Driving the speed limit question.

[TxDispatcher]

One of my pet peeves is people driving 5 miles under the speed limit in a 2 lane road when you can't pass, and then when there is a passing lane they speed up to 10 miles over the speed limit. When the passing lane ends they slow back down to 5 miles under the speed limit.

This is the thing that gets me. It makes zero sense, it’s like they will cease to go on living if someone passes them in the 2 mile passing zone, so they punch the gas

Or the ones who will get right beside someone on the interstate and drive the exact same speed, instead of getting in front of/behind the vehicle and allowing others to pass them. The worst I’ve ever experienced this particular issue was on the Florida Turnpike headed from Orlando to Miami a couple years ago. 4-5 lanes and they were stacked up side by side with a mile or so of vehicles behind them. I was extremely glad to finally see someone exit and watch the race to get around the cluster happen by others who were as annoyed as I was

[Pedernal]

just an observation (not meant to point at the OP); how about people learn to pass. I drive 5 miles over posted limit and am constantly annoyed by people flying up to my bumper and staying within a car length in areas where clearly you will not be able to pass. I.e. no shoulder roads with lots of curves and/or hills.

Back the **** up or your going to get the speed up-slow down treatment every time... people that need/want to go fast have no more right to the roads than people that drive the speed limit or drive just above the posted minimum limit....

next time you are ****** while driving look at what you are doing to cause the situation... if you are going to be late, you should have left earlier

[Smokeater]

Safely exceeding the speed limit is fine with me, I do so frequently; just be safe about it.
What annoys me more than the big rig passing etiquette (lack thereof) noted is people that want to draft off of my back bumper even when I am in the slow lane and there is no one using the passing lane.
I'm guessing that they feel the need to let me know that I am going too slow for them, but I always slow down, down, down to demonstrate that, yes, I CAN go even slower...

I notice this more and more. A lot of em like to get behing a certain vehicle so they can "phone draft". Find someone going the speed they like then just keep you in the corner of their eye while they're staring at the phone. Don't have to look at what else is going on. Sure gets em nervous when I slow down a lil to soon using my parking brake....and no brake lights come on....only in front of the nicer cars tho.

[Duckologist]

The left lane is for passing only!!

Not for Texas drivers. It's for driving slow and staying put

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[WItoTX]

OP, I understand your sentiment, but I don't think either situation you describe has just started, or ended. In the last few years, roads have not gotten much wider, yet Texas has welcomed millions of people. Many of which are not from the USA, and barely understand their home countries driving laws.

My wife, from Nigeria, cannot fall asleep when she rides with another Nigerian. But as soon as she is in the truck with me, she passes out. Why? Because I deploy my cruise control (Like every God fearing American should!), and that constant speed puts her to sleep immediately. In Nigeria, they can't drive at a constant speed because of **** roads and so as to not be predictable. I have ridden with her family and I kid you not, if no other car is around them, they will do 40 mph in a 75. But as soon as a car comes by, they lock into the blind spot of the other vehicle, and will not leave that spot, whether it is going 80 MPH or 50 MPH. And I was told that's normal.

I say all that to say, it's probably more the influx of people than it is driving habits have changed. Personally, I will do 90 on the way to work on the Katy Freeway, and be fine. 4 am commute has it's perks.

[Big pig]

Our company makes us take a driving course every three years to drive the company vehicles

I have been driving for 45 years in Houston and around the state for my job.
I thought I knew it all. Wrong.
The biggest takeaway was I am now a trained driver and I should leave my emotions a
Out of it. If someone wants to pass, get out of the way
If someone is too slow, safely pass them. And never try to alter someone else’s driving. Just avoid them. Road rage is a wasted time of life and health.

And never tailgate.

[JayB]

Sadly, the Posted Speed Limit has just become either a suggestion or a starting point, even according to some of these posts.

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[sharpstick35]

I drive 60-80k a year for work. all of it 2 lane rural roads in the oilfield. its like mad max out here, with a fatality nearly every day. the roads are tore up from overweight trucks and there is so much traffic that you cant even think about passing if you want to live.

[W E H]

Our company makes us take a driving course every three years to drive the company vehicles

I have been driving for 45 years in Houston and around the state for my job.
I thought I knew it all. Wrong.
The biggest takeaway was I am now a trained driver and I should leave my emotions a
Out of it. If someone wants to pass, get out of the way
If someone is too slow, safely pass them. And never try to alter someone else’s driving. Just avoid them. Road rage is a wasted time of life and health.

And never tailgate.

Big Pig is absolutely correct!

I try that philosophy sometimes too,
But there are still lots of idiot drivers.

[2Lazy2P]

One of the biggest problems on big two lane highways with a shoulder is the bump strip between the lane and the shoulder. Before those were put in, folks could get over and let you by or get on the shoulder when they were turning right. Now, nobody wants to drive over them dang things.

[Jon Stewart]

A speed limit is posted as a maximum not a mandatory speed. There can many variables that would dictate for slower than posted speeds like traffic and weather conditions. An example would be if the speed limit is 45 mph and the roadway is icy and you get in an accident doing 45 mph you could get a ticket for driving too fast for conditions and that condition was the icy roadway so the posted speed limit does not give you a right to drive that fast. I understand what most are saying and slower drivers should drive in the right lane of travel and stay off the phone.

[Rick]

Our company makes us take a driving course every three years to drive the company vehicles

I have been driving for 45 years in Houston and around the state for my job.
I thought I knew it all. Wrong.
The biggest takeaway was I am now a trained driver and I should leave my emotions a
Out of it. If someone wants to pass, get out of the way
If someone is too slow, safely pass them. And never try to alter someone else’s driving. Just avoid them. Road rage is a wasted time of life and health.

And never tailgate.

This has been my approach for a lot of years. Very well said

I try to drive the speed limit. To me, getting a ticket is like taking 2-3 hundred dollar bills and throwing them out the window, a complete waste. And driving 10 mph over the speed limit does not get u there much faster

[jdg13]

Out on the interstate, I like to cruise at the limit or about 5 over, speed up to pass, and get back to cruising. This usually keeps me in between the 2 trucks passing and the group of nascar drivers drafting each other. In Houston it's different, give no quarter and expect no mercy.

[solocam_aggie]

I drive about 40,000 miles per year, work and hunting. A few years ago if you weren't driving 10 mph over the speed limit, you got run over. Now on a two lane road, if you want to go the speed limit, you can't because someone ahead is driving 50 in a 55. Is it because people are on their phone?

On the interstate, the trucks are so dense and it takes them so long to pass each other that you can't get around them. I'm not bashing on truckers, cause they are our shipping lifeblood but they will pass another truck that is going one mile per hour slower than them, pull over in front of you to do it, then 5 minutes later, they pass and move to the right lane. I'm sure my Amazon packages will be delayed now.

Coming home from the Chap on a Friday night down I35 almost made me lose my mind. We basically went 55 the whole time with speed limit 75. Trucks rode side by side all the way. "Passing."

[bowfishin fool]

And driving 10 mph over the speed limit does not get u there much faster

Wrong..

Let’s play a game of math

If I’m on the road for 400 miles today with a speed limit of 65mph and I maintain 10 MPH faster, then that gets me there how much faster boys??


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