Is it just me?

[Ron Wenrich]

I've noticed that the speed on the 4 lanes has gotten a lot higher in the recent months.  It used to be that 70 was a good speed to drive here in PA.  Speed limit is 65.

This summer I've noticed that you need to drive 75 or you'll be run over.  I've noticed the semis are doing about 80 and had one pass me doing 90.  I followed him, just to be sure.   :D

[Fla._Deadheader]

Garey_D don;t have no Semi.  ;D ;D :D :D

[sprucebunny]

It's not just you.
It's even true on rural roads around here :

Tailgating is getting worse, too.

[Tom]

I-95 in North Florida is bumper to bumper at 80-90 mph, construction and all.  It scares me to death.  I ride on the floor boards. ;D

Sometimes the State Patrol gets out there and writes tickets.  I think they are afraid for their lives.  :D

[woodmills1]

We had major lane addition reconstruction of route 3 from NH boader to route 95(128) over the last few years and it was down right scary how fast the traffic was squeezed into two narrow lanes with jersey barriers and construction every where.  I sure wouldn't have wanted to be a ticket writer under those conditions.

[Bibbyman]

That's why we take the secondary highways whenever possable and avoid big cities.  Have to put up with a lot of little towns and a combine or two but it's not as nerve racking.  Besides,  that's where you find the best geasy spoon cafes.

[DanG]

As I've gotten older, I don't worry about the combines and hay wagons so much.  They can just get around me as best they can.

[sawguy21]

Last winter I stopped on Hwy2 to clean the headlights. I was scared to get back in. Then there was the issue of merging back into traffic. 110kph is the legal limit but 140+ seems to be the norm. Even at that some moron will climb my tail flashing his lights.

[DanG]

I do not do the light flashing thing.  If a light flasher comes up behind me, he'll be sitting back there for a WHILE! >:(

[Frank_Pender]

Yep, it is getting worse out here in the West as well.  Lost a past fellow teacher a few day ago.  She had just completed her phd in special education.  She was a fine person and great teacher.  What a waste. 
It was getting to be later at dusk and a Ryegrass swather was moving down a main two way state highway and the teacher was driving at or just above the double nickle posted speed, when she must have assumned that the vehicle in front of her was moving faster.   Her new VW drove right under the read of the swather.  No drugs or drink involved.   No one seems to be able to determine the reason for sure. 
I do know that many of us are beginning to do more that just drive: phone, shaving, makeup, reading, tv, radio, etc. .  I believe that it is attatched to a new phrase called, multi-tasking.

  Her funeral is tomorrow at 3:00.

[fstedy]

Its not only the speeding but the general disreguard for traffic laws and common courtsey on the road. How often do you sit at a traffic light and see cars speed up when their light turns yellow. Now their busting the solid red lights. We recently had a tragic accident where 3 teenage girls were killed when their car traveling over 90 miles an hour went over a concrete median and flipped onto a car comming the other direction also killing the two elderly ladies in it. The girl driving had her license less than two months and her parents gave her a Mercedes to learn to drive in. These kids were racing with two other carloads of kids. Witnesses said they were weaving in and out of traffic at those speeds. Makes you wonder where common sense has gone. 

[beenthere]

Not sure, but a suspicion I have for the reason the police are not giving tickets, is that there are Govt. grants been made available for the police to 'do' something special, like run speed traps and set up to catch people running red lights. Crazy.

This is happening in Madison, WI. Couple years ago with a Fed grant, they 'studied' traffic light intersections to determine the number of 'red light' runners. Don't recall the numbers, but the percentage was high. They used those numbers to apply for a grant. Got the grant, and set up a few sting operations which were broadcast on the radio all day, so everyone would know. Again, crazy. At the same day in another part of town, I waited at an intersection, a police car facing me at the same red light. A school bus entered the intersection while red, and appeared to not even slow down. The policeman just watched and went about his driving. Disgusting.
Same program with the speeding. 55 zone, and the average on a beltline (3 lanes each direction) is probably 70-75 mph. When some grant money comes in, there is a sting operation set up, and again, it is announced on the radio. If the police change locations, the new place is announced.
Seems like they are content to do nothing until some 'extra' money drifts in from the taxpayers. Go figure. A new game to play. I think it stems from the $100,000 'cops' program started a few years back. Once they learn the tricks, and how to play hardball, katy bar the door.
I have heard some talk about squeezing off fed. funds for highways in states that do not crack down on speeders.

[Ron Wenrich]

We had some kids that were going past the State Police barracks on those new "crotch rocket" motorcycles.  They used some kind of sitng operation, and caught the one kid doing a wheelie at 92 mph for 1/4 miles.   

The cops were impressed, but not amused.   :D

[Furby]

What really bugs me is seeing the school buses run the VERY red lights. I see it a lot around here.

For the most part I don't mind the city driving if I'm simply passing through.........get on the fast track and gooooo!
In those cases, it's the slow moving traffic that are traffic hazards, and even the police have commented on the fact that they are.

The stuff that I hate is having someone pull out in front of me on a rural road, speed up, and then slam on their brakes to turn into a driveway 1/2 mile up the street. I had one woman not that long ago, who was out of her pickup alongside the road. As she got back in she turned and saw me coming, rather then wait for me to pass (there was no traffic behind me for a good mile and she could see that) she slams on the gas at the last second to pull out in front of me, only to turn off onto a side street 3/4 a mile away.

