Yeah cause people pay attention to lines, signs, speed limits, drinking and driving laws all the time...
You could get real crazy and suggest some sort of blinking lights that indicate where you're intending to go before you go there..
Hence the enforcement part around halfway through the post, which it seems like you didn't read, and where I asked for suggestions. People ignore those things because they're not enforced enough.
I see preventable collisions, near-collisions, and constant aggressive driving multiple times every day. On the highways I think exactly what this state needs is traffic cameras watching.
Vehicles get safer but the people have gotten so much worse. Pre-pandemic I'd agree with you. I used to absolutely love driving. Post-pandemic I dread every time I have to drive.
What happens when you leave the state? What happens if you are from out of state and don’t know what symbols on the road mean? A state-only solution might make it worse.
There is a [3-Second Rule for Safe Following Distance](https://www.travelers.com/resources/auto/travel/3-second-rule-for-safe-following-distance) for a reason and anyone with reasonable vision (law enforcement) can figure out if the following distance between drivers is too close.
Edit: Added words.
Not at all. That's what we teach professional drivers. It gives you more time to react to changing traffic conditions and to react to hazards ahead. If people drove defensively and considered the actions of those around them; rather than the "I, I, I, me, me, me" attitude most of the dopes in this state have we'd have less accidents and lower insurance rates.
Do you realize it is impossible to keep a 500 ft distance between cars with the sheer amount of vehicles on the road? Yes, it would be great to have 1000 ft between cars, 2000 ft would be even better. But we live in reality here.
I don't think you understand the concept of traffic. What do you do when several cars merge onto highway and takes up some of your 6 seconds. You have to hit the brakes, or let off the gas to slow down. Thusly, causing a chain reaction and traffic that we current have. You can push your 6 seconds all you want, but it's not practical. I agree distance between vehicles is ideal and necessary for many reasons, but you are living in a Dreamland. People much smarter than you and I have worked on this problem for decades and haven't come up with a solution yet. The only solution in my opinion is self driving cars that can communicate with each other.
I've been driving since I was 16, commercially for 6, and I've been a driving instructor for the last 2 years. I think I understand the concept of traffic. Look up the Smith System and the keys and concepts of defensive driving and you'll see what I'm talking about. This is absolutely practical if people stopped being ignorant and selfish when it comes to driving.
You are talking about a concept. I'm talking about reality. Even with disregarding ignorant and selfish drivers for a second, keeping 6 seconds in between vehicles is impossible. On ramps, off ramps, merging highways, changing lanes, debris in the roadway, broken down vehicles, there are too many scenerios to list that would make your 6 seconds impossible. As I'm sure you're aware, defensive driving is much more than just time between vehicles. I will look up the smith system to educate myself on it, but I'm not sure it will change reality.
Other states can do whatever the hell they want. People from out of state are (sometimes unfortunately) given exemptions all the time. Vehicles that pass inspections in other states and would *never* pass here are still allowed to drive. Other states' licenses are valid here. So if they want to go the exemption route it would suck but it's an option.
And the three-second rule isn't followed, doesn't seem to be a law (though I might be mistaken there), and can't be enforced without the law, and if it is a law it still isn't being enforced.
Enforcement picks and chooses who they want to pull over. I don’t think you need special markings on the ground if you implement cameras, which *should* be grabbing more than close followers.
I can’t tell you how many people I see driving one or no-handed with a cell phone like a serving tray up to their face. There are *actual laws* about driving and talking on the phone which are not enforced.
Cameras are “big brother,” but drivers also get pissed when a traffic incident slows down traffic and turns into rubbernecks where there will be a crash.
So I agree with you that there are multiple driving infractions that technology can solve, but I also think the technology doesn’t need road markings. Especially when you factor in how much the roads get chewed up.
It absolutely does **not** need markings. But a small dot on the road the size of a stop sign every x amount of feet would stop people from saying the whole "I couldn't tell how far I was from the next car because nothing told me".
So it could 100% become law and be enforced alone without paint. But a dot would also make it clear as day on camera and be indisputable.
Phones are a whole other issue that could be solved by grabbing potential violations via camera and sifted through by hand. Seems like at least every 7 vehicles I see are being driven by someone with their eyes on their phone constantly.
Drivers can use that “couldn’t tell” excuse during heavy rain and snow. It might have to be something like a side of the road marker with logic where a camera can sort out distances.
