A way to protest speed limits

[Nowhere]

http://www.jalopnik.com/cars/novelties/oh-man-bo-darville-wouldve-dispatched-these-guys-right-quicklike-157233.php

Hmmm....I'm thinking of trying that, especislly since our highways are 2 lanes (so only 2 cars...) and max allowed speed in PL is 130km/h (too bad that this method can't be used on typical road with speed limit of 90...)

[Gurm]

They're called "rolling roadblocks" around here, and it's been tried before. The state police, of course, try to find SOME way to ticket/arrest those involved, even if it doesn't stick.

[Jessterw]

Several states have laws on the books that prohibit interrupting the flow of traffic. So while you can be pulled over for speeding, you can also be pulled over for driving at a speed which is less than that of the traffic around you if it in some way inhibits said traffic.

[Nowhere]

Shouldn't the cops arrest first and foremost the "surrounding traffic"? I mean, if the "rolling roadblock " travels at maximum allowed speed...

[degrub]

In Texas it is illegal to obstruct traffic in the left lane - no matter how fast/slow you are going , no matter the posted limit.

[Jammrock]

Had a couple of jackasses do this to me once. Eventually they broke cadence and I go through. It's annoying as hell. I'm pretty sure I gave them the bird.

[VJ]

Police does it here during heavy traffic to combat traffic jams.

If everybody drives at e.g. 90 kph (in stead of the allowed 120 kph), the capacity of the highway (3-lane) increases. It brings down accidents and speeds up the average arrival time.
But they only do this in very heavy (seasonal) traffic.

To combat speeds, they use cameras, in combination with high fines:
between 10-20 kph over the limit where maximum speed is 30 kph => €175 (possible loss of drivers license)
between 10-20 kph over the limit elsewhere => €150

(and it increases from there on )


Jörg

[Brian Ellis]

Here, the fine is £1/km/h over the limit (=~$2/km/h or $3.20/mph). Our limits are 100 km/h (62 mph) on highways, 80 km/h (50 mph) or 65 km/h (40 mph) on major roads and 50 km/h (31 mph) in most built-up areas, with some lower limits in dangerous spots or when the police see fit to fill their coffers. One notorious example of the latter is where the Limassol to Larnaca highway ends, at the Kalo Chorio roundabout. The road from there into Larnaca is a dual carriageway, built almost to motorway standards, through open countryside but is limited in places to 65 km/h and 50 km/h. Motorists coming off the motorway onto this stretch, which should be at least 80 km/h, if not 100 km/h, are often chopped by the cops, because of the abusive limits. The same could be said of the Nicosia>Larnaca motorway which turns into a good dual carriageway at 65 km/h, but this limit is justified, as the region is built up, with service roads at 30 km/h on either side of the main road - good planning!

[Brian Ellis]

If everybody drives at e.g. 90 kph (in stead of the allowed 120 kph), the capacity of the highway (3-lane) increases. It brings down accidents and speeds up the average arrival time.

I agree. I know it sounds paradoxal, but, assuming that all motorists keep a safe braking distance from the vehicle in front, relative to their speed, the maximum throughput of vehicles is at 45 km/h: above that, there is too much space wasted between vehicles - below it, one is asymptotic to zero throughput at 0 km/h. This was an exercise I did when I was a student, much more than a half-century ago, while studying linear and non-linear regressions. It applies to all roads, from town to motorway, where it is safe to drive at 45 km/h or more.

[Gurm]

Following up on Brian's topic, it's interesting to note that vehicles on a motorway exhibit nearly identical behavior to gas molecules flowing through tubes. If you build a tube system that's a model of a given highway, you can analyze the gas patterns and predict with startling accuracy where the traffic jams will occur on the highway!

[az]

Yeah, and masses of people (i. e. when trying to flee a burning building) behave like fluid molecules. Artificial obstacles like pillars etc. can actually help speed up evacuation if placed properly. Without them, it often happens that almost all people try to use one emergency exit while another one nearby is almost unused, and also people are blocking other people because everybody's in a rush and starts shoving other people, which happens less with strategically placed barricades.

[Nowhere]

Which reminds me about one site:

http://www.amasci.com/amateur/traffic/traffic1.html