Is speeding dangeous?

I was driving in Germany on the weekend on the autobahn very fast and it was legal. Funny how in one country it is fine and in others it is akin to rape. So here is a poll. I think speeding is fine if you have 3 lanes and a straight road

They should have the four lanes you want to do 60 65 STAY IN THE RIGHT hand lanes. 3rd lane from the right should be a say 80 -90. 4th Lane no limit but you must stay true to the lanes. SLOW GET OUT THE WAY haha. That would be awesome

Lotta idiots in America. People drive their SUV's in the fast lane and won't move over. If you get rid of speed limits, there needs to be laws and tickets issued for people driving less than 90 in the fast lane.

That is how it is in Germany. Be fast or be flashed by the xenons. Even if there is 2 lanes. Silly Politicians in the rest of the world.

i think when people are in the fast lane...their min, speed should be the speed limit... if not.....GET OUT OF THE WAY... i really hate the idiots that's on the cell phones talking and talking their sweet time driving making everyone behind them wait as if they own the road..... speed limit ..... i thiink there should be a lisc. for those who can handle the high speed...... all others need to stay in the slow or right lane.....

What is speeding, 1 mph over the speed limit? Where on the Interstate, local HWY, Rural Route, local street or neighborhood? Many times I pass people driving slower than I on the local HWY but once I get in my neighborhood those same people are riding my bumper on 25 mph streets.

hey man.. i drove on autobahn before also. its a religious experience. i felt like i was in heaven. i hate driving in United States. there are really no speed limits in ukraine/russia either since you can bribe the police when you get pulled over ($10 usually gets you out of most violations), but the roads in those countries wont allow you to go over 100mph...

It seems to me that speeding is not dangerous, in itself, because a speed limit has been exceeded; rather, it is dangerous when: 1. Vehicle speed exceeds the driver's ability to control the vehicle in the circumstances/conditions in which it's being driven, and/or 2. Vehicle speed exceeds the specific performance capabilities of the vehicle. When the above two factors, either singly or in combination, place the driver, the vehicle, or others at risk, then it can legitimately be said that speeding is dangerous in that situation .

I vote for "it depends" I think it's safe to say that most American's can't drive worth sh.t, especially in major cities (like LA!).

I can go with that. But there are still a few more factors beyond the control of the driver when on public roads that occur while speeding or not like other people, other creatures, or debris.

Yup, too much American Pride in the left lane for it to EVER work here. There is just way too much of the "I have a Constitutional right" here. Besdies, think about what it takes to get a drivers license here in the states. I got mine at 15 for somethng like $300 and 6 weeks of twice a week instruction. Not even close to what it takes in Germany (age or teaching).

So, 75mph through times square in NYC is ok as long as everyone is on sidewalks? Speed limits play to 1) "conserve" energy 2) Providing revenue 3) Dumbing it down to protect the stupid BTW, did you investigate the penalties for Speeding in Germany? Sure, some stretches of Highway have no limit, but many do, all trucks are limited and well, the cops drive BMWs and Porsches to catch those who ignore the posted limits

Speed doesn't kill. It's the stopping that does.

I tend to agree. The driving tests I've seen (CA, MA and PA) have been laughably simple. It's ridiculous. You cannot expect people to drive well when driver's tests are little more than a rubber stamp that you've driven around the block without killing someone. You get what you pay for - low standards in driver's tests mean bad drivers. Make driver's tests meaningful and a real demonstration of driving skill, then maybe American drivers will behave better and have adequate skills to drive properly and considerately at high speed. This thread is a bit of a joke really. It's almost like posting in a hacker's forum whether it's okay to crack codes.

