this post was submitted on 22 Nov 2023
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The speed limit isn't a suggested speed, it's an absolute maximum (excluding motorways with a minimum of 60km/h). If the road is frozen over you can't drive the speed limit either, the same applies when it's slippery due to rain or leaves or when the lights are off.
You always need to be able to react to sudden movement, no matter if it's a pedestrian crossing the street, a motorist leaving their own driveway or even a trash can rolling into the road. It should be in your own best interest to avoid accidents.
The entitled attitude you ascribe to the overtaking drivers but also display yourself is just going to cause problems for everyone. Trying to shave a few seconds off of your commute by speeding in dark areas isn't going to get you home any faster, all you're doing is increasing your own stress level and risking someone's life.
A little bit of respect on the road would go a long way to improve everyone's experience on the road.
Ignoring the massive disruption that going below the speed limit causes and the increased aggression it instills in other drivers who understand how to follow the rules of the road:
A sedan is, on average, 1302 kg according to a random quora page. 45 miles per hour is approximately 20.116 meters per second. So about 26.191 newton seconds. People aren't surviving that.
So unless you are battling entitlement by going thirty miles under the speed limit (which will probably still squish a person but I am too lazy to math it), all you are doing is antagonizing everyone around you while filling yourself with a false sense of security.
Seriously, and I mean this from the bottom of my heart, take a defensive driving course. Defensive driving is about learning to anticipate the drivers around you and how to minimize the chance of a collision. Which is not the law you learned in driver's Ed. It makes you a much safer driver and will probably lower your insurance premium.
That means driving in a way that doesn't anger everyone around you and knowing when you actually need to slow down and when doing so won't help
First off, city streets are by law limited to 50km/h (30mph) in Germany unless the road is physically blocked off from pedestrian access and is designated a motorway. And even that speed is only allowed for major thoroughfares, most city streets are limited to 30km/h (18mph), and many cities are currently arguing for banning 50km/h on city streets entirely.
Streets faster than that need to be physically separated, well-lit, need to have an additional lane or frequent additional locations to park broken down vehicles and need significant setbacks so you can see potential obstructions entering the road early enough to brake in time.
So what I'm taking from this is that the road design where you live is dangerous and substandard.
Now, to the personal appeal:
I did take a defensive driving course before I even started driver's ed, and it was actually the reason I decided not to get a car. Nowadays I do everything — including weekly grocery runs — by bicycle instead.
The average speed in cities is 15-20km/h, primarily caused due to traffic jams and waiting times at stoplights. I can achieve or beat those speeds on a bicycle just as well, without the stakes being as high. If I make a mistake as a driver, it's going to cost lives. If I make a mistake as a bicyclist, no one's going to die. And considering the environmental footprint as well as the monetary costs in terms of road tax, fuel prices and maintenance, it's definitely worth it.
Even if sometimes, people try to kill me by overtaking me far too close while speeding.
Ah. So you are uneducated, inexperienced, and live in a completely different environment but will still insist you are correct.
Is there an American milkman anywhere nearby? Because he totally knocked your Mom up. Like, I know people who traced their ancestry back to the American revolutionary war who are less American than you
"completely different environment", ah, since when is Lemmy US-only?
This is a topic about safety features being considered for us cars because of us conditions.
I would make a snide comment about reading comprehension but I genuinely am concerned for you at this point.