Formatting this post is killin' me!
Badda-Blogger | Homepage | 05.24.06 - 9:39 pm | #

Um, then you don't want to hear what Hillary wants to do....I heard a drop on Hewitt today where she said she wants a mandatory 55mph speed limit in effect nationwide.
Jim W | Homepage | 05.24.06 - 9:43 pm | #

Oh.
For.
Eff's.
Sake.

Can she go back to pretending she's conservative again?
Badda-Blogger | Homepage | 05.24.06 - 9:48 pm | #

Nooooo!!!! Not a National speed limit again! I remember driving to Colorado under that damned 55 limit. It took forever. Two hours to Duluth? Screw taht.
My suggestion to Bill: Go with the flow, fool.
Kermit | 05.25.06 - 7:52 am | #

Watching the History Channel talk about the Autobahn, where they have not speed limit, the cops there are very aggressive in ticketing tailgaters. They blame tailgating, not speed, as the cause of most accidents.
Tom S | 05.25.06 - 8:02 am | #

Hillary exemplifies liberal thinking. We can make a law for everything, just tweaks here and there and all human behavior would be perfect! There is never any common sense to their thinking, just more governmental regulation.

55 is ridiculous on our highways. Nobody drives 55 and nobody WILL drive 55. This article made me think about how it is that there are so many drivers that stick in the left lane impeding traffic while lines of cars are behind them on their bumper. It is worse here then in any other place I have ever driven. I always wondered "what the hell are they teaching in drivers school?" or are people either that clueless that there are people behind them or just that much of jerks.

Now I am realizing that it is probably the latter. These left lane hoggers are probably one of the many sanctimonius lefty's of the state enforcing the speed limit for everyone else.

Mandated 55 to "save gas" another brilliant idea from the democrats!
Jim P | 05.25.06 - 8:33 am | #

Watching the History Channel talk about the Autobahn, where they have not speed limit, the cops there are very aggressive in ticketing tailgaters. They blame tailgating, not speed, as the cause of most accidents.

Tom S, I want to comment a moment on your comment…


I have lived in Germany and have driven in Germany…so I hope you believe me in what I am saying.

First of all…about ½ of the Autobahn is under local control and when it is under local control, there CAN be limits. So, while there is no general speed limit, there are areas that do have speed limits. HOWEVER, the autobahn does have a suggested speed limit of 130 kph (or about 80 mph)…but again, that is just a suggestion. (Unless there is an accident or a traffic jam)

The autobahn also has a law…and yes, it is a LAW…that says that you cannot drive in the left lanes and you can not pass another car on the right hand lane. They call this Rechtsfahrgebot or drive right. (Unless there is an accident or a traffic jam)

And, here is the law that you are referring to about tailgating…the law states quite simply that if you are traveling at 100 kph that you should be at least 50 meters behind the car in front of you. At 120, you should be at least 60 meters. Take the speed of travel and divide by 2 and that is the minimum distance you should be behind the person in front of you. They have also just increased the fines, so I have heard, for tailgating, that began some time this year…but those tailgating laws only go into affect at speeds of 100 kph (or 60 mph).
Shark Bait, father of 2 | Homepage | 05.25.06 - 8:54 am | #

That actually doesn't sound all that bad. I wonder if some states wouldn't be interested in passing a law like that? Someone must have tried.


Jim P,
I suspect the left-lane hoggers can't all be lefties (there must be some conservatives who can't drive), but I suspect most of the lefties who do are are doing it not out of ignorance, but in the hopes to prevent other drivers from speeding.
Badda-Blogger | Homepage | 05.25.06 - 4:52 pm | #

The "Minnesota Wedge" also applies to Wisconsin. I confess that I give my Father considerable grief about this. But then, he worries me anyway when driving. At least I know he's limited his driving times, but he was like this 20 years ago. I just keep telling him to get the hell over into the right lane. Minnesotans think it's some kind of birthright to drive in the left lane no matter if they've brought traffic to back up.
Toni | Homepage | 05.27.06 - 12:12 am | #

I don't remember exactly, but I don't think driver's education covered this much... and we could use a few more signs, and (I hate to say this) some kind of ad campaign or public service announcement.
Badda-Blogger | Homepage | 05.27.06 - 8:30 am | #