traffic camera footage of 40 car pile up in Wisconsin

[makattak]

To me, this herd mentality goes hand in hand with the idea that people don't want to lead the pack and be in front.  They have no problem following someone as they break the speed limit, but won't do it alone or are more comfortable with a bunch of other drivers around.  They have to stay with the pack.  I say this because I have noted these tendancies in myself at times and have tried to make sure I don't do it over the years.

The only time I drove at 90+ for a sustained period of time (in a 65) was during a trip to college when a group of 3 cars (including myself) drove at 90 to 100 mph most of the way across the top of Indiana.

I have (and had) no problem with much lesser speeding on my own, but the only way I would have done that is when I have the interference of other cars, guessing that the police will have to pick one of us and let the other two continue on. (Not a given, of course, but a decent guess.)

Being older and wiser (and generally travelling with children) now, I would not do that again, but I made a valid risk/reward analysis at the time.

[Monkeyleg]

The other side of the competitive instinct in driving is the Herd metality.  This is when someone is passing in the left lane and instead of just continuing on, they slow down and match speeds with the car in the right lane.  Sometimes this is also due to the guy on the right speeding up.  It really bugs me as I like to keep my cruise control on most of the time and people who can't pick a speed and keep it really bug me.

To me, this herd mentality goes hand in hand with the idea that people don't want to lead the pack and be in front.  They have no problem following someone as they break the speed limit, but won't do it alone or are more comfortable with a bunch of other drivers around.  They have to stay with the pack.  I say this because I have noted these tendancies in myself at times and have tried to make sure I don't do it over the years.

I find I am much happier out in the open by myself either ahead of or behind the pack. 

I (and probably everyone else here) see this all the time. I'll be cruising along, and will see a big cluster of cars ahead, and then nothing ahead of the cluster. Once I weave my way through the cluster, I can resume normal high speed. It's always baffled me.

[Tallpine]

It really bugs me as I like to keep my cruise control on most of the time and people who can't pick a speed and keep it really bug me.

Yeah    I pretty much try to stay at 75mph from Billings to Cheyenne.


Then there's the people that drive maybe 5-10 mph below the speed limit but when they come to a ~50mph construction zone (double fines!), they don't slow down a bit.  Probably wonder why I keep speeding up and slowing down. 

[fifth_column]

The other side of the competitive instinct in driving is the Herd metality.  This is when someone is passing in the left lane and instead of just continuing on, they slow down and match speeds with the car in the right lane.  Sometimes this is also due to the guy on the right speeding up.  It really bugs me as I like to keep my cruise control on most of the time and people who can't pick a speed and keep it really bug me.

To me, this herd mentality goes hand in hand with the idea that people don't want to lead the pack and be in front.  They have no problem following someone as they break the speed limit, but won't do it alone or are more comfortable with a bunch of other drivers around.  They have to stay with the pack.  I say this because I have noted these tendancies in myself at times and have tried to make sure I don't do it over the years.

I find I am much happier out in the open by myself either ahead of or behind the pack.

All of this, and what others have said, match my observations completely.  I want a bumper sticker that says "Pick a Speed and STICK WITH IT!"

Something I've noticed lately that's new:  I'll be driving along behind someone, waiting for them to pass, when they then slow down.  This of course causes them to come closer to my car, at which point they decide I'm tailgating and flash their brakes at me!  So they're the ones that have gotten closer to me, yet somehow it's my fault?  If we were walking down the sidewalk, or in a mall, and they had suddenly slowed and I had bumped into them they would be at fault, right?  It's no different on the road!  A**hats . . . .

[geronimotwo]

Was that you?  Sorry, man.  Still, ya shoulda got outta the way.

just call me the enforcer......and no.   

[Gewehr98]

Lake effect snow for all youse Cheeseheads closer to Milwaukee beginning this afternoon.  Hopefully they learned from the last go-around...

[MechAg94]

I (and probably everyone else here) see this all the time. I'll be cruising along, and will see a big cluster of cars ahead, and then nothing ahead of the cluster. Once I weave my way through the cluster, I can resume normal high speed. It's always baffled me.

In my experience, you almost always pick up a few trailers from the pack who start follow you in that example.  

A friend used to sell drill bits to the local oil rigs and such and had to drive around visiting rigs and delivering bits out in the middle of no where.  He drove 200 to 300 miles a day for 10 years doing that stuff.  He and I talked a lot about other people's driving tendancies.  I always feel like analyzing that stuff makes me a better driver also.

