Which is safer on the freeway: Merging into a cluster of tightly packed cars at the cluster's speed of 60 MPH? Or going around the entire cluster at 80 MPH and then pulling into a clear spot?

What is the speed limit? What kind of roadway? What are the driving conditions?

These all play a factor.

It is rarely necessary to do the speed thing, and for a good driver who takes the entire road conditions into consideration, it is never necessary. Stay in place until the ‘pack’ loosens up. Why on earth is it so important that you risk life and limb to be the first in line?

I’d probably do 50 mph and stay away from the cluster completely.

All traffic laws are set according to the lowest common denominator. We can’t all be Richard Pettys, and we’re not all experienced drivers. The problem is not as simple as this. You also have young drivers who are impulsive as hell, and old drivers who physically aren’t able to have lightning fast reaction times. Plus, when you consider that the average newspaper is written on an 8th grade reading and comprehension level, it becoems clear pretty damn fast that, while technically you’re right, there’s no way in hell it could ever work.

A group of cars traveling the same rate of speed is almost always safer than a group of cars traveling at different speeds.
And we don’t blindly follow. If we don’t, we get speeding tickets. That costs us money.

@phillis 8th grade reasing and comprehension? becoems? LOL

@filfann Hey, lay off my 7th grade edumacation, or I’ll get my friend Al Gore – who invented the internet, buddy – to kick yer ass :)

@filmfann , if all cars travelled at the exact same speed, there’d be chaos, and people would never be able to change lanes, because all cars would be parallel to each other.

Look at this (fast foward 2 minutes into the video)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OoETMCosULQ&feature=related

On a 1-lane road, you’d be correct that all cars doing same speed would be safest.

But on a 4-lane highway, all cars doing same speed is impractical, dangerous, and prevents natural, intuitive, and safe free flow.

On a multi-lane highway, speeds going incrementally higher to the left, are the safest, most logical way to handle it. The German autobahn has less per capita accidents, and “slow-right / left-fast” with no enforced speed limits at all…. far more logical than the American method of artificially determining a flat speed by a vote of politicians.

The video documents a great experiment, but the video is horribly made, horribly edited

@Kraigmo…most highway safety experts would say that going 80 MPH around a cluster is much safer

I don’t know where you got that information, but in my 15 years of driving ambulance I have never once heard that from a highway safety expert. And I attended a lot of seminars and safe driving courses.

@WestRiverrat , you really think that slowing your ambulance down to 50 MPH and wittling your way over to the right, is safer than just getting in Lane #1, going around the turtle pack, and moving in to Lane #4 when all clear?

As the National Motorists Association says, speed limits are often a product of politics rather than any scientific analysis.

The National Motorists Association also says:
– Federal and state studies have consistently shown that the drivers most likely to get into accidents in traffic are those traveling significantly below the average speed. According to an Institute of Transportation Engineers Study, those driving 10 mph slower than the prevailing speed are six times as likely to be involved in an accident. That means that if the average speed on an interstate is 70 mph, the person traveling at 60 mph is far more likely to be involved in an accident than someone going 70 or even 80 mph.

These studies don’t prove that speeding is always better. They just prove that it is sometimes better.

If I was driving my ambulance I often have gone slower than the speed limit. Depending on what is happening in the back, speed can be more life threatening than slow…But that is not the point.

If the speed limit is 60 then I would drive 60 in my personal vehicle.

If the speed limit was 80m. Before I tried to pass, I would definately want some idea as to why the gaggle was doing 60.

If you have the coordination to maneuver through a pack of cars going 60 mph at 80 mph, you must have the coordination to avoid rear ending the person in front of you at 60 mph in the pack. Conversely, if you don’t have the coordination to avoid rear ending the person in front of you at 60 mph, there is no way you have the coordination to switch lanes at 80 mph through 60 mph traffic.

Which is safer depends on who you are. Are you the first guy with good coordination? It may be safer then to go 80 around the jam, if the risk of being rear ended yourself exceeds the risk of being hit while switching lanes. If you’re the second guy with no coordination, you’d best stay put and attempt to focus.

@Kraigmo I am talking the same speed, with minor variences for lane change.
The question refered to going 20 mph faster than everyone else.

I don’t really see how you’d even be able to pass the cluster if you’re merging into them? I need to see it on paper. I’m a visual person.

Depends on some other factors, too. But with a good driver in a good car in good conditions, driving 80 isn’t dangerous at all. (On the other hand, a lot of American drivers and cars might be dangerous at 80, and the rule is one-rule-fits-all.) In general, other vehicles are a far greater source of risk that increased speed, as long as the speed is appropriate to conditions. American speed limits tend to not really be about safety and are far slower than a good driver in a good car in good conditions can safely go. The speed limit is a rule, and one which is frequently collapsed in people’s minds with safety, even when it’s not actually accurate to do so.

”Which is safer on the freeway: Merging into a cluster of tightly packed cars at the cluster’s speed of 60 MPH? Or going around the entire cluster at 80 MPH and then pulling into a clear spot?”

Merging into the cluster at the cluster’s speed is far safer.

For me, passing them is safer for my sanity.

You know, it’s dangerous to excessively exceed the speed limit, however, once you get around them, I think it would be safer to be in the clear rather than in the herd. In the clear, you aren’t worrying about who’s trying to switch lanes or slam on their brakes all the sudden.

@mrrich724 , I have the same observations. I continue to believe that the fear of speed is is cultural influence and not logical thinking. (Depending on the situation, as others here have pointed out).

When merging into a cluster, you cause others to have to apply brakes.

When going around a herd, you affect no one.

It’s obviously safer to go around.

But sometimes one cannot go around, due to some jackass in the left lane who is driving the speed of the rightmost lanes

@Kraigmo But sometimes one cannot go around, due to some jackass in the left lane who is driving the speed of the rightmost lanes

That is why going past the herd at 20mph more than they are going is not a good idea. What if one of the cars in the middle of the herd cuts you off? If you had said pass them at 65 while they were doing 60, I think you would have gotten more positive responses. Then you can resume your normal speed. But racing past them at 80 vs 60 is inviting trouble.

You could also go around them at 70…

@Zaku, yes that’s true. I used the 80 MPH extreme example as a way of including all MPHs below that.

The actual MPH doesn’t even really matter… ever.

What matters is the braking distance.