Question:
All roads have an assigned speed limit for the vehicle you're driving. It is set by a combination of technical and political considerations and it is the law. It's not a speed suggestion (unless it's yellow). It is a speed limit.
It's posted on signs you can read through your windshield. You compare the number on the signs with the number on your vehicle's speedometer gauge. When your speedometer gauge reads one mile-per-hour higher than the number on the speed limit sign, you are breaking the law. So don't even THINK about whinning if you're stopped and cited for just a "little" speeding. You have a gauge to monitor your speed. You have signs informing you the highest number the gauge can legally display. Get it?
After speed limit considerations, the most important factor in choosing your speed is picking someting that travels most easily with the flow of traffic. Observe all the vehicles around you and adjust your speed to what the majority are doing. Check your speedometer gauge often and compare it with the speed limit signs.
The highways and roads are EXTREMELY CROWDED these days, handling more volume than they were originally designed for (that's an understatement). So it's more important than ever to work as a team out here guys.
The absolute worst speeds you can choose are too fast, or too slow -- the fastest or slowest truck on the road.
While there's never an excuse for going too fast, (you just take your foot off the throttle) some special permit vehicles and others have no option but to travel below the average speed of traffic, including governed trucks that cannot achieve the trafic flow's speed. In any event, vehicles in front of you ALWAYS have the right of way in your lane, just as you have right of way over those behind you in your lane.
The fastest trucks, on the other hand, usually change lanes more, and move in and out of surrounding vehicles safety cushions as they constantly jockey for a NEW advancing position in the traffic slow. It's how they maintain a faster speed than the traffic around them, and it's simply more dangerous than blending in with the traffic flow.
So stay in the middle if you can -- not too fast and not too slow.
Avoid passing OR getting passed as much as possible. Stay in the average speed range. Look around. There are usually other trucks trying to do the same thing, so just join them and help anchor a safe speed that maintains following distance and smooth traffic flow.
Check your speedometer gauge often and make sure you know how fast you're going. Never drive faster than you believe is appropriate and safe. Never let others behind you drive your truck faster than you want to go. You're paid to drive it, not them.
If you don't want to get busted breaking the law, don't break it. Don't go passing other vehicles and driving faster than most of the traffic around you. The increased risk you pose on your road partners is self-evident, no matter how skilled you are. The very action of just passing another vehicle is inherently dangerous, compared to staying behind them with an appropriate following distance. And if the vehicle you're passing is doing the approximate speed limit, you have no business passing them to begin with. No one likes the guy who has to pass everyone -- no one except the guy who doing it. Law enforcement is particularly unimpressed with drivers who pass and change lanes a lot.
The safest speed you can choose is the one most other drivers are using. Settle-in and establish some following distance. Move down the road with as little passing interraction and lane changing as possible. If you become the truck that just blends in with most of the other trucks, and you're all doing the approximate speed limit, you've selected the right speed -- the safest speed.
-->.
[This message was edited by Shuffler on May 05, 2003 at 6:33.]

Answer:
WELL SAID.You should do one on the SPEED LIMIT on exit/enter ramps.Too many drivers,most of them rookies,mess up their jobs or lives on ramps.Sad indeed. -->
"ARE YOU TALKING TO ME?"

Answer:
Does a newbie actually obey speed limit law or does he make his own law (as are the other trucks that are traveling over the speed law)? I am a little confused here...

