The rural Oklahoma turnpikes have a minimum speed limit of 50. Are there any higher marked minimum speed limits in the country?
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From the Michigan Vehicle Code (MCL 257.628 (http://legislature.mi.gov/doc.aspx?mcl-257-628)):
"The minimum speed limit on all freeways is 55 miles per hour except if reduced speed is necessary for safe operation or in compliance with law or in compliance with a special permit issued by an appropriate authority."
Does Michigan use minimum speed signs? I only briefly drove on a freeway in Michigan and this was 15 years ago so I don't remember.
Not that I recall and I went through Michigan four years ago.
55 seems a bit high to not have any signage for it...
Washington and California make it clear that "impeding traffic" is illegal, but they don't have a numeric value for that, and there's no posted signs for minimum speed limits anywhere that I'm aware of in the two states.
Quote from: bugo on March 30, 2012, 02:10:40 AM
Does Michigan use minimum speed signs? I only briefly drove on a freeway in Michigan and this was 15 years ago so I don't remember.
I remember see some along I-94 back in 2008.
If you dont go 55 in Michigan you'll get run over
Quote from: KEK Inc. on March 30, 2012, 05:19:05 AM
Washington and California make it clear that "impeding traffic" is illegal, but they don't have a numeric value for that, and there's no posted signs for minimum speed limits anywhere that I'm aware of in the two states.
I have never seen anyone pulled over for impeding traffic in California, and that includes trucks driving in parallel, one going 50mph, the other 50.001mph, for over 25 miles.
On my commute along U.S. 50 between Pueblo West and Pueblo, the speed limit is 65 with a posted minimum of 55.
Quote from: texaskdog on March 30, 2012, 10:10:05 AM
If you dont go 55 in Michigan you'll get run over
Funny, the Globe and Mail just ran an article about the author's attempt to drive slower than the speed limit on I-75 en route from Chattanooga to Toronto (http://www.theglobeandmail.com/globe-drive/car-life/cheney/peter-cheneys-six-hours-in-the-slow-lane/article2384811/). Other drivers did not appreciate it.
Quote from: 1995hoo on March 30, 2012, 01:29:10 PM
Funny, the Globe and Mail just ran an article about the author's attempt to drive slower than the speed limit on I-75 en route from Chattanooga to Toronto (http://www.theglobeandmail.com/globe-drive/car-life/cheney/peter-cheneys-six-hours-in-the-slow-lane/article2384811/). Other drivers did not appreciate it.
the cars he described as his fellow slow-lane denizens all needed to be pulled over for reckless driving.
At least it sounds like he kept to the right lane. If he'd been from Ohio, he'd have hit the left lane as soon as he crossed into Kentucky.
Quote from: bugo on March 30, 2012, 02:10:40 AM
Does Michigan use minimum speed signs? I only briefly drove on a freeway in Michigan and this was 15 years ago so I don't remember.
Yes, they do. Usually they post the speed limit and truck speed on the signs, but the minimum speed is posted from time to time an always at the state borders on a triple sign with speed limit, truck speed, and minimum speed posted.
Quote from: Brandon on March 31, 2012, 12:00:36 AM
Quote from: bugo on March 30, 2012, 02:10:40 AM
Does Michigan use minimum speed signs? I only briefly drove on a freeway in Michigan and this was 15 years ago so I don't remember.
Yes, they do. Usually they post the speed limit and truck speed on the signs, but the minimum speed is posted from time to time an always at the state borders on a triple sign with speed limit, truck speed, and minimum speed posted.
When I moved to Grand Rapids, I was driving a 15-foot moving truck down US 131 from the Traverse City area. I had my car on a trailer behind me, and it had a 55-mph maximum rated speed. I recall seeing a few of the speed limit signs along the freeway had the minimum posted. That was a long three-hour drive along the freeway without cruise control...
Quote from: agentsteel53 on March 30, 2012, 11:16:28 AM
I have never seen anyone pulled over for impeding traffic in California, and that includes trucks driving in parallel, one going 50mph, the other 50.001mph, for over 25 miles.
My grandfather did, but it was a while ago. I forgot the exact details, but it was for traffic impediment for driving like 5 under.
Quote from: 1995hoo on March 30, 2012, 01:29:10 PMFunny, the Globe and Mail just ran an article about the author's attempt to drive slower than the speed limit on I-75 en route from Chattanooga to Toronto (http://www.theglobeandmail.com/globe-drive/car-life/cheney/peter-cheneys-six-hours-in-the-slow-lane/article2384811/). Other drivers did not appreciate it.
That article was a mess of units, jumping between the metric used in Canada and the customary used on the road.
