American Highways have become the Autobahn amid the COVID-19 Crisis

[M5Rick]

Originally Posted by 5.M0NSTER

Yeah, headlamps help for sure. I also have family in Poland, but last time I visited was 2012. I should take the drive since i'm only 500 miles or so away now.

You should do, my wife has family in a small town not far from Katowice and having the car we could drive all around Upper Silesia including a visit to,you guessed it, Auschwitz in Oswiecim then on to the mountains to a health spa.

[BeEmVe]

Last week I drove about 800 miles in a day from UT to AZ and while the roads were were not empty they were not busy and the usual number of popo were out and about. Just a bit less than normal for that time of year/day. Even got by a pickup truck/trailer fire before the freeway was shut down with a two mile backup of traffic. That was really lucky.

[imperfectluck]

Originally Posted by cmyx6go

I'll take the speeders over the absolute stupidity. It blows my mind the number of times this week I have seen people blowing dead red lights. It has been several per day, every day. Anything from someone being in the left turn only lane and going straight through a dead red to someone on a one lane each way road being the 5th car in line for a light, passing into oncoming traffic lane to make a right around all the cars waiting for said light. WTF?

And social distancing doesn't seem to apply to cars. Please explain why if there is no one on the road, two cars are neck and neck doing 30 mph in a 50mph holding up the entire flow.

Breathe.. Rant over.

I had to actually reply to this, I thought i was going crazy when I started seeing this bizarre stuff happening on my side of town in Queens. Legit had a fellow tailgating me for me to leave him behind for him to only then put on a signal at the red light I was at, and from the left lane crossed in front of me and made a right turn.

Never thought i'd say this but I'd much prefer law enforcement be more prevalent than the stupid drivers..

[chris719]

Originally Posted by VisualEcho

I actually don't drive like that anymore, but still maintain that I'd rather have skilled guys driving 140 and paying attention than regular people driving 90 and not.

We'll just agree to disagree.

I get your point, but 140 is an entirely different world from 90. Every newish car can safely cruise at 90. The roads are just not set up for 140 unless you live somewhere where it's flat as far as you can see and there are few entrances.

[VisualEcho]

Originally Posted by chris719

I get your point, but 140 is an entirely different world from 90. Every newish car can safely cruise at 90. The roads are just not set up for 140 unless you live somewhere where it's flat as far as you can see and there are few entrances.

I'm going to turn tail and agree with you a bit. I went out for a short drive yesterday, it's a loop I make in the Lotus usually, near my home. It's city, some sweeping turns, some 55 mph, and a short 2-mile jaunt on the Interstate. I took the M2 this time, and got to 140 on the Interstate section, and sat there for a second wondering what it'd be like to cruise that speed. And I agree with you, it's too fast. 110 felt about right for cruising in the M2, but I suppose that all depends on the car you're driving.

[5.M0NSTER]

C'mon guys! If you ain't first, you're last!

[///M Power-Belgium]

This thread is about "SARS-CoV-2" anyway . So...

[Ric in RVA]

Consider the source .....but still....21 million fewer cell phone users in China..... https://www.theepochtimes.com/the-cl...l_3281291.html

[eluded]

Yeah but when driving 100 mph plus in Germany (on certain stretches of the autobahn) I don't get arrested or stopped.

[Transfer]

Seattle area reportedly has state patrol in the air monitoring interstates lately but I don't see hardly any troopers on the ground. I'm in healthcare so driving in to work 18 miles every morning and making serious pace the whole way. Same for driving home. My commute is 40% less time. Waze and Uniden R3 up and running the whole way!

[Franco3000]

so I wasn't all that wrong in my observation..

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...ce-orders.html

[Lightfytr]

I just made my move from NC to TX this week and the ride was amazing! Open roads and very little traffic! Was in my M5 and at one point hit 150, just for a few seconds.

[M5Rick]

Originally Posted by Franco3000

so I wasn't all that wrong in my observation..

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...ce-orders.html

Old bill over here has nothing better to do than harrass motorists going past their lowly set speed limits when on empty roads, also pulling over drivers in some parts asking them silly questions of why they are driving.

[M5Rick]

Originally Posted by Transfer

Seattle area reportedly has state patrol in the air monitoring interstates lately but I don't see hardly any troopers on the ground. I'm in healthcare so driving in to work 18 miles every morning and making serious pace the whole way. Same for driving home. My commute is 40% less time. Waze and Uniden R3 up and running the whole way!

Remember in some old truck movies like Convoy,the air monitoring helicopters were called bears in the air.

[GoneIn4Secs]

Alot better now during rush hour thats for sure

[Dog Face Pony Soldier]

In my experience Route 80, from where it breaks off from Route 95 in Ridgefield Park NJ, to at least Route 23 in Wayne NJ has very low enforcement right now. People are flying. I know a guy that exceeded 135 mph on that stretch yesterday.

[383vett]

Been a number of solo fatality accidents in the Bay Area recently. People driving fast who don't know how to drive fast.

[fastboatster]

Originally Posted by 383vett

Been a number of solo fatality accidents in the Bay Area recently. People driving fast who don't know how to drive fast.

Yeah, some people are really pushing it.
On another note, I saw a highway patrol trooper sitting on the side of 280 with their lights on. It didn't look like the trooper was hiding, it seemed like they were intentionally trying to be seen from as far back as possible to make people to slow down.

[AlpineWhite_SJ]

We’re near the Santa Cruz Mountains and you used to hear street bikes and all sorts of cars heading up and down from the backroads, but it’s been a lot quieter lately. People are staying home more which isn’t a bad thing. Dunno if enforcement has been playing a role or not.

[Danlnyc88]

I'll admit I am one of those people. Freeways are completely dead. Hit some high numbers a few times.

[pennsiveguy]

Originally Posted by cmyx6go

I'll take the speeders over the absolute stupidity. It blows my mind the number of times this week I have seen people blowing dead red lights. It has been several per day, every day. Anything from someone being in the left turn only lane and going straight through a dead red to someone on a one lane each way road being the 5th car in line for a light, passing into oncoming traffic lane to make a right around all the cars waiting for said light. WTF?

And social distancing doesn't seem to apply to cars. Please explain why if there is no one on the road, two cars are neck and neck doing 30 mph in a 50mph holding up the entire flow.

Breathe.. Rant over.

Shitty drivers seem to instinctively form road-clogging clumps. It's got to be some primordial urge, to ease their fear. And of course they're completely oblivious to the fact that a.) they're impeding the travel of those of us who actually have shit to do, and b.) if any one of them blows a front tire or sneezes or spills their grande skinny latte or drops their phone which they've been drooling on for the last 20 minutes, the whole sorry lot of them will be in a wreck...instead of it being merely a pointless one-car crash. Boggles the mind.

[pennsiveguy]

Originally Posted by Germanauto

Strong points for sure. 140mph can easily be handled by the majority of German cars, but there are so many variables out of our control. I've noticed that even when I go 90 people are unaware and start coming into my lane as I'm passing. People will not notice a car moving much faster than the flow of traffic when they check their blind spots.

That combined with the risk of reckless driving charges, arrest, etc. keep me from going too crazy. I have a bit of a lead foot but rarely ever go faster than 85, there's too much to lose.

The problem comes when a driver is comfortable at 80 or 90 and then cranks it up to 140 or more. Aside from the fact that they're not familiar with how the car handles and responds to inputs at that speed, they're probably not looking far enough down the road. That's what gets people in trouble, not appreciating how far ahead they need to look and how little time they're going to have to react to whatever happens in front of them - especially when other cars on the road are going 80 mph slower and are not expecting them coming up behind them so fast.