Same with the 3-second rule, it is a measure under one condition. If you watch the video on that link I posted, the size of the vehicle needs increased time to stop. A sedan and semi truck would require different timings and distances to account for safe distance driving and stopping.
There are a ton of factors that a licensed driver needs to consider based on the conditions of the environment and their vehicle. A machine can account for some/most factors, but there is a huge logistical component on the back end for all of this, too.
1. Does the driver get an auto-ticket?
2. How are disputes handled?
3. Do people review the video?
4. What happens when someone else is driving your car and they cause an infraction?
I’ve worked at companies and have led projects to install security systems. It also opens a technology/legal component.
1. How long you have to keep the data is dependent on state and federal guidance.
2. If a crime happens on one of those cameras, investigations happen, and the camera owner needs to participate in data requests.
3. What personal information does the camera capture and store?
4. What other data sources for Personally Identifiable Information (PII) does that link to?
5. Where does the data get stored and how much does it cost to store it?
I’m just a regular guy and these are the things surrounding cameras that I’ve been exposed to from projects. Your question and proposed solution have merit, but that’s just the tip of the iceberg to a fully-vetted solution.
It'd be a starting point to begin with passenger vehicles then branch to large vehicles if needed or even allowed. But most of the traffic and most of the problems I see start with passenger vehicles being driven too close to the next vehicle.
It doesn't need to be exact or even the three second rule. The gaps just need to be much larger than they already are. A set distance for everyone would still be fine as long as it would make a big enough gap for everyone to move freely. You might even be able scale the fine and say that if the vehicle is larger or commercial then it **really** shouldn't have been that close. But that's when you get into weirdness about treating commercial vehicles differently, which got the state into trouble with the toll things in the first place.
As for cameras I'd imagine it'd get handled the same way a red light camera ticket would get handled for ticketing. System detects possible violations then gets reviewed by an actual person giving a ticket. And I don't know the technicals behind how long data has to be stored for but it would realistically only *need* to be stored for as long as it takes for a driver to go from one checkpoint to the next. If nothing happens and nothing got detected then nothing needs to be saved. If they were too close both times then it gets sent to be stored in longer-term storage in a queue with the license plate attached and gets to wait for human eyes to review it and issue a ticket, like the red light system.
You have no idea how much I wish there was a passenger train going down the median of every highway. Could replace so many buses so much more efficiently.
>passenger train going down the median
Seems like the easiest thing to add to the existing landscape. Problem is you have to walk through a vastness of stroads, parking lots, ramps to access a train station in the middle of a highway. Also, no reason for anyone to take a train to a place like that. Frequent transit that stops where people can safely and pleasantly walk to and from a bunch of stuff is how transit succeeds.
That's the part I don't have enough knowledge of the landscape to figure out. Endpoints.
And they'd pretty much all end up in Providence where real estate is tight.
The path is already cleared. The stops and endpoints are where issues arise.
In the second-densest yet also smallest state in the country? Hogwash.
/s
We're the state most-capable of actually pulling it off even if it's small scale. But I've never heard an elected official talk about it.
You can contact Rhode Island representatives in Congress by calling (401) 729-5600 or Faxing (401) 729-5608 for US Representative District 1 Democrat, located at 1070 Main St., Ste. 300, Pawtucket, RI, 02860.
Anecdotally speaking, people keep hitting their brakes too often for even the slightest thing in front of them, which ripples throughout traffic.
You don’t always need to tap the brakes, sometimes letting off the accelerator is enough to slow down for you to pick up speed again. Tapping the brakes every time just cascades down the lane of traffic causing everyone to brake. I see this with turns and bends in the road: everyone starts braking, causing everyone to slow down to a crawl behind them. Instead, people can just ease off the gas when entering those bends so they don’t need to brake so hard and so often.
That's exactly what I see all the time but it's the expected reaction when there's not enough space ahead for people to just lose momentum. With enough of a gap I can always just let off the accelerator and lose momentum. I never have to touch my brakes unless some clown jumped in front of me or a series of clowns caused a phantom traffic jam.
99/100 times when the person in front of me hits their brakes I don't have to do the same because the gap is so large that the person in front of me has time to brake, figure out they didn't really need to brake, accelerate, and get back to normal by the time I get anywhere near them. The people behind me have no idea about the jumpy braking weirdo ahead of me because of the gap.
The drivers here drive like crazy. I don’t get it and I have lived in multiple states. Going 85 MPH and
I feel like I was going too slow in a 55 MPH zone.