[Paschale]

What really burns me up more than anything on the road are those young punks on the crotch rockets who view the road as their personal obstacle course.  Just two nights ago in fact some dudes were zipping by, passing IN BETWEEN cars on the highway.  I think those are the sorts of people who are going to find an untimely death.  Worse case was when one guy was zipping through and around traffic, often driving in between the two lanes to get where he wanted to go.  I honked my horn at him, and might have made some sort of communicating gesture in his general direction.   :  He actually slammed on his brakes in front of me, and then, while looking back at me, pointed at his back tire, essentially saying to me, "I dare ya to ram me."  Man...that got me really, really torked up and steamed.   >:(

[Haytrader]

So, Paschale, how close did ya get?

;D

[Roxie]

I have an hour and half commute to work everyday.  It's city driving, bumper to bumper for about half of the trip.  When I first started driving that far, I hated it but one day (about two years ago), I walked in my bosses office after a particularly harrowing morning on the road and said, "I am going to leave my house at 7 AM every morning, that should get me here on time, if it doesn't, I am not going to have an ulcer or get upset about traffic that I can't control."  He said, "I understand."  
I can get held up in October and November from the massive number of Amish buggies on their way to weddings which are held on Tuesday and Thursday during those two months.  
I've been delayed by farm equipment during planting time and harvest time.  
The fun starts about 20 miles from home when I'm driving in traffic where folks believe it is their God Given Right to be one car length ahead of you.  
I have a system for those places on the four lane where traffic is merging onto the expressway......I get behind a tractor trailer and let him cut a path for me!  
It isn't just you, Ron!  Folks out there can be rude, disrespectful of everyone, and dangerous.  I always forgive them though.  I say right out loud, "That's ok buddy, I'm certain that your time is more important than my life.  Have a good day."   :

[Haytrader]

Roxie,

Must be one heck of a good job to drive that twice a day.

;)

[Patty]

Road rage!  >:(    I have found an excellent way to pass the time in a truely enjoyable manner while I drive....AUDIO BOOKS! They are wonderful! I love having someone read to me and I can escape into whatever adventure I choose.  You don't even notice the maniacal drivers, or if  you do, you just smile and wave a big hello.    And then you continue on in your own little world.

One can make a strong argument that I spend WAY too much time in my little world.... :D

[sawguy21]

I tried that too, the first part that is :D, but missed most of what was said. It just became background noise as I was concentrating on the driving.
Roxie, I can't imagine trying your commute every day.  I don't need my job that bad.

[Patty]

We walk the 1 mile to work and back......I count my blessings everyday for that.  ;)

[Roxie]

Don't get me wrong, if I could find an equal job close to home, I'd take it, but I've managed to turn my commute into something that I go ahead and enjoy.  I meditate on the worlds problems, I stay current on world events, I sometimes sing my heart out, and mostly I really enjoy scenery and changing seasons.  There is even a big sawmill place that I pass twice a day and take a very deep breath!  It smells wonderful!   
The problem with my job is that once I'm there it's absolutely heaven.  I am a Financial Controller for a landscape build/design firm.  The office is actually a bi-level house, and my office is in the back facing the most beautiful plantings and trees you can imagine.  This week all the Black Eyed Susan's are in full glory as are the shasta daisies.  Hydrangea's and Rhododendrums along with some very exotic hedges.....grasses....we even have a huge mature apple tree back there.  I watch the cardinals and the gold finches in the trees from my office window.  I wear jeans to work, not even the Senior Designer worries about fussy clothes.  The corporate "pace" is non-existent.  This company has won major design awards and they don't even advertise.  I've been with them five years and I'll probably retire from there because I just love not having to deal with corporate politics. 
If I have to be employeed by someone.....this is the best job for me!  Like I said, I've learned to make the most out of the Five O'Clock 500!   

[karl]

My working around cities and commuting days are OVER!

My daughter lives/works outside of Boston. She bought her first new car about six months ago, five weeks ago she was rear ended, two weeks ago someone running a red T-boned her and took her for a ride intoparked cars. She called me last weekend after leaving here (she may be nearly thirty, but dad still likes to know she got home safe) and said she had nearly been rearended with her NEW car :
Kinda wish she could find decent work around here.......

[ARKANSAWYER]

  Nope! not just you.  Now I live in the hills and most can not go very fast here.  We get lots of big RV's and they just can not pull the hills, Log trucks and farmers and generally ole folks keep the traffic to a slower pace here.  I can clip along pretty good in my 1 ton but then I was weaned in these hills.  Used to drive a stock car so going 80 to 90 through a bend rubbing bumpers does not really bother me.
  As for these little rice rockets that these young punks are driving is getting bad here in the hills.  They go through these hills thinking this is their personal road course just for them.   I am waiting for one to SPLAT into my grill any day.  Not long ago about 20 of them passed me down past the Buffalo River on a bend.  Then about 10 miles later I come up on them sitting on the side of the road trying to use their cell phones.  Seems one missed the turn and was down in the woods wrapped around a tree.  Told them that the phones would not work here at Big Creek to go up the road to the green house as they were first resonders and could get them help.  It was 40 miles to the nearest Doc.  I have no feelings for stupid people with to much coin in their pockets (or credit) and think that the world revolves around them.   I just hope they have  insurance to pay for my grill.