Are Variable Speed Limits the Wave of the Future?

[gone-ot]

Ignore ONE...ignore ALL.

[Fat Charlie]

But really, guys, on this stretch of road we want you to obey them!

[whatmaycome14]

That's what I end up doing in "stop and go" traffic anyway. I just go slower than everybody else, and it usually results in not having to stop at all. Of course I just do it to maintain as good mpg's as possible, but I like the theory. The ONLY thing that would be a problem is what you've all said: people will screw it up by ignoring the signs.

[rbrowning]

I am wondering how speeding tickets are written with the sign changing intermittantly? How does the cop verify what the posted limit was at the time? Take apicture?
Or just hope no one complains?

[UltArc]

There should be a record of it in a database.

[jamesqf]

Originally Posted by Fat Charlie

The main argument is that people trying to go faster than the flow of traffic disrupt the flow more than the slowpokes, who on congested roads tend to be trying to deal with exits and whatnot.

Can't see that myself, though I'll grant that it may be different in really congested urban areas. From what I see, though, it's the slowpokes that cause tailbacks: the ones who slow to gawk at accidents, or who can't go through an interchange ramp at more than a crawl - "Omigawd, Maud, it curves!"

The other thing is dealing with people's expectations. Driving a familiar route, you know what the speed limits are supposed to be, so you don't bother to look at the signs.

[Frank Lee]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UEIAPvz6HeI&feature=kp

[Fat Charlie]

jamesqf- have you ever been holding a good buffer and have some kid come screaming into it and slam on his brakes? Then he'll bop back and forth to the sides of the lane looking for holes in the other lanes. When he's finally lined up with a hole in a lane that he thinks will go faster he pops into that lane, forcing someone there to hit his brakes.

Traffic is moving along at whatever, but there's that one guy who dreams of doing 100 and forces his way through the crowd one or two car lengths at a time, cutting people off with every move, sending cascades of brake lights back down the road. He's causing the very problem that he complains about: slow, dangerous traffic that's hard to move in because people drive with one foot hovering over the brake pedal and watching for someone about to cut in front of them because their lane is going 4 mph faster at the moment.

That doesn't get into other idiots who won't pay attention to driving because they're on the phone or whatever and don't see what's going on around them or how close to their exit they are. Those ones are just as bad with causing problems because they also can't see what the appropriate speed is.

[jamesqf]

Originally Posted by Fat Charlie

jamesqf- have you ever been holding a good buffer and have some kid come screaming into it and slam on his brakes? Then he'll bop back and forth to the sides of the lane looking for holes in the other lanes. When he's finally lined up with a hole in a lane that he thinks will go faster he pops into that lane, forcing someone there to hit his brakes.

No, I don't see this much. Sure, I see people (usually middle-aged jerks in SUVs, not kids) who will pop into spaces that I consider just a decent buffer, but that usually doesn't cause braking, and certainly not the chain-reaction tailback sort.

What I do see causing this sort of chain-reaction braking are people who go slower than traffic on the on-ramps, then try to merge in to the travel lane and accelerate there.

[Fat Charlie]

I hate those guys.