Is Speeding REALLY worth it, mathematically speaking?

[mfree]

The greatest hazard on a highway isn't speed, it's difference of speed. Faster or slower, the speed differential between you and the traffic around you is what determines everyone's window of reaction, and if that's exceeded, well, good luck.

Moving on the road is where playing a sheep for once isn't such a bad thing. Go with the flow. If stuff occurs, *then* use your independent thought.

[jefnvk]

Moving on the road is where playing a sheep for once isn't such a bad thing. Go with the flow. If stuff occurs, *then* use your independent thought.

I can go for that, until the first snow of the year.  That is when things get interesting.  Southerners doing 10-15 on the interstate because they have never driven in snow before, and northerners doing 50-60 because its just a little snow

That is when things get fun, and it becomes hard to be a sheep.

[cfabe]

Speeding can be worth it. On the freeway you can save a considerable ammount of time on a longer trip. If you're on surface streets with traffic lights, it's mostly pointless. On the freeway, though, it's really not that hard to avoid getting caught in my experience. Don't speed at night, and keep your speeding moderate unless you're familiar with the road and know how the cops like to behave. For example, on the ohio turnpike, the troopers *always* pull through the center divider in one of the turnarounds and shoot traffic head on with laser. There are only two spots between toledo and cleveland that they can sit where they can clock you before you can see the top of their car. Mostly they sit out in the open, and since most people drive with their head up and locked, they still nail plenty of people. I commuted from Cleveland to Flint, MI approx every other weekend for 5 years. If you travel the speed limit, it's about a 3h45 trip. I've done it in 2h40. You do the math. Never been caught on this trip, best way is to watch for brakelights of cars 1/4 mile ahead of you, and watch for cruisers in the median. I don't speed more than 7 over at night, you can't see them enough in advance. Having a non-descript car helps, too, because in moderate traffic, they can't hit every car that passes them.

The only time I have been caught speeding was when I got complacent and started driving 85 in a 70 everywhere in mighican. At night, not paying a lick of attention, a friendly Michigan SP officer light me up, and had been following me for 5 miles. I was oblivious, no idea he was there. Gotta pay attention. And of course be safe. Don't speed in heavy traffic, bad weather, or at night. Don't over drive the capabilities of your car, or allow yourself to get distracted.

[Guest]

It's not a sport if it can't kill you.

Yep.

Math-wise - have collected the bet as to whom arrived first.  Then collected the sides bets on the most birds taken with fewest shells. Matter of Principle.

Still gonna skydive, having been in two crash landings - just curious what jumping out of a perfectly good plane would be like.

[Gus Dddysgrl]

Sorry I didn't read the whole thing, so I'm sure I'll probably be repeating what someone else said.  I am a driver, yeah I get paid to drive(there is more to it, but I spend the amjority of my time on the road.)  When going short disances or through towns/cities it's not worth it to speed, but over long distances/highways it is very benefitial to speed.  If I want to waste time I go the speed limit, but if I want to work I drive fast.

Also my dad always says speeding is when you get caught going fast, and I only ever go fast.

Have fun with the math stuff.

Gus

[Typhoon]

On long hauls on good freeways, it is definitely worth it.  I had flown up to Yosemite (Fresno, actually) on September 8, 2001, with a planned return on September 11.  NOT!  So I kept the rental car and drove back to Los Angeles.  I averaged around 90 mph and noticed, that on that particular day, the CHP was not too worried about the Ordinary Decent Speeders.  I was happy to shave whatever time I could off of that drive, and very happy to be home after.  

Another time, I was driving back from San Francisco, and some banger in a Mitsubishi Eclipse got bent out of shape when I passed him (I drive a Mustang GT).  He started chasing me.  I determined that it might not be such a good idea to let this guy get ahead of me, so at approximately 105 mph, I ended the race.  The stock GT is supposed to be rated at 147 mph.  I got it to 135.  See ya!  Jerk.

