[Hyack]

xerxes xerxes:

$1:

No, the safe speed for each vehicle is dependant on it's stopping distance, maneuverability, skill of the driver, and the prevailing conditions.

True, but I didn't mean it in that regard. My mistake. The way I meant it was that if someone is driving really slow in fast moving traffic, their slowness affects other drivers making it unsafe.

I understood what you posted and fully agree.

[OnTheIce]

Xort Xort:

OnTheIce OnTheIce:

People rarely leave the proper distance to stop when driving on a freeway. I'm betting you're in the group too.

Would you bet your life on that? Because I do.

I bet my life everyday I travel on the busiest highway in North America.

You consider yourself a safe driver as do I. I'm just saying that even someone like yourself who's using the "2 second rule" still isn't driving at the proper distance to be able to stop accordingly. With our roads & traffic here in the Greater Toronto Area, it's just not possible.

[OnTheIce]

bootlegga bootlegga:

OnTheIce OnTheIce:

People rarely leave the proper distance to stop when driving on a freeway. I'm betting you're in the group too. We drive within a few car lengths of people because we're all going in the same direction at roughly the same speed.

For example:

If this guy was driving at 80km/h in normal conditions his reaction distance alone would be 50ft. Distance to stop would be 124ft and total stopping distance would be 172ft.

Driving in wet conditions would have pushed his total stopping distance to 267ft!

If you expect people to stay 17 car lengths between one another in good weather and 26 in wet weather, it just doesn't make sense.

In the end, he SHOULD have been able to see the van from a much greater distance if he was paying attention as most of the other drivers were able to do. It's a horrible accident that no parent, myself included, could even imagine.

I generally leave 3 - 6 car lengths between me and the next person, but what often happens is that someone passes you and then zips in there, leaving you to either slow down to bring that gap back or just accept it and maintain your speed.

If you maintain your speed, it's not very safe. If you choose to slow down, what happens is everyone passes you and then zips in front of you and it just becomes a catch-22.

I slow down, but that's mostly because once I started a family, I stopped caring about getting there as fast as possible and now prefer arriving alive and 10 minutes later.

Frankly, it's impossible to maintain a proper distance all the time. Like you said, you do your best. Our highways are generally safer to begin with. I feel much more comfortable driving on a major highway than navigating the tight and busy city streets.