Quote:
Originally Posted by RAdams
I think a lot of people don't realize how little time they are actually saving by speeding.
I got really frustrated one morning when I was in the right lane and (once again) the only car that slowed down for the school zone. Some people would completely freak out over that - even honk & flip me off; others just tailgated. If we were in the middle of nowhere that would be one thing, but every day there are elementary school kids at the curb milling around this intersection.
So for grins I made this little Excel spreadsheet to find out how much I was "inconveniencing" everyone. The zone is about 1/16 of a mile long (I used 1/8 mile to account for deceleration & acceleration), speed limit in the school zone is 25, but people don't want to slow down from 40 MPH. They were losing their minds over an entire 6 seconds.
I was surprised at the difference so I started comparing the speed limits and my usual speed and saw I was only knocking off less than 2 minutes on my trip to work and 6 minutes when I drove across state. Speeding just didn't really seem all that important or productive after I saw that.
If you want to play around with the spreadsheet, just fill in the 3 items highlighted in yellow: distance, speed limit, speed #2. |
Ahh, two major philosophies of physics. An object in motion, and relativity...
6 seconds can mean a lot in this area, when that 6 seconds is the difference in making a light, or getting trapped at it. Not to mention the subsequent lights you won't make. 5 minutes extra on an already 12-mile, .75-1.5 hours commute. 5-10% extra on an already hellish commute will drive some folks bonkers.
But, the numbers break down a little more easily. Lets say highway speeds, and round for ease of calculation. 60mph as the standard. Thats 1 mile/minute. The average person wants to do 10 over. Thats 10 miles/hour faster, or 1.167 miles/minute. Whatever the commute standard is, call it 30 miles a day, which is .5 hours of drive-time @ 60 (to & from work). @ 70, 25 minutes. So, 30*5 = 180 miles. So, per week, you spend 3 hours commuting at 60. Only 2.5 hours at 70. Half hour per week...which adds up to more than a day in a year.
So, the 60 mph driver gets an extra day with their camaro in a year! Good thing the camaro is so nice to relax in!