The Speeding Scouter

[Laurie 10]

I'm sorry if my post sounded judgemental; re-reading it, I see that it may be taken that way.

 

As for caravans, I get nervous trying to keep others in sight--kids in car, road to watch, directions to a new place--too much to keep track of, you know? So I suggested something that seems to work for us so far: we do leave at the same time, exchange maps/directions, and exchange cell phone numbers. This way, if a car gets lost, a call can be placed to others for help. We usually ask a boy to answer the phone rather than try to do so while driving. So far, this system is working for us. I've lost friends to driving accidents and been hurt in them myself; driving safety is a subject I take very seriously.

 

SemperParatus, a belated welcome to the forums!

 

 

[Eamonn 61]

OJ now has his driving permit, now all of a sudden I'm looking at the posted speed limits.

In fact after reading this post yesterday I took notice of my drive to work. The road outside is posted 45MPH. I rarely if ever speed on this road, in fact it has a couple of nasty bends and I 45 is too fast. Then it's on to my stupid road it is 55 where I get on and then goes to 65 a mile up the road. When I'm alone I do the 55 on my way to work, but tend to not slow down on the way home. Then there is a stretch of road through a small town going one way it is 35, I normally don't go over as there is 3 red lights, coming the other way the limit goes down to 25. I used to go at about 30 then a young kid got hit a few months back and died, I didn't know the child or her family, but out of respect to them I don't speed, the rest of my trip is posted 45 and they have doubled the fines so I'm a good boy.

I don't now have to tote many Scouts around, normally when I do I use the cruise control. Looking at my 30 mile round trip to my office, there is only one mile of the trip where I seem to go over the limit, that is where the speed drops from 65 to 55.

Eamonn

[EagleInKY 14]

Laurie - We use a system similar to yours. We have a few lead-foots, and most just average drivers. We also have a couple who poke. Most of the time, we're camping within an hour or so. Therefore, we're arriving at the camp probably within 10 minutes of each other. On a longer trip, we may have a place where we synch up, like a rest area or place to eat.

[SR540Beaver 116]

A little off topic, but I have to share this since Eamonn brought up stupid roads. We have a road in town that literally stradles the line between two towns. One side of the road was 40 MPH and the other side was 30 MPH. As you can imagine, many many tickets were written on that road. In recent years it was expanded from 2 lanes to 4 lanes and has a common speed limit on both sides. And yes, I once did get a ticket on that road! It was the policeman who pointed out the different speed limits to me.

[Bob58 10]

Not to hi-jack but...

just a reminder that it is illegal to operate a cell phone while driving in some statesor even smalller jurisdictions. The laws vary widely from "no-hands" to "no use by anyone under 21 yrs. of age" to "no use ." And remember as SR540Beaver pointed out ignorance of the law is no excuse... and police officers can be effective educators.

 

Bob

[Proud Eagle 13]

Proper Planning

 

If you plan for driving the speed limits, build in a buffer for the unexpected traffic problem, and make certain to depart on time, you should never have a speeding problem. Make certain the drivers know there is time to travel the speed limits and still arrive early. Most people seem to assume travel plans are based on going 75 non stop and anything else will make you late. Make certain travel distances, alloted travel times, and times of departure are clearly set out ahead of the event so everyone knows the situation. If someone speeds on a Scout trip when time is not an issue, they aren't really being very smart.

 

On the other hand, there are times and places that not speeding is actually a safety issue. There are some places where it is dangerous to drive the speed limits because the normal traffic speed in that area is significantly greater than the speed limits. Generally it is unsafe to either drive significantly slower than, or faster than, the flow of traffic. This is particularly true on congested roads. (I hope everyone knew that already, but you never can tell.)