Yo Gregg,
on Tue, 5 Sep 2000 23:21:57 -0400, Gregg wrote:
>I will have to admit that freeways east of the Mississippi have gotten
>quite crowded for the most part.
Well, what is considered crowded in the States (unless you get to really
clogged areas - I'm thinking of the I-95 through Philly, for instance) is
just moderate to average traffic over here. You just have to adapt to the
traffic situation and keep your distance to the bumper ahead (there are
pretty steep fines for driving too closely - rule of thumb is a minimum of
half as many m as the km/h number your speedometer shows). The mere fact
that there is no speed limit does not mean that traffic always allows going
more than 60 or 70 mph or, alas, sometimes even considerably less. On the
other hand, when there is no congestion, it is not out of the ordinary to
sometimes go 140+ mph. The officially recommended travelling speed for the
autobahns is 130 km/h or 81 mph.
> It does seem crazy to be less than one
>second from the bumper ahead of you and going 85 mph.
Of course it does, but that just means that you can't always go 85 just
because the speed limit allows it - you still must adapt to the traffic
situation. If you stick to the above rule of thumb it would take you 1.6
seconds for the distance to the bumper ahead of you - if it weren't moving.
> But when I lived
>in Wyoming, the most common accident was from falling asleep. The
>boredom of the (then) 55 mph speed limit did many drivers in.
I have no trouble believing that - I remember some pretty long trips in the
US. Driving long distances at a really low (like 65 mph) speed is an
absolute killer. Fortunately, it's not quite as easy to fall asleep on a
bike. But then on a bike it is much more fun to use secondary roads anyway,
which also gives you more opportunities to put your OMs to use on the
scenery (o. OM c.).
MtFbwy,
Volkhart
--
Volkhart Baumgaertner email: kyu@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
MausNet: @MGN
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