It's more than just the driver's test really. It's enforcing laws on the road which a lot of states already have: proper use of the left lane. We just don't make a priority of fining drivers that either drive too slowly in the left lane or don't move over for faster traffic. You've all experienced it, some of you may even be offenders. You set the cruise control to a fixed rate of speed and you stay in the left lane come hell or highwater. Higher speed limits work in Germany because the laws on use of the lanes is strictly enforced. No passing to the right hand side, no holding up faster traffic behind you. Slower vehicles are not allowed to even use the left most lanes. And finally, the highways are simply made for higher speeds with banked curves and wider shoulders. I remember having dinner a couple of years back with some engineers from Fiat of Italy. They were frightened by our highways. People passing them at high speed on the right lane, others who wouldn't move over and became enraged when they flashed their high beams. Things they took for granted in their home country as being laws of the road.

I agree that it's more than just the driver's test. There's also the "everyone for themselves, screw you" attitiude out there that means that the average person has next to no consideration for others when they get behind the wheel.

I think it's also "it's not your road, so I'm not pulling over to the right for you" attitude. The lack in overall courtesy, common sense, education and simply ability to read signs has degraded the US freeways throughout the years, in my opinion. When I got my license, my DMV test had a freeway portion. Now they removed that part since it's too dangerous. It's more dangerous in the long run when you have non-residents and newbies getting on the freeway at 25-40mph. I believe enforcement plays a major role also. HOWEVER, I don't think CA VC21650 and VC21654 (Slower Traffic Keep Right) are enforced enough! State Keep Right Laws: http://www.mit.edu/~jfc/right.html http://www.californiakeepright.com/index2.html http://slowertraffickeepright.com/

I agree. .. there's the "I'm too busy to care about you driver", "The I'm so important I have to talk on the phone driver", "The I'm a nice person that doesn't have to obey the law driver"... among others.... as I said, a screw you attitude prevails. It's all general disrepect. On top of that the behavior of drivers in some states (each has their own quirks) is downright bizarre. In PA a merge means "stop" (in the minds of a PA driver at least!). You will see drivers come to an absolute stop at a freeway or expressway merge. The number of collisions and near collisions I've seen astounds me. I'm now careful when I'm merging behind a PA driver in any state because of this dangerous habit (I had one do it to me in CT).... never ever follow behind a PA driver. In addition to the above behaviour they will find the slowest car (in the middle lane) and sit on their bumper - even if all the other lanes are clear and the road in front of that car is clear. Do they get a frontal lobe removal with their driver's licenses?

LOL here in SoCal, if there's a curve on the freeway, the entire freeway slows down until the road straightens, where everybody starts to go fast again. Funny but irritating and stupid.

Not as dangerous as driving 40 mph in a 65mph zone in the left lane. I'm from The Netherlands, but have lived in MA, CT, NC for the past 10 years and I'm sorry to say but a large majority of people in the US don't have a clue how to drive a car. In my humble opinion it all starts with education, or in this country, the absolute lack thereof. Getting a drivers license here is an ABSOLUTE JOKE!!

And Florida is known for over-populated old-fart drivers, as well as rednecks in huge pickup trucks.

Oh, I remember. My current driving style is a hybrid of CA and MA. I call it passive-aggressive driving. Assertive with out being offensive. My commute from South San Jose to San Carlos used to be a real adventure... I-85 in the morning used to have the left lanes at a complete standstill and the right lanes moving at 60mph. Drivers impatient at being in the stopped lanes would abruptly stick their noses out into the 60mph lane and wonder why they got hit... it was a real test of reaction times. The best story that I still tell was a day on my drive home. I got onto I-280 in San Carlos at the same time as another car - typical peak traffic meant that we really were not going that fast. The car in front of me proceeded to immediately set off weaving in and out of traffic at high speed endangering those around him. I just went with the flow. 1 hour (or so) later I got off at Blossom Hill Road at EXACTLY the same time as the dufus that had been weaving and risking the lives of those around him. That lesson taught me that his behavior really get you nowhere except into an accident. The best accident I ever saw was in Mountain View - a real Hollywood style pile-up that I saw in my rear view mirror (maybe half a mile behind me). A car weaved across two lanes and took out all four lanes of traffic in a domino style crash. I actually saw a car got up in the air. That was over 10 years ago and I still haven't seen a crash as good as that one.

