Originally Posted by
jerrywall
It is a big deal. I get going with the flow of traffic, and in some places, you do need to speed to be safer and not obstruct the flow of traffic. But Broadway Extension has a LOT of people going the speed limit or slower, and the typical traffic flows don't support folks going 85 safely (most of the time). You'll see the speeders swerving through traffic and pulling off dangerous multilane switches and last minute maneuvers. I love speed as much as anyone (even PP believe it or not!). In my younger days I had plenty of tickets and even got my license suspended a time or two. I current drive a fairly fast car (a brand-new challenger scat) and I won't lie... there are places and roads where I really get on it and push my speed a bit much (although I've been lucky ticket wise). All that being said, a few points about Broadway extension and speed in general:
Folks REALLY underestimate the difference between 65 and 85. While only about 20% faster, in terms of physics it's almost twice the energy/inertia that has to be displaced in an impact. Beyond that, while I may be driving a car with top end Brembo brakes, speed rated tires, and a suspension/handling system built for those speeds, the vast majority of cars are not, and that's assuming the cars on the highways are maintained with fresh tires, good breaks, good suspension, proper alignment, etc., (in a state without vehicle inspections of any kind).
The last study I saw was that speeding is the cause of about a 1/3 of all traffic fatalities. The numbers IIRC were over 12,000 people killed in 2021 due to speeding alone. For comparison, about 13,000 were killed by drunk drivers in the same year. We're so willing to condemn drunk driving, rightfully so, but folks want to act like speeding is no big deal, when those speeders are just as dangerous and are killing people at near the same pace as drunk drivers.
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