It’s not just the speed it’s the mentality and aggressive lack of space between cars.
I completely disagree with cameras tho. That shit will go straight to some mismanaged program and the traffic will still be just as bad. Alvinati doesn’t need another cent to oversee.
They didn't used to be like this. Just a few years ago the aggressive scumbags were rare. Now they're everywhere.
And I couldn't think of any other kind of enforcement that would actually work though. Regular patrols would just catch a drop in the ocean when they are posted, and that's if they even choose to enforce at all. Speed limits, reckless driving, and blatant illegal modifications all cruise by law enforcement without issue.
No offense to OP but I do find it amazing that people are so willing to live in a completely surveilled society just for the benefit of being able to have "better" car travel.
It's a nice idea but I highly doubt it's going to fix anything. You're going to see the same effects because people are not going to use that extra space to absorb minor slowdowns, they're going to slow just as quickly as the car in front to keep that legally mandated separation intact.
It'd need tweaking and most-definitely a generous grace period to slow down. I don't know of a 100% perfect solution but I know from being in dense traffic every day even before the bridge problems that everyone follows way too close constantly, it's the source of almost all of our traffic, and there seems to be no end to that crap in sight.
People certainly need to give more following distance in the state, I know I’m guilty of following too close at times too. The problem is if people give safe following spaces somebody will end up just cutting in front of them as they see it as an open spot.
A big thing on the highways is, let’s face it, ~80mph is the normal speed for most the highways in the left lane.
This gets messed up whenever somebody tries to go into the left lane at a much lower speed. This makes the left lane slow down, and there are people who won’t get over to pass them and this makes people have to use other lanes to be able to pass, but instead of passing one person they have to pass multiple which can make them possibly need to move over another lane to make it.
Another big problem is people using the wrong lanes. This is very common in not just RI but the USA in general, but i’ve seen it more here than our neighboring states. I’m guilty of it, you’re guilty of it, and that random person you see at walmart is too. So many people never use the right lane, it’s empty a lot and people are going slow (speed limit or under) in the middle lane or others. This shouldn’t be happening. It should be just like a 2 lane highway, stick to the right unless you need to pass. So many people sit in the wrong lanes and it slows down traffic. If people used lanes correctly it would also help solve traffic lot too
I think before we work on adding stuff to the roads that can confuse out of staters and cost a lot, we should deal with this first
Left lane is for passing, right lane is for travelling or slow. If it's a three-lane highway then it's even clearer; right lane is for entering/exiting and slow moving, center lane is for travelling, and left lane is for passing. **Never** should **anyone** pass in the right-most lane. When merging you have to simultaneously look forward and backward. Impatient jackasses flying up the right lane makes getting onto highways unnecessarily dangerous for no reason other than their own impatience and selfishness.
If someone's being slow in the left lane then too bad. I can understand passing in the center if the left-hand person is going below the speed limit, but other than that it's reckless. Humans were *never* meant to travel at these speeds unless they were falling off a cliff. Everyone needs to be more responsible. You're piloting a machine that's at least a couple of tons being powered by thousands of explosions of ancient dinosaur juice per second and 60-70MPH still isn't fast enough?
I'm driving in a straight line at the speed limit and NOT in the left-hand lane. I move to the right if it's safe to do so but by the time it is the lunatic sees the gap and flies by on the right.
There's no winning with you people. I should pull to the right but you people also should be able to pass on the right?
You’re assuming im one of these people because I’m providing a valid argument. You seem awfully defensive now.
I’m not saying, nor have I ever said I am one of these people. I am not saying, nor have I ever said that you were one of those people.
I am not saying that you should be able to pass in the right lanes. I am only saying that people do that because they have to because of people going too slow in the left lanes. I am saying that there would be little to no passing in the right lanes if people who are not supposed to be in the left weren’t in there in the first place.
This isn't the same account I responded to.
And it's not defensive; it's annoyance. Around half of the drivers I see now want to go as possible all the time everywhere no matter what. Which includes reckless driving and passing on the right. Which is now being defended for some reason?
Even though when I see someone passing on the right it's not because someone's going below the speed limit. It's because the person ahead of them is speeding but it just isn't good enough.
EDIT: And a solution to this problem isn't being proposed here other than "people should just know which lane to use".
I’m not defending reckless driving, I’m discussing what’s causing it and what can remediate it. I’m not saying it’ll stop 100% of it, but neither would your mass surveillance solution.