Oh, did I mention that my favorite driving companion is Mr. Valentine One?

[Guest]

This isn't hard.  Time X Speed = Distance.  Mathmatically, yes - you cover more distance per unit of time.  On a long trip on the superslab, with light-moderate traffic, good weather, alert/healthy/well rested/skillful driver, yup, it's worth it, at least to me.  There is the subjective issue of personal safety, but ceteris paribus, I motor briskly in the wide open spaces. Speed, per se, is not inherently unsafe, it all depends on when & where you choose to speed.  Time=$$.

OTOH, around town, for short trips, the idiot/cell-phone moron/otherwise-distracted-driver factor kills the odds of being able to achieve an above average speed over time.  It ain't worth it. The odd minute or two gained via velocity is too easily blown away by the idiots you will encounter in urban/suburban traffic.

Cogito, ergo zoom.

[jefnvk]

The only time I have been caught speeding was when I got complacent and started driving 85 in a 70 everywhere in mighican. At night, not paying a lick of attention, a friendly Michigan SP officer light me up,

The only time I think I'll get caught is when I'm complacent doing 85 in MI and hit the Ohio border.

Your highway patrol don't fool around.

[brimic]

I used to have a 50 mile commute to work. If I drove 10 mph over, I don't think it even saved me 5 minutes. I found that leaving 5 minutes earlier saved me a lot of stress, gas, and the potential for a ticket.

[roo_ster]

Speeding is worth it if you have a ways to go or want to stay awake & alert.

I used to drive vehicles that rewarded good driving (Ford Escort GT, Audi 4000).  Nowadays I poke along in a Nissan pickup, so speeding is not nearly as gratifying.  Also, I live in DFW, where the unofficial speed is the limit+10mph.  I generally go 10mph over on the highways and get passed by Tahoes and F-150s all day long.  I don't need a radar detector in DFW.  No tickets in 5 years, either.

I generally was a more attentive driver when speeding, constantly surveying my environment both to safely maximize my speed, given conditions, and to keep my eyes peeled for revanue collectors.  Nowadays, when I poke along at the limit or a mere 10mph over, I am usually in "Sunday driver" mode.

There are some tips to safely speeding, especially on the highway, one ought to take into account:
1. Get a quality radar/IR laser detector and understand how it functions.

2. Do not mount it "front & center" with the curlycue power cord in the windshield, unless you want everybody on the road to know you have a fuzzbuster.  

3. Mount it in the lower left-hand corner of the windshield with a quick-takedown-type mount, for when you need to get it & the mount out of sight real quick-like.  

4. Also, wire in a flat/round (not curleycue) power cord into the electrical system.  This is not too hard, as you can strip the positive side of a flat power cord and find a suitable circuit/fuse in the fusebox and then stuff the blade-type fuse in with the bare positive side power cord on the exposed upstream side of the fuse.  You might also want to install an inline fuse from Radio Shack on the positive side of the power cord.  Ground the other power cord wire on a screw that touches the frame/body metal.  Remove some interior peices & route the power cord behind them.

[Note for 3 & 4: IOW, keep it from being the reason you get a ticket rather than a warning.]

5. Never be the fastest auto on the road or the "leader of the pack."  Drive along "with hte flow of traffic" until some speedy fellow zooms on by.  Let him get ~1/4 mile ahead or just less then one terrain feature ahead, whichever is less.  Keep eyes on him and use him as your scout.  Best case, Mr. Speedy also has a radar detector.  Either way, when he hits hit brakes, you slow down to speed limit or thereabouts.

This system also works well in the dark, my preferred safe speedy driving time.  I prefer to minimize the ability of the aerial traffic revanue collectors to muck with me, using the V=D/T method, which does not radiate RF or IR signal.

Good luck to all you SAFE speedy drivers.  I hope to join you all in a few years when my daily driver is something more rewarding to drive than a Nissan pickup.