Yup, anyone who has taken a European driv ing test knows how difficult a driving test should be.

I want to share my experience taking a driving test here in Washington State. First, it's important to preface this description with the fact that I am from Canada. When you move to the USA, they require you to take a road test. So, my road test in WA was just a few years ago as an adult, so that may have skewed things a bit. The DMV person got into the car with me after checking that all my lights worked on the car. I backed out of the parking stall, turned left onto a residential street, drove one block and stopped on the side of the road by a corner. I was then asked to back up around the corner and proceed back to the DMV. I don't think I covered more than a quarter mile. That was it. That was the entire driving test. I passed. Given enough practice, so would a blind person.

That was pretty much the same as my CA road test... drive around the block, do a U-turn and head back to the DMV. I was astounded. I almost wanted to ask him if he was being serious. The funny thing was that they made a big fuss about 1) not taking the test in a rental car (even though I'd gotten prior permission) and 2) having someone to drive me home if I failed the test. Hello - I was driving on a valid European license and it was legal for me to drive myself home. Additionally, you would have to be a blind mindless idiot to fail that test.

That's what my driving test in MA was... drive out of the DMV parking lot... turn a right. Stop on the side of the road and back up straight for 10 yards. Two more rights and back into the parking lot. took about 2 or 3 minutes and after we were done the DMV clown congratulated me!! Ignorant me actually asked him what he was congratulating me for, because I didn't get it that this was the actual test and that we were done... When I moved to CT, I just changed my MA license out. Moving to NC however was a whole different story. They don't 'recognize' other States licenses here, so you have to do a multiple choice test (my 4 year old probably would pass it) and they may ask you to do a road test... I did... another DMV parking lot and another 1 block drive around it. Great to see your tax dollars at work!

Geez you guys had easy tests. My test consisted of driving down a major street, turning into residential, and getting on (and off) the freeway. The lady even tried to trick me by casually telling me to pull over in front of a fire hydrant seeing if I'd notice the hydrant or not. In the major street, she made me merge lanes a couple of times. This was in the early 90's too, so relatively recent.

Hardly rocket science though. My UK drivers test took approx. 1 hour of driving in various conditions, along with demonstrating various driving skills, i.e. 3-point turn, parallel parking, backing around corners, etc.

1 hour? Nice. I don't believe the US has any kind of social driving reform planned anytime soon. They have too much stuff to worry about (and people they couldn't find), unfortunately.

The point being that if you want better behavior on the roads it comes from better drivers and that only comes from better driver's ed. and testing.

I hate multiple choice polls because many times, as in this case, none of the choices are any good. If it depends where a choice I bet it would be the most selected. There are many factors that make speed dangerous. Speeding by itself is not dangerous. Driving faster than road conditions or weather dedicates is dangerous to name a few. You are a hazard if you are driving a lot faster or slower than the established speed limit. Notice I said established speed limit. The established speed limit is the speed that most people drive and is usually set by road condition, traffic level and weather it�s a rural, residential or commercial area. For example a two lane lightly traveled highway in good condition through a rural area might have a posted speed limit of 45 but the established speed limit is more like 60 because, that is what conditions dedicates. The established speed limit for the interstate in this area is 80 mph so I usually drive about 90 mph because it isn�t a lot faster than the speed limit and it is safe to do so. On the subject of Drivers Education it�s a joke in this country and will continue to be unless the general public pushes to make changes. That highly unlikely mostly because the cost to have a truly effective DE program would be many times higher and the powers to be wouldn�t support such a program. I have read that the average House Wife in Germany is a better driver that most American Males. In many other countries driving is a privilege but in the USA it�s viewed as a right and I don�t see that changing anytime soon. The whole subject is so aggravating it drives me into a rage so I�m going for a drive. What�s the speed limit on the I10?