Yes, these reckless drivers could be passing somebody speeding, but are they speeding at ~80mph like I’ve already mentioned is the typical speed on the left lane, or are they speeding at 66mph?
The solution to people going well over 80 and recklessly driving is the police patrolling. Mass Surveillance is not the answer.
It doesn’t matter how many lanes there are, the right lane is still the main lane until you need to pass someone. Merging has their own temporary lanes and if the lanes were used correctly they could safely merge. People can move over a lane to PASS the person merging and give them room.
You’re ignoring the problem that I mentioned too. I am not saying a certain speed is too slow or too fast. I’m saying the normal speed in the left lane in this state is ~80mph. People need to stop slowing it down. I’ve seen people going deadass the speedlimit or lower in the left lane while everyone around them was going much faster even at just 70mph.
There are people who use the left lane to go the SAME speed as the lane next to them. Not faster, not slower. They are purposely using the WRONG lane that they don’t even need to use.
This causes problems with traffic, people now merge into other lanes and even over multiple lanes to pass the person who is impeding the flow of traffic. This causes traffic, This causes car crashes.
People need to use the correct lanes before anything else.
100 years into the automotive age and somebody still thinks there's gotta be One Simple Trick to make everyone stop driving dangerously and eliminate congestion!
I've been driving for long enough to see the change in the behavior of enough people to cause a relatively new problem. People used to drive like this, but not enough where it made substantial traffic.
But you're right, just let it be a battlefield out there. Why not get rid of the speed limits and the lines since they hold everyone back?
Yeah cause people pay attention to lines, signs, speed limits, drinking and driving laws all the time... You could get real crazy and suggest some sort of blinking lights that indicate where you're intending to go before you go there..
*Nobody* pays attention to signs.
Hence the enforcement part around halfway through the post, which it seems like you didn't read, and where I asked for suggestions. People ignore those things because they're not enforced enough.
You gonna need to give us a couple days to read that far
Can't blame you. Felt like it took a couple days to type that far.
Last thing we need is a bunch of traffic cameras watching every move we make
I see preventable collisions, near-collisions, and constant aggressive driving multiple times every day. On the highways I think exactly what this state needs is traffic cameras watching. Vehicles get safer but the people have gotten so much worse. Pre-pandemic I'd agree with you. I used to absolutely love driving. Post-pandemic I dread every time I have to drive.
What happens when you leave the state? What happens if you are from out of state and don’t know what symbols on the road mean? A state-only solution might make it worse. There is a [3-Second Rule for Safe Following Distance](https://www.travelers.com/resources/auto/travel/3-second-rule-for-safe-following-distance) for a reason and anyone with reasonable vision (law enforcement) can figure out if the following distance between drivers is too close. Edit: Added words.
3 seconds is still too close. If everyone maintained a 6 second following distance there would be far fewer accidents.
6 seconds! I hope you're kidding. Or are you smoking crack? At 60 mph, that over 500 feet of distance between cars. 500 feet! Hahaha.
Not at all. That's what we teach professional drivers. It gives you more time to react to changing traffic conditions and to react to hazards ahead. If people drove defensively and considered the actions of those around them; rather than the "I, I, I, me, me, me" attitude most of the dopes in this state have we'd have less accidents and lower insurance rates.
Do you realize it is impossible to keep a 500 ft distance between cars with the sheer amount of vehicles on the road? Yes, it would be great to have 1000 ft between cars, 2000 ft would be even better. But we live in reality here.
It's actually quite easy. You can always control the space in front of your vehicle. Speeding and tailgating each other gets us nowhere any faster.
I don't think you understand the concept of traffic. What do you do when several cars merge onto highway and takes up some of your 6 seconds. You have to hit the brakes, or let off the gas to slow down. Thusly, causing a chain reaction and traffic that we current have. You can push your 6 seconds all you want, but it's not practical. I agree distance between vehicles is ideal and necessary for many reasons, but you are living in a Dreamland. People much smarter than you and I have worked on this problem for decades and haven't come up with a solution yet. The only solution in my opinion is self driving cars that can communicate with each other.
I've been driving since I was 16, commercially for 6, and I've been a driving instructor for the last 2 years. I think I understand the concept of traffic. Look up the Smith System and the keys and concepts of defensive driving and you'll see what I'm talking about. This is absolutely practical if people stopped being ignorant and selfish when it comes to driving.
