| Re: Buses with racks go a long way
>>>It's interesting how motorists incriminate themselves by claiming that
>>>slow traffic, and specifically bicycle traffic, causes the danger. As a
>>>motorist, I don't have a problem with slow traffic such as bicycles,
>>>front loaders, stopped busses, cars and delivery vehicles. I think
>>>incompetent motorists should just not drive.
>>
>>
>> Traffic going much below the posted speed are a VERY DANGEROUS thing. I
>> have been there as the fast guy and as the slow guy. Say you are driving
>> along doing the 55 mph and round a curve only to find an object (car,
>> truck, bike, cow, whatever) going 5 mph. Given that you are now closing
>> at 50 mph or about 73 feet per second even it that object is a couple of
>> hundred feet in front of you it is still next to a 'panic stop' to slow
>> down enough not to hit it.
>
> Roads are designed with a stopping sight distance such that lawful drivers
> are able to come to a complete stop prior to striking a stationary object.
> A vehicle moving in the same direction provides a margin for error, and
> the following driver need only slow to that speed (rather than stop) to
> avoid collision.
Maybe in the wonderful land where you drive roads are built this way but not
in the places I have lived. I could take you to the county I used to live
in and show you 5 curves (two in state highways, three on paved county
roads) within 10 minutes of my house where there is NO way you could avoid
hitting a stationary object if you were doing half the posted limit. Add to
that the fact that even on the straight runs there are places where there
are dips that could hide a stalled tractor trailer.
One infamous place, on a state highway, is called redtop. It has an
intersection about 100 yards from the top of a hill. If there is a car
waiting to turn left and two or three cars are behind him stopped and you
top that hill doing the posted 55 mph you have about 50 yards to stop.
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