Answer:
His BS meter goes on and on. Started out right then got stupid again. To much trucker logic in his thinking.
"When your speedometer gauge reads one mile-per-hour higher than the number on the speed limit sign, you are breaking the law. So don't even THINK about whinning if you're stopped and cited for just a "little" speeding. You have a gauge to monitor your speed. You have signs informing you the highest number the gauge can legally display. Get it? "
I got it plain and clear. One day you will also. Probably a little maturity and clear thinking will help eventually. Unfortunately some people never learn.
Laws are written for a reason. Disobeying them has consequences for a reason. When you have an accident while going with the flow remember these great words of wisdom. You'll need something to fall back on and laugh about.
"Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of all who threaten it"
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RC Universe


Answer:
"The safest speed you can choose is the one most other drivers are using"
Just because everyone else is 65 to 70mph in a 55 zone,don't make it safe
If your in a wreck,most other people will inform the cop you where speeding,you where keeping people happy and they will stick you in the back in a second.
They enlisted the Teamsters’ help after the company decided that it would no longer pay them hourly wages but compensate them based on mileage, which would have cut their income in half
http://www.teamster.org/03news/hn_030110_1.htm
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Answer:
I agree with the first part, nobody can complain if they wasn't following the rules.
ya follow the rules, then if someone messes with ya, ya got a legit complaint, ya break break em and well, nobody made ya break the rules did they. ya just thought ya knew better than a bunch of lawmakers.
hey, it's all good right?
no hate in here just learn from voices of experience and talk a little smack, have fun and do the job right?
LOL
Neza
"I am the one who can crush you into a fine powder."

Answer:
Which post were you guys reading?
And it DOES say driving above the posted speed limit is illegal. Everyone's a critic...
Funny how it hasn't occured to one of you, that the "flow" may be below the posted speed limit? Who says going with the flow necessarily involves speeding?. Did you ever consider that 3mph below the limit might be the safest speed it that's what the vast majority of trucks are doing? Your responses sound like the mentality that says you "drive the limit". It's the LIMIT, not the speed MINIMUM.
Bedspread said:
Does a newbie actually obey speed limit law or does he make his own law (as are the other trucks that are traveling over the speed law)? I am a little confused here...
No. Drivers -- newbies or otherwise -- are not lawmakers. It's their job to follow the law, not write it.
In some locations, especially on split-speed interstates, trucks routinely establish a "flow" 3-4mph above the posted limit. By driving with this flow, I believe you reduce your chances of contributing to the careless actions of others that could lead to a potential accident -- an accident primarily cause by some idiot truck driver who wants to pass every other truck.
Personally?
I drive at or below ALL posted speed limits on surface streets -- sometimes to the irration of truckers behind me who don't see or don't care about pedestrians, children, dogs and such near the road -- not to mention minivans, jump-start SUVs, Q-tips...
On interstates I drive right at the speed limit most of the time if it's afe to do so (traffic, weather). But when driving with a continous flow of trucks, I'll maintain 3-4mph above the limit if that's the majority flow (and it usually is) which obviously adds a measure of safety for my vehicle and others around me.
The fact that the majority of trucks (mostly CA or OR) run this speed in some stretches does not make it "right". But it's "smart". By driving 3-4mph over the limit with 90% of the truck traffic, you reduce 9 out of every 10 trucks that would otherwise pass you. This is something that apparently hassn't occured to stuffiu yet.
But 4mph is it -- the absolute fastest I'll drive above the limit, and only with the benefit of safety in numbers on certain highways under specific conditions. It doesn't take long in CA to discover that every driver knows exactly where to set their cruise for this flow, and that's where they set it. The guys who get tickets are the ones who try doing another 2mph (61) in the left lane trying to pass the flow.
The difference between 59 and 61 is almost insignificant in itself, but it represents a big difference in contributing to a potential accident.
Any CHP officer will tell you he hates the 55-70 split and routinely lets trucks travel up to 60mph. Then they aggresively nail the idiots who exceed this flow. My tax money well-spent, if you ask me.
Yes BEDSPREAD, it's "confusing" to the newbie (and a few so-called experienced drivers too). But even the newer videos and training materials stress maintaing flow and following distance. They don't say "it's ok to speed", but the implication is clear -- flow, following distance and adjusting for road conditions is what keeps their accident costs down.
[This message was edited by Shuffler on May 11, 2003 at 18:41.]