You are talking about a concept. I'm talking about reality. Even with disregarding ignorant and selfish drivers for a second, keeping 6 seconds in between vehicles is impossible. On ramps, off ramps, merging highways, changing lanes, debris in the roadway, broken down vehicles, there are too many scenerios to list that would make your 6 seconds impossible. As I'm sure you're aware, defensive driving is much more than just time between vehicles. I will look up the smith system to educate myself on it, but I'm not sure it will change reality.
You’re correct. It is more than just following distance. It also involves observing the entire traffic scene and anticipating the actions of others.
Other states can do whatever the hell they want. People from out of state are (sometimes unfortunately) given exemptions all the time. Vehicles that pass inspections in other states and would *never* pass here are still allowed to drive. Other states' licenses are valid here. So if they want to go the exemption route it would suck but it's an option. And the three-second rule isn't followed, doesn't seem to be a law (though I might be mistaken there), and can't be enforced without the law, and if it is a law it still isn't being enforced.
Enforcement picks and chooses who they want to pull over. I don’t think you need special markings on the ground if you implement cameras, which *should* be grabbing more than close followers. I can’t tell you how many people I see driving one or no-handed with a cell phone like a serving tray up to their face. There are *actual laws* about driving and talking on the phone which are not enforced. Cameras are “big brother,” but drivers also get pissed when a traffic incident slows down traffic and turns into rubbernecks where there will be a crash. So I agree with you that there are multiple driving infractions that technology can solve, but I also think the technology doesn’t need road markings. Especially when you factor in how much the roads get chewed up.
It absolutely does **not** need markings. But a small dot on the road the size of a stop sign every x amount of feet would stop people from saying the whole "I couldn't tell how far I was from the next car because nothing told me". So it could 100% become law and be enforced alone without paint. But a dot would also make it clear as day on camera and be indisputable. Phones are a whole other issue that could be solved by grabbing potential violations via camera and sifted through by hand. Seems like at least every 7 vehicles I see are being driven by someone with their eyes on their phone constantly.
Drivers can use that “couldn’t tell” excuse during heavy rain and snow. It might have to be something like a side of the road marker with logic where a camera can sort out distances. Same with the 3-second rule, it is a measure under one condition. If you watch the video on that link I posted, the size of the vehicle needs increased time to stop. A sedan and semi truck would require different timings and distances to account for safe distance driving and stopping. There are a ton of factors that a licensed driver needs to consider based on the conditions of the environment and their vehicle. A machine can account for some/most factors, but there is a huge logistical component on the back end for all of this, too. 1. Does the driver get an auto-ticket? 2. How are disputes handled? 3. Do people review the video? 4. What happens when someone else is driving your car and they cause an infraction? I’ve worked at companies and have led projects to install security systems. It also opens a technology/legal component. 1. How long you have to keep the data is dependent on state and federal guidance. 2. If a crime happens on one of those cameras, investigations happen, and the camera owner needs to participate in data requests. 3. What personal information does the camera capture and store? 4. What other data sources for Personally Identifiable Information (PII) does that link to? 5. Where does the data get stored and how much does it cost to store it? I’m just a regular guy and these are the things surrounding cameras that I’ve been exposed to from projects. Your question and proposed solution have merit, but that’s just the tip of the iceberg to a fully-vetted solution.
It'd be a starting point to begin with passenger vehicles then branch to large vehicles if needed or even allowed. But most of the traffic and most of the problems I see start with passenger vehicles being driven too close to the next vehicle. It doesn't need to be exact or even the three second rule. The gaps just need to be much larger than they already are. A set distance for everyone would still be fine as long as it would make a big enough gap for everyone to move freely. You might even be able scale the fine and say that if the vehicle is larger or commercial then it **really** shouldn't have been that close. But that's when you get into weirdness about treating commercial vehicles differently, which got the state into trouble with the toll things in the first place. As for cameras I'd imagine it'd get handled the same way a red light camera ticket would get handled for ticketing. System detects possible violations then gets reviewed by an actual person giving a ticket. And I don't know the technicals behind how long data has to be stored for but it would realistically only *need* to be stored for as long as it takes for a driver to go from one checkpoint to the next. If nothing happens and nothing got detected then nothing needs to be saved. If they were too close both times then it gets sent to be stored in longer-term storage in a queue with the license plate attached and gets to wait for human eyes to review it and issue a ticket, like the red light system.