"Yes, but a speed limit should be placed" I see a lot of people voted for that. Heh, what should the speed limit be? On the autobahn you can go as fast as you like ( in certain places). So if there is no limit and you are going fast, do you really want to look at the speedo to see that you are doing 230 km/h? From experience I can tell you it does not matter. Naturally you go as fast as you feel comfortable. Sometimes that is 250km/h sometimes in is 180 km/h. Just because you can go mega fast, it does not mean you will. I just chuckle to myself on the autobahn, thinking this is legal, haha. The rest of the world sucks and the autobahn rocks. No restrictions. I hate governments stopping us having fun and over regulating everything. The US can be this way but you just need to make the laws. What pisses me off that the speed limits have been in place since the 1960's. Not since then has anyone tried a no speed limit rule. Why not just try it? If there are too many accidents then it can be revoked.

Having lived in Germany for a total of 13 years in the stretch from 1989 to 2005, I think I have a lot of perspective on the autobahn. First, it has changed a lot. Not only has traffic volume increased tremendously, but speed limits are being imposed on an ever incresaing number of commonly traveled stretches. A8 from midway between Augsburg and Munich, all the way to Stuttgart airport is 120km/h. A3 from Frankfurt until almost Wuerzburg is 120-130km/h. A5 from Frankfurt to Kassel is 120km/h. The list goes on, and these are all long 60-100 mile stretches :-( Now days your best chance to really open it up is to get out early on a Sunday morning, where "early" means 4:00AM. One of the main reasons for this is that the capability of the cars has went way up. In the mid- to late-80's speeds of 250km/h and higher were reserved for exotics, and a select few powerful luxury sedans, the owners of which were usually enthusiasts with a respect for the machine and more capable driving skills to match. Today, even most VWs and Opels can approach the 250km/h mark. This puts high speeds vehicles into the hands of a much larger segment of the population, and these drivers are inevitably less experienced and less skilled. Things get really different as one exceeds 240-250km/h. Braking distances increase significantly and the heat of repeated heavy braking (usually because some idiot doing 81 moved over to pass a truck doing 80, and he didn't realize how quickly you were closing on him ) can cause a surprising loss of stopping power. Curves that would be wide open sweepers at lower speeds are now tight bends. And situations that could be easily handled at lower speeds (e.g. a sudden swerve to avoid an unexpected obstacle in the roadway) quickly push beyond the limits of car and driver. In other words, things get MUCH more dangerous, and the results are MUCH more deadly. All of that said, I have often wondered why we couldn't adapt German autobahn laws for the interstates in the US, and I believe there are a few major obstacles. Even if we were to better train drivers before they could be licensed, and enacted laws such as a mobile phone ban (which we desperately need anyway ) and a ban on passing on the right (one of the keys to the autobahn working safely), we would still not be able to remove interstate speed limits. The limiting factors are... 1. The condition of vehicles. Germany requires that all vehicle have TUV inspection every three years to ensure they are roadworthy. This is a much more inclusive inspection than anywhere I am aware of in the US, and it helps ensure that vehicles are not a hazard. There are MILLIONS of cars on US interstates that would never make it through a TUV inspection. 2. The engineering of vehicles, especially US-made vehicles. Travelling at high speed places much more extreme loads on a vehicle. The vehicles suspension must be capable of maintaining vehicle stability even at these increased loads. We have a real problem in the US with vehicles that are engineered with lots of power and VERY soft suspensions. This is a recipe for disaster if we remove interstate speed limits. Any quick steering input, whether to avoid another vehicle or other object in the road, could easily send such softly suspended vehicles into a spin or roll. This problem is even more severe due to the number of SUVs on the road in the US, and the instability inherent to their high center of gravity. 3. On and off ramps are simply not designed to allow for safe merging onto the interstate or safe exiting, without severely interferring with the flow of traffic on the interstate itself, causing even more problems. It would be a multi-billion dollar effort to re-engineer enough on/off ramps to safely open up large sections of interstate to limit-free speeds. In many places it would be impossible, simply because of the development surrounding the exits. There is simply no room left to re-engineer them. So as frustrating as it may be, I don't see any general or even limited lifting of the speed limits in the US anytime soon. A few other notes... 90 isn't really that fast. If you are under 120 you should have no business in the fast lane. But the real point is, you shouldn't even be in the left lane if you are not actively passing someone. Yeah, but if you flash those xenons too much you will find yourself arrested for taking a threatening/bullying posture against someone. Yeah, it is cool the first few times, but you get used to it and the novelty wears off. This is actually part of the danger. You can get so used to it, that you forget your respect for speed and are more easily surprised, with much more dire consequences. If you want to drive fast there is still no match for the track, where you have curves, braking and acceleration to keep things interesting. Sadly this is very true. When you live in the US, you become adjusted to the way people drive as being normal as it slowly deteriorates. As I moved back and forth between the US and Germany the last 18 years, I was able to see the delta between two points in time, and the changes were much more obvious. Especially the deterioration of apparent driving skills between 2001 and 2005 was most drastic. I attribute this to cell phones, and the high percentage of drivers today, who don't have a clue what a manual transmission is. I cannot begin to tell you how many people I see that are so obviously braking with their left foot. This is really obvious when their brake lights are almost constantly on, and when they accelerate when the brake lights are still on. They don't realize the heat they are building up in their brakes that is going to cause them to fail further down the road when the need them most. I think people who learn to drive a stick are almost forced to develop a better connection with what the car is doing, and tend to have much sharper driving skills, especially when the vehicle is at ot near its limit. This is a very good point. Also almost any mistake in the first 24 months means you have to take additional remedial courses and endure an even longer extended probation period. There are also situations in Germany that will result in a life-time driving ban. We have no such threat in the US. Exactly some of the points I was making. No the use cameras to chase down speeders. They use the BMWs and Porsches to more important police work, like chasing down the theives, murders, and rapists. Kinda sounds like a more important use of their time doesn't it. WEWWW!!! I thnk I am done now.

