the license certification process through DMV. Others with real experience in traffic enforcement will surely have excellent solutions that could be piloted and adopted.
When the majority of drivers engage in the regular practice of moving to the right unless engaged in passing, driving becomes a cooperative experience and the heightened attention to one's driving behavior also implies greater overall awareness of traffic conditions. Everyone enjoys a better driving experience and we all get to where we're going more faster.