Answer:
As Shuffler said, any speed above the posted one can get you a ticket, depending on the officers mood.
However, the safest speed is the speed at which traffic is flowing.
There have been numerous studies that have all drawn the same conclusion. That being that the most dangerous drivers (in terms of causing wrecks) are those who are going 10 or more m.p.h. faster, or slower, than the average flow of traffic.
Speed and/or traffic amount mean little, it's the disruptions in the general flow that is the most dangerous.

Answer:
Be nice to see those stats. You know, a bonafied study. You suppose when your going with the flow at 68mph in a 70 and all them 4 wheelers decide to come to a rapid stop your actually being safer.
You should read it all W/C not just this post but the one it stems from also. Shuffler actually stated if the flow is going faster than the speed limit such as 60 in a 55 that would also be the better speed to go. A little wishy washy if you ask me.
Be safe and take your time and let the flow go you'll be much safer.
"Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of all who threaten it"
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RC Universe


Answer:
Stuffiu-
Blending-in with the flow a little above or below the speed limit is the safest way to drive.
My 55-60 example, as I clearly stated, applies to California and Oregon on certain stretchs of road where 60 is what trucks routinely drive. Traveling at a strict 55 in heavy packs of trucks doing 60 on these stretches causes potential safety risks as other trucks drop speed, reduce their following distance and change lanes to pass.
This does not justify excessive speed (more than apx 5mph over limit), since those driving excessive speed are not driving with the majority speed flow. 4-5mph is about it.
Yes, it's illegal.
Yes, it's the safest way to drive these stretches under these conditions.
Both statements are true. And you know it, guy. 2499 posts are too many for an imposter. You drive, so you MUST know this to be true.
Exposing newbies to this? That is what BEDSPREAD and I got into. He, in fact, agrees in principle with the traffic flow concept, but strongly objects to posting any suggestion to break the law here on the newbies forum. That's a valid point, but it's not like we're giving away any super-secret info here. Every kid in a car who drives next to a big truck in Ca knows big trucks routinely drive 60mph. What he DOESN'T know is WHY. And that's the point I was making. The WHY is safety related and well justified, regardless of it's legality..
[This message was edited by Shuffler on May 17, 2003 at 22:11.]

Answer:
Bottom line, the limit is the limit. The safest speed will likely be different. If you choose to speed, don't ***** when you are ticketed. That is the toll you pay to disregard the speed limit. The choice is entirely that of the driver. No one forces you to exceed the speed limit.
Also, it is not the job, or duty of someone driving the speed limit in the left lane to get out of your way simply because you wish to exceed the speed limit. The speed limit is the same for all lanes. Tailgating the car vehicle in front of you , especially if that vehicle is a 4 wheeler, is stupid, dangerous, and irresponsible. Never mind the fact that most truck drivers do it. Just remember when you are tailgating that 4 wheeler in front of you, that some other slimeball truck driver is doing the same thing to your family every time they are on the highway!!
WHY IS MY BEER DARKER THAN YOUR COFFEE??
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@#*!%$^@!

Answer:
"But 4mph is it -- the absolute fastest I'll drive above the limit" Your going to have to make up your mind. Is there a limit to going with the flow or not.
I guess according to W/C in a 75mph state your 65mph truck is a definate hazard. But it's ok because it's your truck. It's just not ok for others, I get it.
No it is not legal. If the flow is above the limit it is illegal.
See Ya
"Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of all who threaten it"
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Answer:
The flow rarely goes more that 4mph above the limit in CA and OR.
Slow down some time and see for yourself.
Sorry I can't go faster in Arizona. But that doesn't disqualify the concept -- just means you have to drive a little more carefully around the flow of slower trucks, if you feel it's safe to do so.
Bottom line, the limit is the limit. The safest speed will likely be different.
Highwayman sounds like a professional, responsible, experienced driver.
[This message was edited by Shuffler on May 17, 2003 at 22:26.]