Drive too far below the average speed and your risk of having an accident/being a factor in an accident goes up - Scotland has toyed with the idea of removing the 40mph truck limit on undivided roads (as Scotland has heavy truck traffic on several long-distance roads that aren't divided) because of the accidents that the slow progress makes (mostly dangerous overtakes). That article makes it out like it's other people's fault for driving at reasonable speeds, rather than the slow-drivers fault (doing between 56 and 62mph) for causing a hazard.
Quote from: english si on March 31, 2012, 12:43:55 PM
That article makes it out like it's other people's fault for driving at reasonable speeds, rather than the slow-drivers fault (doing between 56 and 62mph) for causing a hazard.
It's the others' fault for not anticipating possible hazards.
Used to have a 1979 International Scout II with a top speed of about 65MPH due to low gearing (and it took a looong time to get there). Of course, I stuck to the right lane.
I found that I mainly pissed off lane-weavers that thought they were being smart by getting in the right lane and flooring it to pass other cars. Due to poor spacial awareness and bad driving skills, they would inevitably fail at this maneuver and end up slamming on their brakes right on my bumper. (A lot of them were kids with 'tuner' Hondas/Acuras.) Conclusion is that if someone has a problem with right-lane traffic on a four lane freeway, that's a very good indication that they suck.
Also, driving too slow is one of those things that cops look for when they want to pull over drunk drivers.
Quote from: NE2 on March 31, 2012, 01:03:45 PMIt's the others' fault for not anticipating possible hazards.
Absolutely. However, and I didn't communicate this in my OP, I meant the vulnerability that the speed differential causes is the fault of the driver deliberately going slower than a reasonable safe speed, rather than the majority - not that the slow driver.
Then again, if you did 40mph on a motorway in the UK (trucks are limited by EU law to 90km/h or less, so doing 50 isn't that bad other than forcing trucks to overtake you - simply a discourtesy for fellow road users) in free-flowing conditions, then you'd be pulled over (if there's a police officer around - unlikely) and warned about not driving with due care and attention. If involved in an accident and driving that slowly without good reason, it would be a mitigating factor for the driver that hit you - just as if you smashed into a drunk driver, something that is banned from motorways on the motorway (pedestrian, cyclist, slow moving farm vehicle, moped), etc that they aren't behaving lawfully - though they would still share a lot of the blame because they didn't see the hazard.
Certainly in the driving test (normally undertaken on urban roads, though varies from place to place due to local constraints) it is a failing error to not make enough progress i.e. driving too slowly for the conditions.
Quote from: english si on March 31, 2012, 03:53:20 PM
Quote from: NE2 on March 31, 2012, 01:03:45 PMIt's the others' fault for not anticipating possible hazards.
Absolutely. However, and I didn't communicate this in my OP, I meant the vulnerability that the speed differential causes is the fault of the driver deliberately going slower than a reasonable safe speed, rather than the majority - not that the slow driver.
Well, no. The problem with speed differential is when faster drivers can't drive properly and end up slamming on the brakes (and on a two-lane road, when someone gets impatient and passes unsafely). If we got these idiots off the road, someone going slowly in the outside lane would harm nobody.
Quote from: flowmotion on March 31, 2012, 02:49:47 PM
Used to have a 1979 International Scout II with a top speed of about 65MPH due to low gearing (and it took a looong time to get there). Of course, I stuck to the right lane.
Did it have the half-a-V8 slant 4 engine in it with a 3 speed manual? I have a friend who has one of those.
Quote from: Brandon on March 31, 2012, 12:00:36 AM
Quote from: bugo on March 30, 2012, 02:10:40 AM
Does Michigan use minimum speed signs? I only briefly drove on a freeway in Michigan and this was 15 years ago so I don't remember.
Yes, they do. Usually they post the speed limit and truck speed on the signs, but the minimum speed is posted from time to time an always at the state borders on a triple sign with speed limit, truck speed, and minimum speed posted.
In the modern era, the typical tall, narrow speed limit signs state the car and truck maximum speed limits, but not the minimums. However, Michigan also has/had a number of older freeway speed limit signs (from the 55mph speed limit era) after exits that posted minimum speed instead of truck speed limits, and many of those were updated to show the new 55mph minimum instead of the truck limit.
Typically, the minimum speed limit is posted on short, wide 3-pane signs (along with the max. speed limits for cars and trucks) after interchanges with major highways (usually another freeway, but occasionally after other types as well), at the borders, at transitions from lesser roads to freeways, and at both ends of the Mackinac Bridge.
I can't say the minimum speed limit is something that has to be enforced frequently, though I had an uncle who got nailed for it on US-127 south of Lansing, back in the 55mph era. He was doing about 38.