Stewart Stremler wrote:
I've met several people who figure it's their _right_ to drive in
whatever lane they want, and anyone who wants to pass 'em can just
suck it up and deal -- they deliberately obstruct traffic on account
of "all the damn speeders". They've taken it as a daily goal to MAKE
people slow down.
Yeah, they feel that as long as they obey the speed limit law, they are
free to ignore the one that commands slower traffing to keep right.
With folks like this on the road, we're going to have accidents no
matter what.
Unfortunately, "paying attention" isn't an easy metric to apply.
If every car has following distance, *even at low speeds*, merge systems
work. People can change lanes. Traffic hiccups simply get eaten by the
following distance getting a little smaller for everybody rather than
coming to a screeching halt.
I got caught up in Martinez rush-hour traffic once. No following room
and high speeds, but it was less stressful than driving non-rush-hour
in San Diego, and having to worry about some idiot deciding that they
really need _my_ lane, now, and it's your fault if you can't handle
'em doing 55mph in a 65mph zone.
And when it comes to having a traffic hiccup eaten by a buffer zone,
well, that depends on the driver. I've ridden with people who proudly
proclaim how good of a driver they are by maintaining a buffer zone,
but when the car ahead of 'em hits the brakes, so do they, as hard or
harder. They _introduce_ traffic hiccups.
It's not just a following zone... it's minimizing the change in
acceleration -- minimizing jerk, in several senses -- when the car
ahead taps his brakes, I need to take my foot off the gas. When
someone changes lanes into my buffer zone, regain it over the course
of a few seconds, not in one second.
Precisely!!!
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