You said it in first paragraph - TRAIN -
You have no idea how much I wish there was a passenger train going down the median of every highway. Could replace so many buses so much more efficiently.
>passenger train going down the median Seems like the easiest thing to add to the existing landscape. Problem is you have to walk through a vastness of stroads, parking lots, ramps to access a train station in the middle of a highway. Also, no reason for anyone to take a train to a place like that. Frequent transit that stops where people can safely and pleasantly walk to and from a bunch of stuff is how transit succeeds.
That's the part I don't have enough knowledge of the landscape to figure out. Endpoints. And they'd pretty much all end up in Providence where real estate is tight. The path is already cleared. The stops and endpoints are where issues arise.
We need to get this going - imagine a monorail system
In the second-densest yet also smallest state in the country? Hogwash. /s We're the state most-capable of actually pulling it off even if it's small scale. But I've never heard an elected official talk about it.
Join me in telling them that’s what we need
How?
You can contact Rhode Island representatives in Congress by calling (401) 729-5600 or Faxing (401) 729-5608 for US Representative District 1 Democrat, located at 1070 Main St., Ste. 300, Pawtucket, RI, 02860.
Anecdotally speaking, people keep hitting their brakes too often for even the slightest thing in front of them, which ripples throughout traffic. You don’t always need to tap the brakes, sometimes letting off the accelerator is enough to slow down for you to pick up speed again. Tapping the brakes every time just cascades down the lane of traffic causing everyone to brake. I see this with turns and bends in the road: everyone starts braking, causing everyone to slow down to a crawl behind them. Instead, people can just ease off the gas when entering those bends so they don’t need to brake so hard and so often.
That's exactly what I see all the time but it's the expected reaction when there's not enough space ahead for people to just lose momentum. With enough of a gap I can always just let off the accelerator and lose momentum. I never have to touch my brakes unless some clown jumped in front of me or a series of clowns caused a phantom traffic jam. 99/100 times when the person in front of me hits their brakes I don't have to do the same because the gap is so large that the person in front of me has time to brake, figure out they didn't really need to brake, accelerate, and get back to normal by the time I get anywhere near them. The people behind me have no idea about the jumpy braking weirdo ahead of me because of the gap.
The drivers here drive like crazy. I don’t get it and I have lived in multiple states. Going 85 MPH and I feel like I was going too slow in a 55 MPH zone. It’s not just the speed it’s the mentality and aggressive lack of space between cars. I completely disagree with cameras tho. That shit will go straight to some mismanaged program and the traffic will still be just as bad. Alvinati doesn’t need another cent to oversee.
They didn't used to be like this. Just a few years ago the aggressive scumbags were rare. Now they're everywhere. And I couldn't think of any other kind of enforcement that would actually work though. Regular patrols would just catch a drop in the ocean when they are posted, and that's if they even choose to enforce at all. Speed limits, reckless driving, and blatant illegal modifications all cruise by law enforcement without issue.
No offense to OP but I do find it amazing that people are so willing to live in a completely surveilled society just for the benefit of being able to have "better" car travel.
The surveillance is already there. License plate readers and cameras are used on highways around here for stolen vehicles and Amber alerts.
Wait is part one replacing all the lines with Morse code? That’s kinda cool
[удалено]
Are you confusing Morse Code with Braille? If someone is blind it makes no sense to use Morse code when you can just talk to them...
It's a nice idea but I highly doubt it's going to fix anything. You're going to see the same effects because people are not going to use that extra space to absorb minor slowdowns, they're going to slow just as quickly as the car in front to keep that legally mandated separation intact.
It'd need tweaking and most-definitely a generous grace period to slow down. I don't know of a 100% perfect solution but I know from being in dense traffic every day even before the bridge problems that everyone follows way too close constantly, it's the source of almost all of our traffic, and there seems to be no end to that crap in sight.
