The only rational reason to speed.

[pumpkinpi]

Whenever I see someone swerving around me I think "They better be on the way to a hospital with a pregnant lady in labor."
They were.

[Swift]

You know what, I still hope they throw the book at him. He was an idiot and he could have easily killed himself, his wife, his child, and other people.

Next time, call 911 or deliver at home.

[FZR1KG]

The only real reason to speed is to enjoy the drive in safe no traffic conditions in good weather.
Oz law has been more lenient on that reason than any other.
True story.

IMHO though, you should only speed if you are on a high performance road bike on a windy road.
It's criminal neglect not to do so then.

[Thumper]

Well I had a long post here that disappeared. I'm not going to reconstruct other than to say that was probably the worst time to speed, when you're completely emotional and irrational.
I had a good story though....

[pumpkinpi]

I must add that MrPi definitely did not speed on the way to the hospital....even if I were that close to delivering I wouldn't have let him. We'd be at home or in the ambulance.

\

[FZR1KG]

Speeding is ok if you are a well trained idiot...err...professional, like me

[SciFiFisher]

The challenge with speeding is those of us who understand that a straight road, with little or no traffic, in dry conditions, was designed for top speeds are outnumbered by those who think they do.

[FZR1KG]

Speeding for pleasure requires consideration to other users.
On a flat road that's got no traffic, like out in the country or a desert road.
Have at it.

Speeding in a winding road is more difficult but the rule there is to always keep reserve, IOW, ride/drive below your limits.
Leave more safety room, IOW, go slower for right hand bends when in countries that drive on the right and left hand bends in countries that drive on the left.
Mistakes cost you that way, no one else.
Little things like that.

[The Supreme Canuck]

So long as you don't endanger other people (like those two jackasses on motorcycles who cut me off the other day) or annoy me (like that guy who was so unhappy that I was only doing 10 kph over the limit on an otherwise deserted road that he decided to tailgate me so closely that I couldn't see his headlights in my rearview mirror) what do I care if you speed?

[FZR1KG]

That's the thing.
Speed is geared for the average safe speed for a inexperienced driver/rider.
By inexperienced I mean 20 years driving means nothing as you are used to driving at normal speeds.
It means at higher speeds you really have no experience.

I actually find most people that speed scary as they have no concept of how to react, what to do, and no skill whatsoever at such speeds in an emergency situation.
Basically, an average driver has average skills at average speeds.
Sadly, many think that higher speeds are simply an extension of lower speeds and experience in one gives experience in the other.
What it does is produce over confidence, and that is dangerous.

I have experience with cars, trucks (prime movers) and motorcycles with many hundreds of thousands of miles in them and I consider myself a safe driver/rider rather than an experienced driver/rider.

It also takes regular practice.
As an example, I used to ride a motorcycle full time, rain, wind, heat and snow. I've been on race tracks and ride in a race suit when on my bike on the road for safety.
I took a short spell of about six months where I drove only a truck.
Then I got invited to a ride with friends and was leading the pack as I was the most experienced.
I thought I was aware of my bike and mentioned I was taking it easy as they followed.
I was told I was leaving black lines every corner, in effect I was power sliding but only very slightly.
Not enough to twist the frame or induce oscillation in it.

The thing that bugged me about it was that in only six months I lost the "feel" of the bike and even though I was power sliding and leaving rubber I wasn't aware of it.
The experience I had kept me stable (too much throttle and you lose the rear end) but the loss of experience in my hiatus meant I didn't correctly gauge just how much power I was putting down. I was laying on more power than I thought I was and that is bad. It's a hard thing to describe unless you have experience in riding a high power motorcycle and pushing its limits.
On dry roads in good conditions like they were its not that big a deal as I had tires that were designed to shed rubber to expose fresh warm sticky rubber under it that provided more traction.
Had the conditions been marginal or the tires old or even bad tire selection I would have lost control.

Still I have bragging rights as I once had the skills to pull a mono around a bend and leave rubber with the rear wheel.
But that's all they are. It has now been a few years since I rode and several years since I rode regularly.
To think I can still ride like I used to would be a recipe for disaster.

Going back to normal drivers, they never had such a skill set to begin with so they are in a far worse position when speeding.
Anything that happens out of their comfort zone (speeding is already out of the comfort zone) and it can easily be a disaster.

While I'm at it, I had a dickhead pull out in front of me in a 55 zone while I was headed home, so it was a road I was very familiar with.
He was in a sports car. Lowered, V8 sports suspension.
I figured I'd have some fun in my V8 Dodge that had crappy suspension (its been changed now so watch out!)

He realised he pulled out so accelerated. So I just kept up keeping a safe distance.
Its a windy road that had a sharp 35 MPH bend.
I hit it at 75 MPH screeching the rear and headed up following the dickhead at what he determined was his limit.
Why people that don't know how to drive fast buy a sports car and think that it suddenly gives them extra skills I will never know.
Anyway...
He started to panic. I could tell he wasn't expecting to have a 5000 pound truck take corners faster than he was (I caught up on the bends he pulled away on the straights). He started tapping his brake lights to indicate he was slowing down. Like I couldn't tell...
He turned into his drive way about 1/2 mile before ours.

Hopefully he learned the lesson. Don't pull out in front of a car just because you think your car is fast because its the driver that determines the speed of the vehicle, not the other way around.

Lesson probably lost but it was fun.

[Swift]

Speeding is ok if you are a well trained idiot...err...professional, like me

I didn't know there was training to become an idiot.

[FZR1KG]

Speeding is ok if you are a well trained idiot...err...professional, like me

I didn't know there was training to become an idiot.

You have no idea how many tests you have to fail.
Multiple choice are the hardest as random choice gets you way above the idiot level.

[Thumper]

Speeding is ok if you are a well trained idiot...err...professional, like me

I didn't know there was training to become an idiot.

You have no idea how many tests you have to fail.
Multiple choice are the hardest as random choice gets you way above the idiot level.

Yeah, you either have to leave the m/c questions blank, or check them all.

[FZR1KG]

Speeding is ok if you are a well trained idiot...err...professional, like me

I didn't know there was training to become an idiot.

You have no idea how many tests you have to fail.
Multiple choice are the hardest as random choice gets you way above the idiot level.

Yeah, you either have to leave the m/c questions blank, or check them all.

Or do both!