> 65-70 mph posted on most rural interstates is usually an uneventfully featureless speed, on uneventful, featureless roads
This is true. 95% of the time, it would be just as safe to be cruising at 90 mph. But for those other 5% where there's an unexpected tire in the middle of the road, a deer, a driver who swerved into your lane or any other danger... a few extra milliseconds to react and respond is what makes the difference between a close call and severe damage.
This means driving is condemned to be a mostly boring activity, and in our present age where boredom is to be avoided at all costs, it becomes a magnet for distractions.
One solution is to drive a vehicle that requires more immersion: a stick shift car, a convertible, a jeep, a motorcycle, etc. These are vehicles which let you feel the road.
A manual car is only engaging below 50mph, above that you're in highest gear anyway. Any once you learn it, it becomes second nature and you don't really engage anymore, because it just happens as you drive.
I'd say more like 99.99% of the time, which is the problem. There's very rarely an unexpected obstacle.
Also, with a closing speed of 0, a driver swerving into your lane happens no more quickly at 90mph than at 50. (assuming they use correspondingly less steering input so the lateral speed remains the same).
But yeah, overall I agree with you. I kind of think every new driver should be forced to drive a Geo Metro or a Miata or something for the first couple of years. (as a former Miata owner, motorcyclist, and stick shift driver).
The buffer thing amazes me, I know people who drive 70 MPH leaving a 5 foot buffer between the and the car in front of them. I have a close my eyes sometimes it makes me so nervous. And it's rude to comment on other people's driving...
This is true. 95% of the time, it would be just as safe to be cruising at 90 mph. But for those other 5% where there's an unexpected tire in the middle of the road, a deer, a driver who swerved into your lane or any other danger... a few extra milliseconds to react and respond is what makes the difference between a close call and severe damage.
This means driving is condemned to be a mostly boring activity, and in our present age where boredom is to be avoided at all costs, it becomes a magnet for distractions.
One solution is to drive a vehicle that requires more immersion: a stick shift car, a convertible, a jeep, a motorcycle, etc. These are vehicles which let you feel the road.