I'm posting this without my travel notes because I left my handy tape recorder in the car, but I think I can remember the main points I'd wanted to make.
There are just a few, because to be honest, driving the speed limit isn't very hard when you're on back roads. I take two state highways to get to my temp job, which never go above 45 mph. For the most part, when the limit is 45, I end up going below the speed limit because other drivers are going slowly. However, when I'm going slowly to match up with a 25 mph limit, I still get tailgated. I think that most people aren't going the speed limit because it's the law. They're mostly driving it because that happens to be where they're comfortable. Most of the time, people go from 35-40 mph, even when it's clearly marked that the limit is 10 mph different in either direction.
I'm finding that I still get easily annoyed with other drivers. Now it's not that they're driving too slowly, but that they're getting too close to my rear bumper. Interesting how perspectives change. Taking a right turn at a crawl, though, will always piss me off.
I haven't had anyone tailgate me too severely so far, though. We'll see if anything more interesting happens, and I promise the next update will be juicier than this one way or another!
Tuesday, September 22, 2009
Monday, September 14, 2009
02. Trip 1: From MA to RI.
Well, that was interesting.
I suppose that before I make this post, I should confess something to you all: I love speeding in Rhode Island. There is one simple reason for this. It's because whoever designed the s-curves on 95 through Pawtucket and Providence was a daredevil with a penchant for speeding around tight corners.
Of course, then the powers that be made it so nobody's supposed to speed there, which hasn't bothered me in the past...but now, oh how it does.
At about 2 PM on September 11, I set off for Rhode Island. The beginning of my trip was mostly boring. The only thing I've noticed that makes street driving the speed limit difficult is intersections. In many places, the speed limit drops from 40 or 45 mph down to 25 for a stop sign or traffic light. I understand that this is for safety reasons, that they want you to be prepared to stop if the light changes, etc.- but BOY does it piss off other drivers!
Driving on the highway was boring for the most part as well, to be honest, because cruise control allows us to "set it and forget it", as it were. Even if you don't, it's still a slow drive, watching cars zoom by you on the left. I've always kept myself entertained by driving a bit faster than I should and by competing with other drivers in informal contests of speed, and highway driving is proving to be much less thrilling without those things.
The ramp from 495 North to 95 South has a speed limit of 25 mph, which didn't cause any problems on the trip down. My car definitely felt better taking that sharp four-leaf clover ramp going the speed limit, let me tell you. There was even someone behind me who didn't crawl up my ass! Fortunately, the acceleration back to 65 wasn't much of a challenge.
The s-curves in Pawtucket weren't a problem either- aside from making myself stick to the limit. When I test-drove this concept a few weeks ago, the first s-curve I tried to take at the speed limit in Pawtucket didn't happen quite as I'd planned, because I had a semi bearing down on me when I was still 5 mph above the limit. However, this time nobody gave me any problems.
On the next s-curve I got my first ass-rider of the day, who continued to stay on me instead of passing. Unfortunately, even when you hit a straightaway in Providence, there's no change in the speed limit- it's still 45. People continued to pass me, of course, even when I used my 5-mph allowance and upped it to 50. The flow of traffic was probably 55 mph minimum, even though it's a 45 mph zone. I was still getting passed when the speed limit finally increased to 50.
I made my return trip last night, September 13. I experienced the same feelings on the way back up to Massachusetts- everyone speeding past me on 95 while I puttered along at 45 miles per hour in the far right lane. Well, everyone except for the people who decided to stick to the back bumper of my car instead of slowing down if they didn't have the room to pass me!
I realized something interesting during this drive. There are three to four lanes on the highways I use to travel most frequently. The far left lane is supposed to be a passing lane, not a traveling one- not that that stops people, or ever stopped me, from traveling in it. However, the center lane is a traveling lane, as is the right lane. I shouldn't have to stay in the far right lane. I should be able to drive the speed limit in the center lane! But I can't. I had someone tailgating me such that I couldn't see their headlights in my rear view mirror while I was going the speed limit through Pawtucket in the far right lane. If I'd tried to drive in the center lane, I'd have had people passing me on both sides!
Hitting Massachusetts again was a relief, because the base speed limit on 95 goes up to 65. What I've found so far is that while people do tend to speed in Massachusetts, the difference between the speed limit and what they're actually driving doesn't seem to be as large as it is through the 45-50 mph zones through Northern Rhode Island.
When I exited from 95 North to 495 South, I had my last freaky driver of the trip. The speed limit was 25, I was going almost 30, and I had someone glued to my bumper so that I literally could see no part of their headlights in my mirror. The second we got to 495 they crossed over the end of the exit so that they could pass me.
This trip wasn't so terrible, though it's already been eye-opening. When my trip meter hit 150 miles, I had only used about 3/8 of a tank of gas- so if my gas gauge is correct, I got over 30 miles to the gallon during this drive. I'm doubtful that it was quite that good, but it's still nice to see that I'm not burning up fuel the way I usually do.
I suppose that before I make this post, I should confess something to you all: I love speeding in Rhode Island. There is one simple reason for this. It's because whoever designed the s-curves on 95 through Pawtucket and Providence was a daredevil with a penchant for speeding around tight corners.
Of course, then the powers that be made it so nobody's supposed to speed there, which hasn't bothered me in the past...but now, oh how it does.
At about 2 PM on September 11, I set off for Rhode Island. The beginning of my trip was mostly boring. The only thing I've noticed that makes street driving the speed limit difficult is intersections. In many places, the speed limit drops from 40 or 45 mph down to 25 for a stop sign or traffic light. I understand that this is for safety reasons, that they want you to be prepared to stop if the light changes, etc.- but BOY does it piss off other drivers!