[fifth_column]

Lake effect snow for all youse Cheeseheads closer to Milwaukee beginning this afternoon.  Hopefully they learned from the last go-around...

I am thoroughly looking forward to it.  I love snow and love driving in it.  I enjoy it more as I get older, seriously.  And I get sick of it later in the season now than I used to.

[Monkeyleg]

I am thoroughly looking forward to it.  I love snow and love driving in it.  I enjoy it more as I get older, seriously.  And I get sick of it later in the season now than I used to.

I've always loved driving in snow, and still do. I like being able to go "drifting" on the streets without wearing out my tires. I like spinning in circles and all the other fun stuff. I just don't like spinning and sliding when I'm trying to get somewhere, having to shovel the stuff, dig out cars, wear Sorel boots while carrying my dress boots, shovelling the stuff, having cars rust out, getting stuck, having to shovel the stuff and---did I mention?--having to shovel the stuff.

[KD5NRH]

makes me want to drive a shitbox on wheels and put them into the wall/ditch. :)

I have a $700 Saturn.  I've never owned a car that would blue-book over $2500 in the condition it was in when I got it.

Best one so far was the guy going 60 in a 75 for 30 miles.  He would speed up when there was a passing lane, then slow down again when we got past it.  Same thing on broken stripe if it looked like I was going to pass.  When we were closing on the 45mph curve, I dropped to 4th and nailed it.  Of course, he accelerated to keep me from passing.  I got him up to around 95, then nailed my brakes just in time to make the curve while he went off through a field and into some person's conveniently placed 4-5 cords of unsplit logs.

I used to get a lot of them when I drove a Subaru Legacy that decided that a station wagon always had to be going too slow.  It was fun to take them through 30mph curves at 50+.  Left more than one in the ditch between Proctor and Gustine.

[KD5NRH]

I see this a lot.  People are happy to go 20 MPH over the limit, but only if someone is in front.

I do this a lot, but giving them at least a quarter mile.  The goal is for the trooper to fixate on them before I get in range, and give me time to slow down as soon as I see their brake lights.

[lupinus]

I do this a lot, but giving them at least a quarter mile.  The goal is for the trooper to fixate on them before I get in range, and give me time to slow down as soon as I see their brake lights.

Yeeeep. Thanks for clearing the way! 

[Jamisjockey]

I am thoroughly looking forward to it.  I love snow and love driving in it.  I enjoy it more as I get older, seriously.  And I get sick of it later in the season now than I used to.

You're demented. 

[Sergeant Bob]

I've always loved driving in snow, and still do. I like being able to go "drifting" on the streets without wearing out my tires. I like spinning in circles and all the other fun stuff. I just don't like spinning and sliding when I'm trying to get somewhere, having to shovel the stuff, dig out cars, wear Sorel boots while carrying my dress boots, shovelling the stuff, having cars rust out, getting stuck, having to shovel the stuff and---did I mention?--having to shovel the stuff.

I'm of the same opinion. I  lived by a lake for most of my "formative" years, and spent a lot of time driving on said lake in the winter. We used to have oval tracks and race for hours, and play follow the leader. Spending that much time driving sideways really makes driving on slippery roads a lot easier and a lot more fun.  Even when I was driving a big truck, I enjoyed getting a little sideways sometimes, although in that case I didn't do it on purpose. I drove throughout the "midwest region" for years (Pennsylvania to Minnesota, and south to Kentucky) and never once did I shut down because of weather, if the roads were open. Never had to be towed either. mountains are a whole nuther story though

[Tallpine]

Winter was a lot more fun when I was younger.   

Of course, we lived so far up in the mountains that we didn't even try to drive after a certain point.  We took a vehicle down to where the county road was plowed and left it for monthly trips to town.  From then on, it was living on top of the snow - which is far easier than shoveling all the time.

We got around on cross country skis and dog sled, and some friends with snow machines that sometimes helped us haul in stuff from town.

[Hawkmoon]

I am thoroughly looking forward to it.  I love snow and love driving in it.  I enjoy it more as I get older, seriously.  And I get sick of it later in the season now than I used to.

I'm just the opposite. I used to enjoy driving in snow. Now I hate it, and I hate it more with every passing Winter and every passing snow event.

[Tallpine]

I'm just the opposite. I used to enjoy driving in snow. Now I hate it, and I hate it more with every passing Winter and every passing snow event.

Driving in it doesn't bother me, as long as I am in a decent vehicle.  The snow pack actually fills in the pot-holes on our rough gravel road.   

Little FWD cars just don't cut it though