That's exactly the point. When most speed limits on freeways have been established, you were only able to exceed them in the fastest cars of the time. Today almost all cars can do >100mph and are better controllable (e.g. distance to break) than most of the cars in the 1960's. There are some EU examples where the lawmakers recognized this fact: Italy: till the 1990's there were different speedlimits on the Autostrada by engine size - removed Austria: 1st successful test of an increased speedlimit of 160kmh (regular 130kmh) on a piece of Autobahn in Carinthia 2006 - big success - no increased accident rate, so more zones with a speed limits of 160kmh will follow (variable speed limit - depending on conditions). However, there are three major arguments used against increased speed limits (beside the not proved accident rate): (1) higher fuel consumptions and emissions - not a huge political issue in the US but in most EU countries where the Greens are established as a political party (but: most SUVs drink more with 60mph than our P cars with 100mph). (2) increasing traffic volume - this is actually one of the main reasons why speed is practically restricted anyhow on major parts of the German Autobahn (3) noise exposure - that's a funny development; whereas true in urban areas, in rural areas building land is cheep beside freeways, so people built there houses there. Some time later, they complain about traffic noise and beside expensive noise barriers (government pays them), speed limits get posted. This actually happens more and more and I know too well about what I'm talking: You go with 200kmh on the Autobahn and suddenly there's a 100kmh speed limit - in the middle of nowhere; suddenly you see 3 or 4 houses beside the Autobahn and know why.

1 Hour!!! Eh lad, you were lucky..... In my day, we had 1 hour of driving... Then we had to get out and change a wheel... Then we had to do an oil change, and all spark plugs... Then, we had to demonstrate the principles of the petrol combustion engine... Then we had to take a 3 week course with written tests every half hour, on road safety... Then, we had to pay a months wages, and hand print our pink and green driving license on government approved vellum... Life was 'ard in them days - young'uns don't know they're born! Now, where's that hand crank for my Morris Minor?

