Text 36495, 129 rader
Skriven 2006-08-10 10:32:39 av Roy Witt (1:397/22)
  Kommentar till text 36470 av Carol Shenkenberger (6:757/1)
Ärende: Massive European Guilt!
===============================
10 Aug 06 19:31, Carol Shenkenberger wrote to Roy Witt:

 CS>> I'm not so fast probably.  The biggest danger as i have been taught,
 CS>> is to be too far off the 'speed of the traffic'.

 RW>> That's true. There are the slow-pokes who drive 5mph or more under
 RW>> the limit, then there are the crazy ones who fly down the road,
 RW>> jumping in out of lanes and the best part, attracting more attention
 RW>> to themselve than me and a whole bunch of others, who are doing
 RW>> 7-10mph over the li and not bouncing from lane to lane.

 CS> Yup.  Bad stuff with an accident just waiting to happen. Me, I stay
 CS> out of the 'fast lane' except to pass and dont bounce much into
 CS> there.  Normal stateside was to be about what you say over the speed
 CS> limit as posted.

Since they raised the speed limit on California freeways to 70mph,
everybody is doing 85-90, some even faster. Still, the minimum speed
limit is 45. However, doing that speed will get you a ticket for
obstructing traffic, if you're in any lane but the far right and then you
might just find a CHP that would ticket you.

 CS> Only time I came close to trouble was guiding a lady and her car back
 CS> from the LA facility when it was shipped from Guam.  She'd been there
 CS> 5 years and they had (at that time, not sure now) only one road
 CS> stretch that allowed for 50MPH and the rest were 35 or less.

You traveled down I-5, right? Speed limit on that road was 65mph, 15 years
ago and min was still 45mph.

 CS> Try getting someonew like that to San Diego?  Got stopped by the cops
 CS> because i couldnt get her to go faster than 55 and she didnt know how
 CS> to get to SD yet.  Average speed was 70. We got stopped for 'not
 CS> driving the speed of the traffic' (posted was 55).

Yeup. Driving the posted speed limit when everyone else is doing 70
violates the 'basic speed law', which basically says you must keep up with
traffic so as not to be an obstruction to the flow.

 CS> I just tossed myself on the mercy of the policeman and explained.  He
 CS> was very cool about it all and took us to a side road then put a car
 CS> in front and behind us the rest of the way.  (CHIPS dont get much
 CS> credit as they seldom earn it but they did that day).

And they wouldn't do that for an ordinary citizen. Service people get
considerably more courtesy, especially female.

 CS> It was also my only bad experience with a trucker.  Mostly, they are
 CS> friends and helpful but one asshole ^d^d^d^d^d^d^d 'trucker' decided
 CS> to ride my backend and honk continually for over 5 miles and i
 CS> couldnt get her to speed up (she was in front at that bit of the
 CS> road).  He literally almost bumped me off the road with a 6 inch
 CS> distance swipe.  Finally though, the other truckers boxed him in and
 CS> taught him a lesson.  CHIPS came along some 5 mins later to help us
 CS> out.

A lot of truckers seem to think they own the road...probably because
they're on it more and pay higher road use taxes. Unlike California,
around here the highway patrol travel in ummarked cars, although there are
some out there that are marked. I personally think the marked cars are
decoys to make everyone think it's safe to run 85mph, and then all of a
sudden there's an unmarked car with a red light shining in the rear view.
For some reason, they don't bother with white haired older men in a Z28.

 CS> I understood she was terrified to do more than 50, but you just cant
 CS> safely do that when all others are at 70.

It's unfortunate, but there's not a very easy way to get from LA to SD
without using the freeway. However, there are roads that would have made
that trek much safer, although it would have taken all day. I never liked
traveling the I-5 freeway. I always prefered to use I-15, which takes you
into the middle of the LA area rather than the coastal area, but it's got
less traffic on it and it's a wider road.

 CS> I've since learned to find alternative routes but that the time, I
 CS> was pretty young and knew just the one while she didnt know any.
 CS> We'd worked out onluy that I would be 'in front if we had to turn'
 CS> and behind the rest of the time so if she got lost, I could follow
 CS> and get her back on track.

You shoulda stayed out front all of the time, doing 60 or more. Maybe she
would have gotten the idea.

 RW>> Ahhh, a typical Ford then without proper maintenence. I had a Ford
 RW>> tha did that too. All it took to fix it was to re-balance the tires
 RW>> and replace the 'idler' arm, which is the opposite of the steering
 RW>> arm. Wh the bearings go bad in the idler arm, that allows the
 RW>> steering arms to

 CS> Umm, dont think so.  Later model energy efficient gas type i think?
 CS> No tire balance issues.  I do not recal the rated specs, but I know I
 CS> got 35MPH city, and 45MPH (or better sometimes) long range.  The
 CS> early ones just didnt have the shere horsepower to do 'fast'.

Later model with rack and pinion steering? No power steering required on a
light compact car such as the Escort.

 RW>> wobble and when the tires hit something in the road, the wobble can
 RW>> ri the steering wheel out of your hand...1951 Ford, not my last, but
 RW>> next my last Ford ever c1961.

 CS> Humm.  1989 Ford?  I think?  Sorry, I'm not a car person and suck at
 CS> dates.

Ok.

 RW>> I've seen some that refused to go the speed limit in the fast lane
 RW>> and stupid to move to the right. Fortunately there's a law about
 RW>> obstructi traffic and driving under the minimum speed limit,
 RW>> unfortunately, ther aren't enough police to enforce it.

 CS> Grin, been in that one!  As you can see above, but I was in the slow
 CS> lane. Meantime, I hope you dont turn me into roadkill when my little
 CS> car is going 70 passing one going 55, and you come up behind me in my
 CS> rare foray to the 'fast lane'.  Deal?
 CS>                                        xxcarol

Deal. I hardly ever travel the fast lane...too easy for law enforcement to
pace you and you won't see them in your right side blind spot until it's
too late, if ever. They're tricky that way and I compensate by staying to
the right as much as possible. You'd be surprised how many cars in the
fast lane can be passed while you're traveling the right lanes at a
steady speed.

               R\%/itt


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