95 and 495: High-Speed Death Traps?
It seems as though once every two weeks, or maybe even, once every a week, I-95 and/or I-495 come to a screeching halt due to accidents cause by high-speed or inattentive driver. Now, I haven’t gone out and gotten any statistics on this, but from my experience driving on 95 and 495, the State Police presence is minimal. Should the Delaware State Police increase their visibility on these corridors? Would a prominent police presence on the interstates actually help?
LOL, I forgot about 295.
They should put the toll booths back on the off ramps.
As long as they don’t stop me from speeding on 95/495, I fully support boosted police presence on those roads to stop the irresponsible drivers, you know, everyone else.
Maybe we can develop a ‘frequent speeder list’, similar to ‘frequent traveler lines’ at airport security, so we can be ignored by the authorities when we speed.
Seriously, am I the only one who hates the speed limit issue, the one area where society condones breaking the law (you know, as long as you drive no more than 64mph on 95, you are fine)?
I haven’t given it enough thought, however I lean towards upping the limits, but having a zero tolerance for speeding over those limits. I really hate breaking the law, however I hate even more driving 55mph on a highway that can safely be driven much faster.
Am I the only one who had to explain to my child that it’s OK for Daddy to drive a few mph above the posted limit–you know, this rule is OK to break?
One of my pet peeves, someone driving the exact speed limit in the leftmost lane of a multi-lane highway.
OK, I’m finished whining … for now
LOL Leadfoot. When speeding and caught by my son, I sort of feel like
BalloonAttic Boy’s dad.If we really wanted to enforce traffic safety we would use the system employed overseas and that is enforcing the no driving in the left hand lane except to pass. this habit of driving the speed limit in the left lane not only causes accidents but slows traffic down over all.
One of my pet peeves, someone driving the exact speed limit in the leftmost lane of a multi-lane highway.
Let me guess: Smoker? Overcaffeinated? Type A personality?
Assuming for the sake of argument your commute is all 11 miles of I-95 in Delaware, 70 mph gets you there about two minutes faster than 55 mph.
The only thing speeding does is fatten the wallets of those damn oil companies.
And yes, there is a low presence of state police on the highways. No, a higher presence wouldn’t help. As long as the vehicle can travel faster than 65mph, there will always be speeders.
It bothers me more since I drove in Portland Oregon, where people, greatly to my surprise, drove the speed limit, let people on to the highway, and didn’t see a traffic slow-down as a reason to zoom in and out of lanes until causing an accident. Also, they have speed tables on residential streets and yet the whole place hasn’t burned down.
We insist on being A-holes. That’s what it amounts to.
it seems once a month a whole lot of state police hang out at the service plaza close to the newark exits. a few people get caught and other than that, i only ever see the policeSUVs with trucks pulled over.
Driving the 14 miles between Wilmington and Newark every day has convinced me that low police presence is not the problem with that road. between the 295, 495 merges with no major exit in between, and only 1 mile to cross from 495 to rout 1 (a major trucking route) it is just a very poorly designed stretch of road.
from Shit My Dad Says
Assuming for the sake of argument your commute is all 11 miles of I-95 in Delaware, 70 mph gets you there about two minutes faster than 55 mph.
Exactly! And that’s 2 minutes of my life I’ll never get back if I get stuck behind some jackass doing 55 in a 55! Seriously, though, the issue in my mind is the flow of traffic. The problem is not the person doing 65 in the middle of 10 other cars doing 65, the problem is the guy doing 90 and weaving in and out of traffic, cutting people off. And the people who wait until the last moment to cut over three lanes to get onto the off ramp, because they’re too goddamn special to sit in line like everyone else.
I’ll stop before I go too far off topic, but what there needs to be is more serious consequences for using a potentially deadly device in a careless and dangerous manner.
Full disclosure: My wife was almost killed a few years ago by someone who just had to get across that road right away.
it is just a very poorly designed stretch of road
I propose we name it the “Ferris Wharton Interchange.”
the people who wait until the last moment to cut over three lanes to get onto the off ramp, because they’re too goddamn special to sit in line like everyone else.
Delaware is so small, you are ALWAYS about to get onto the off ramp. I don’t really see why the left lane is needed at all 🙂
I love it! “Delaware — so small, you’re always about to get off!“
In Western Europe, you MUST yield by moving to the right when approached by faster moving traffic, REGARDLESS OF SPEED!
They don’t care if the speed limit is 55 and you’re doing 54 and I’m doing 55, or its 55 and you’re doing a 105 and I’m doing 106. You must yield!
Just as important, you DO NOT pass on the right, EVER! If you get caught in some countries, its an automatic suspension of your license.
I want to SCREAM every time some jerk parks him/herself out in the left lane of 495 doing 66 and gets pissed off at me when they notice that Jeff Gordon couldn’t get closer than I am to their bumper (as if we really had “bumpers” these days).
The other one that gets me is the guy (or big truck) that is going to make a left turn off a 4-lane highway, IN THREE MILES, so he creeps along in the left lane till he gets there.