Driving on the highway was boring for the most part as well, to be honest, because cruise control allows us to "set it and forget it", as it were. Even if you don't, it's still a slow drive, watching cars zoom by you on the left. I've always kept myself entertained by driving a bit faster than I should and by competing with other drivers in informal contests of speed, and highway driving is proving to be much less thrilling without those things.
The ramp from 495 North to 95 South has a speed limit of 25 mph, which didn't cause any problems on the trip down. My car definitely felt better taking that sharp four-leaf clover ramp going the speed limit, let me tell you. There was even someone behind me who didn't crawl up my ass! Fortunately, the acceleration back to 65 wasn't much of a challenge.
The s-curves in Pawtucket weren't a problem either- aside from making myself stick to the limit. When I test-drove this concept a few weeks ago, the first s-curve I tried to take at the speed limit in Pawtucket didn't happen quite as I'd planned, because I had a semi bearing down on me when I was still 5 mph above the limit. However, this time nobody gave me any problems.
On the next s-curve I got my first ass-rider of the day, who continued to stay on me instead of passing. Unfortunately, even when you hit a straightaway in Providence, there's no change in the speed limit- it's still 45. People continued to pass me, of course, even when I used my 5-mph allowance and upped it to 50. The flow of traffic was probably 55 mph minimum, even though it's a 45 mph zone. I was still getting passed when the speed limit finally increased to 50.
I made my return trip last night, September 13. I experienced the same feelings on the way back up to Massachusetts- everyone speeding past me on 95 while I puttered along at 45 miles per hour in the far right lane. Well, everyone except for the people who decided to stick to the back bumper of my car instead of slowing down if they didn't have the room to pass me!
I realized something interesting during this drive. There are three to four lanes on the highways I use to travel most frequently. The far left lane is supposed to be a passing lane, not a traveling one- not that that stops people, or ever stopped me, from traveling in it. However, the center lane is a traveling lane, as is the right lane. I shouldn't have to stay in the far right lane. I should be able to drive the speed limit in the center lane! But I can't. I had someone tailgating me such that I couldn't see their headlights in my rear view mirror while I was going the speed limit through Pawtucket in the far right lane. If I'd tried to drive in the center lane, I'd have had people passing me on both sides!
Hitting Massachusetts again was a relief, because the base speed limit on 95 goes up to 65. What I've found so far is that while people do tend to speed in Massachusetts, the difference between the speed limit and what they're actually driving doesn't seem to be as large as it is through the 45-50 mph zones through Northern Rhode Island.
When I exited from 95 North to 495 South, I had my last freaky driver of the trip. The speed limit was 25, I was going almost 30, and I had someone glued to my bumper so that I literally could see no part of their headlights in my mirror. The second we got to 495 they crossed over the end of the exit so that they could pass me.
This trip wasn't so terrible, though it's already been eye-opening. When my trip meter hit 150 miles, I had only used about 3/8 of a tank of gas- so if my gas gauge is correct, I got over 30 miles to the gallon during this drive. I'm doubtful that it was quite that good, but it's still nice to see that I'm not burning up fuel the way I usually do.
Wednesday, September 9, 2009
01. Introduction
Hello there. I suppose I should explain what exactly The Speed Law Experiment is. Well, in short, it's a month-long challenge I'm imposing upon myself to never drive over the speed limit.
Here's the full who, what, where, when and why.
Who: Val Cabral, a 23-year-old jobless college grad who manages to do a lot of driving, despite not having so much cash.
What: Exactly one month of driving as close to the speed limit as possible, with the legal margin of 5 mph either way used when it is absolutely necessary.
Where: Southeastern Massachusetts, with frequent trips into Rhode Island and probably a few into New Hampshire.
When: September 11- the birthday- until October 11. Blog updates at least three times a week.
Why: This is the complicated part. There are multiple purposes to this experiment. The first is that I know I drive too fast, and I'd like to see how hard it would be to change that. Another is to discern how difficult it is to truly follow all speed limits when other drivers are taken into account. A third reason is that this will probably save me a ticket- which I almost got today while driving too fast after someone had frustrated me by driving too slowly (though they were, truth be told, going the speed limit). A fourth is to see exactly how others react to someone driving more slowly than they're used to.
So, there you have it! The Speed Law Experiment commences on 9/11/09. Be here to watch my observations from the beginning! My first trip will be from 02379 to 02888. It should be a heck of a drive!
Here's the full who, what, where, when and why.
Who: Val Cabral, a 23-year-old jobless college grad who manages to do a lot of driving, despite not having so much cash.
What: Exactly one month of driving as close to the speed limit as possible, with the legal margin of 5 mph either way used when it is absolutely necessary.
Where: Southeastern Massachusetts, with frequent trips into Rhode Island and probably a few into New Hampshire.
When: September 11- the birthday- until October 11. Blog updates at least three times a week.
Why: This is the complicated part. There are multiple purposes to this experiment. The first is that I know I drive too fast, and I'd like to see how hard it would be to change that. Another is to discern how difficult it is to truly follow all speed limits when other drivers are taken into account. A third reason is that this will probably save me a ticket- which I almost got today while driving too fast after someone had frustrated me by driving too slowly (though they were, truth be told, going the speed limit). A fourth is to see exactly how others react to someone driving more slowly than they're used to.
So, there you have it! The Speed Law Experiment commences on 9/11/09. Be here to watch my observations from the beginning! My first trip will be from 02379 to 02888. It should be a heck of a drive!
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