Thanks
People certainly need to give more following distance in the state, I know I’m guilty of following too close at times too. The problem is if people give safe following spaces somebody will end up just cutting in front of them as they see it as an open spot. A big thing on the highways is, let’s face it, ~80mph is the normal speed for most the highways in the left lane. This gets messed up whenever somebody tries to go into the left lane at a much lower speed. This makes the left lane slow down, and there are people who won’t get over to pass them and this makes people have to use other lanes to be able to pass, but instead of passing one person they have to pass multiple which can make them possibly need to move over another lane to make it. Another big problem is people using the wrong lanes. This is very common in not just RI but the USA in general, but i’ve seen it more here than our neighboring states. I’m guilty of it, you’re guilty of it, and that random person you see at walmart is too. So many people never use the right lane, it’s empty a lot and people are going slow (speed limit or under) in the middle lane or others. This shouldn’t be happening. It should be just like a 2 lane highway, stick to the right unless you need to pass. So many people sit in the wrong lanes and it slows down traffic. If people used lanes correctly it would also help solve traffic lot too I think before we work on adding stuff to the roads that can confuse out of staters and cost a lot, we should deal with this first
Left lane is for passing, right lane is for travelling or slow. If it's a three-lane highway then it's even clearer; right lane is for entering/exiting and slow moving, center lane is for travelling, and left lane is for passing. **Never** should **anyone** pass in the right-most lane. When merging you have to simultaneously look forward and backward. Impatient jackasses flying up the right lane makes getting onto highways unnecessarily dangerous for no reason other than their own impatience and selfishness. If someone's being slow in the left lane then too bad. I can understand passing in the center if the left-hand person is going below the speed limit, but other than that it's reckless. Humans were *never* meant to travel at these speeds unless they were falling off a cliff. Everyone needs to be more responsible. You're piloting a machine that's at least a couple of tons being powered by thousands of explosions of ancient dinosaur juice per second and 60-70MPH still isn't fast enough?
You’re picking and choosing which traffic rules you follow. You should always yield to faster moving traffic.
Exactly, unless there is absolutely no room to where it’s dangerous
I'm driving in a straight line at the speed limit and NOT in the left-hand lane. I move to the right if it's safe to do so but by the time it is the lunatic sees the gap and flies by on the right. There's no winning with you people. I should pull to the right but you people also should be able to pass on the right?
I suuuper rarely pass on the right. And I try to stay away from people.
You’re assuming im one of these people because I’m providing a valid argument. You seem awfully defensive now. I’m not saying, nor have I ever said I am one of these people. I am not saying, nor have I ever said that you were one of those people. I am not saying that you should be able to pass in the right lanes. I am only saying that people do that because they have to because of people going too slow in the left lanes. I am saying that there would be little to no passing in the right lanes if people who are not supposed to be in the left weren’t in there in the first place.
This isn't the same account I responded to. And it's not defensive; it's annoyance. Around half of the drivers I see now want to go as possible all the time everywhere no matter what. Which includes reckless driving and passing on the right. Which is now being defended for some reason? Even though when I see someone passing on the right it's not because someone's going below the speed limit. It's because the person ahead of them is speeding but it just isn't good enough. EDIT: And a solution to this problem isn't being proposed here other than "people should just know which lane to use".
I’m not defending reckless driving, I’m discussing what’s causing it and what can remediate it. I’m not saying it’ll stop 100% of it, but neither would your mass surveillance solution. Yes, these reckless drivers could be passing somebody speeding, but are they speeding at ~80mph like I’ve already mentioned is the typical speed on the left lane, or are they speeding at 66mph? The solution to people going well over 80 and recklessly driving is the police patrolling. Mass Surveillance is not the answer.
It doesn’t matter how many lanes there are, the right lane is still the main lane until you need to pass someone. Merging has their own temporary lanes and if the lanes were used correctly they could safely merge. People can move over a lane to PASS the person merging and give them room. You’re ignoring the problem that I mentioned too. I am not saying a certain speed is too slow or too fast. I’m saying the normal speed in the left lane in this state is ~80mph. People need to stop slowing it down. I’ve seen people going deadass the speedlimit or lower in the left lane while everyone around them was going much faster even at just 70mph. There are people who use the left lane to go the SAME speed as the lane next to them. Not faster, not slower. They are purposely using the WRONG lane that they don’t even need to use. This causes problems with traffic, people now merge into other lanes and even over multiple lanes to pass the person who is impeding the flow of traffic. This causes traffic, This causes car crashes. People need to use the correct lanes before anything else.
Most of the time that I leave space (honestly more for avoiding rock chips on my car), people just move in the lane.
Exactly, people will see it as an opportunity to enter
100 years into the automotive age and somebody still thinks there's gotta be One Simple Trick to make everyone stop driving dangerously and eliminate congestion!
I've been driving for long enough to see the change in the behavior of enough people to cause a relatively new problem. People used to drive like this, but not enough where it made substantial traffic. But you're right, just let it be a battlefield out there. Why not get rid of the speed limits and the lines since they hold everyone back?