I think the speed limits are way too low, and random. There is a two lane road near my home that's a 55mph road, yet the Palisades Parkway is 50mph, huh? Just a revenue stream.

I quite agree, and those speed restricted stretches are also full of cameras so you WILL get caught if you break the limit.......the myth of the German autobahn being a huge network of unrestricted race track is, I'm afraid, just that, a myth. I have to agree with the comments on the comparisons of driving standards Europe Vs US. The standards are significantly lower over here, but what gets me is the number of rust buckets that drive the streets here - cars which would never ever be legal in western Europe. Having said that, the idea that Europeans are all driving around impeccably behaved, never crashing and never suffering from road rage is quite ridiculous

Come on. If you interview a load of blokes, they are always going to say they are better than the average driver. No matter what country they are from. If the laws change people adapt. When I drive in Czech, people know to move over when they see **** xenons coming. IN Germany they get it too. If you go to Holland they have that " If I can speed, neither can you" attitude in the 3 lane. That sucks, but if they had an autobahn style road, they would soon adapt. You change the laws, even dummies will get it eventually. http://www.es.autoblog.com/2007/02/0...limits-upheld/ Well done Angela Merkel.

I don't know why many of you care, especially since so many of you hang at the track.

yeah, I know, we stood a risk of getting into a "my driving test is bigger than yours" discussion. I think we're all in agreement - there are too many factors preventing higher speed limits in the US. I generally have the philosophy that I don't wory about things that I cannot change.

I could care less about the "unlimited" speed limit since I spend alot of time at the track and get my "speed" out there. But....with that said, dear God, at least raise the limit here in the states. I would be fine with 80. But being on highways where the speed is 55, 60, and 65 is just stupid. Especailly on interstates that are primarily for travel. Some states (as somebody already said) need that as a revenue stream. Trust me, I am MUCH more safe at 100 than most jackasses at 55. The problem though is "the other guy".

i agree.... raise the speed limits.. these limits were placed up back then when the cars are running at lower speed... now and these days, even the prius a hybird..... can hit the speed limit with no problem..... what's the point on selling cars with bigger hp and faster cars if all you can do is 60 mph.....? it's like a huge tease....

Isn't the current speed limit a hangover from fuel crisis days? i.e. driven by fuel efficiency rather than safety or vehicle capability?

No that was when we went to a national limit of 55mph back in the 70's (I think). When the nationally mandated 55mph limit was lifted around the late 80's or early 90's each state could regulate speed limits as they saw fit. That meant 65 for most places and an occassional 70. Montana had no speed limit for a while, but there was something wierd about it, like you could still get a $15 ticket for unsafe driving if you exceeded 100mph. I don't really remember all of the details, speeds, or dates, but the story goes something like that.

Around at Atlanta the limit is 55, but most drive around 80. If you are not going at least 70, you are simply IN THE WAY. The key is simply to avoid sticking out in traffic and you won't get a ticket. As I understand it from a Police buddy of mine, the Police want it this way. It is against the law for the Police to profile someone and pull them over just because they "look suspicious". However, if they wait until they hit the interstate, they will be able to easily pull them over for speeding even though they may have just been following the flow. So essentially it is a way for them to legally profile people and perform vehicle searches.

Every time I'm in Atlanta including last Thurs and Friday the speed limit was 55 and the traffic was speeding along at 30 mph on I20..lol.

