I suspect that most of us Gilroy locals who make up the motoring
public greatly appreciate the new 101 freeway lanes between Cochran
Road in Morgan Hill and the 85 interchange in south San Jose.
I suspect that most of us Gilroy locals who make up the motoring public greatly appreciate the new 101 freeway lanes between Cochran Road in Morgan Hill and the 85 interchange in south San Jose.
Driving this section of freeway is now almost enjoyable, considering how regularly in times past the traffic would be queued-up in two lanes over this same stretch of miles.
Gratefully, those memories are now driving history. Yes, it’s nice to experience a result of our gasoline tax dollars at work for us locals. And of course, kudos to the various contractors who completed the job ahead of schedule, and either at or under budget.
But I’ve noticed a phenomenon now that I’ve been regularly driving this widened portion of freeway, and that’s the observation it’s changed from recurrent congestion into the Grand Prix raceway. There seems to be a general disregard by the majority of drivers for the posted speed limit of 65 mph no matter what time of day or night one drives there.
Even traveling at 70 mph will cause you to be passed by most drivers who have got to be doing 80 mph or faster. For my pondering mind, this raises the question – why is there such a general disregard for the posted speed limit?
I’m going to venture an educated guess that it’s happening on freeways throughout the state, and has in fact become the de facto standard for driving the freeway system in California, especially when the CHP is not in view. I’ve mused why this is so, and I’ve arrived at some ideas.
Maybe most drivers think that posted speed limits are simply archaic. After all, because of advances in technology and the design of modern motor vehicles, as well as better-designed freeways over the last 30 years, it’s assumed that we’re better equipped to drive faster.
Such reasoning might argue that Germany’s autobahns don’t have posted speed limits, so why have them on freeways in the U.S.?
Or, maybe it’s because many drivers don’t look at their speedometers any more.
Is it possible that miles per hour (mph) has gotten confused with kilometers per hour (kph) or rpm? Maybe instrument panels have become too complicated to read for most drivers.
Or is it that most drivers just don’t care, because everyone else is going as fast as they please? Apparently speed laws simply hinder the driving public from their implied rights and freedoms of the road.
Or do most people have such busy schedules that gaining even a few minutes of driving time are worth the added fuel consumption? After all, didn’t Einstein formulate that as an object in motion approaches the speed of light, time slows down?
Or should we blame the vehicle manufacturers who continue to build vehicles that often top 120 mph or higher, making it ever so easy to press the petal to the metal? Eighty mph doesn’t seem so fast when your vehicle can attain 130 mph.
But what’s happened in our modern society to the concept of responsible citizens obeying the laws, even if the laws are not liked, or else working to repeal ineffective laws?
If the majority of drivers have no regard for obeying speed laws for whatever reasons, then it seems we’ve become a nation of lawbreakers, without any concern for obeying “inconvenient” laws. What does that kind of behavior teach our children? Maybe it’s the lesson that “I’ll only obey whatever law I feel is right for me.”
Is the answer is to repeal the national speed limit law? Or to increase it? It’s unfortunate to note that almost 18 million traffic accidents are reported in the United States annually, and that human error is responsible for about 90 percent of these accidents.
The most frequent traffic violations committed by drivers are–you guessed it – speeding. Speeding is the principal contributing factor in fatal and nonfatal traffic accidents.
Is the answer is to create “smart” freeways that adjust speed limits based on traffic density, weather, and other factors? Is the answer to legislate higher fines and more penalties? I don’t know. But I suspect that if we as a society can get away with regularly breaking even so simple a law as the posted speed limits and don’t care, then it won’t take much of an attitude evolution to break other laws as well that we find inconvenient.
And therein lies the danger.