But being on highways where the speed is 55, 60, and 65 is just stupid. Especailly on interstates that are primarily for travel. From 1986 to 1995, I spent a great deal of time in Europe. The biggest differance that I noticed between drivers in Europe and the US is attitude. Even the non-car enthusiasts that I met in Europe take their driving seriously. As an example when I was in a line of traffic stopped because of a traffic signal in Europe, almost all cars took off simultaneously when the signal changed. In the US I expect a delay of around 10 seconds before I can take off if there are only 7 or 8 cars ahead of me. So it seems to me that for the average US driver, driving is a necessary evil and they lessen the drudgery by engaging in lots of other activities while in the car that have nothing to do with driving: applying makeup, shaving, brushing their teeth, reading the newspaper, etc. Moreover, in the northeast speed limits are a moot point on beltways and highways surrounding cities because the actual average speed during most of the day is far below even the modest existing speed limits. Having said that I believe that it would be a good idea to adopt a system comparable to that in Germany, where there are stretches of highway without speed limits. In conjunction with this change, I would like to see far more rigorous requirments be adopted for driving licenses. If this would be politicaly unpopular than maybe a masters license could be offered which would permit only drivers with a masters license to drive at the higher speeds.

Living in Germany yes it is nice to find an open Autobahn on a Sunday morning when the traffic is light and open your car up to 160+MPH but do not believe all the hype of no speed limits. If you are involved in a crash and are driving in excess of 130KPH or around 75 MPH you can be cited and this can be used against you by your insurance company. As spoken about earlier probably 50%+ of the Autobahns today do have a speed limit that is just as stupid as we have in the USA i.e. you are on a 2 lane stretch with heavy traffic with no speed limit which then changes to 3 lanes, now you think you can get to the left lane and pass but what do you see a 120-130 KPH speed limit sign, A6 has this. Yes the Germans on whole drive better than the average Americans but the Dutch, Russians, Poles etc.. drive like us so watch out. Lastly the deadliest thing to watch for when you are flying down the autobahn is the mentality that says left blinker means left lane is clear. example, driving down the autobahn at say 150MPH you see in front of you a truck limited to around 62MPH with a small Fiat behind it read that the Fiat will turn on his blinker changing into your lane at 62.1MPH to pass the truck and you need to brake off 90MPH to match his speed, easy if you expect it deadly if not. On topic speeding does not kill it is the sudden stop that will get you. That sudden stopage can either be your error or some other idiot but as long as we keep the idiots off of the road what the heck!

Don't forget Utah....

That happens here in Portland too. You'd think there was a stalled car blocking the lane or something. It's not even a tight curve, just a gradual one but it always slows down there when traffic is out.

I'm in Portland and people think it is in their constitutional rights to drive in the left lane, regardless of speed. Highbeams do nothing. People from Washington seem particularly hellbent on this (WA is only a few miles up the freeway). My wife and I were driving to San Juan Islands a few years ago and they have signs telling people the left lane is only for passing. I follow that rule all the time and so it wasn't a big deal. I'm cruising in the right lane and come up on two cars, one in each lane. Left lane car is not passing and was just driving along in the lane. Slows me down, and pisses me off. No one is exceeding the speed limit. Cop comes up behind , I get into right lane and he pulls the guy in the left lane over and tickets him. It was such a great feeling. Why can't these people just follow the damn rules. They even have them posted on the highway in big letters up there. Along with left/right lane usage, how about turn signal useage. Does the lack of this irritate any one else than me?

I got mine at 15 for $8 and 2 weeks of drivers ed in high school. I drove one time

Yeah, mine was no where near $300. I believe it was closer to $40-$80 that I had to raise myself. 3 drivers lessons and a few days in class is what I recall. Thing is, I had been driving since the 8th grade so my entire on road lessons were a bore because he didn't have anything really new to teach me. We ended up driving through DC running his errands in South East.

... ahh, such high quality driver's ed. No wonder most drivers have the skills of chipmunks.

man... i took a driver's edu class for the summer got my driver's permit...... then took the actual test at the DMV on a stick... and i only practice for 1 day......... Chipmunk driving... .that's me...... just give me some peanuts and i'll do a 3-point turn for ya....

yes, but most drivers here have taken steps to gain more skills and have experience. The vast majority do not do that. I think that even you would admit that when you passed your test you had next to no skills and were dangerous - there's a reason why teenagers are the most accident prone drivers.