Tangler I promise I won't crash into you even if you're doing 15 and I'm doing 95, for a simple reason: if you're in front of me I'll slow down until you move over, if you're not I'll just simply pass you in another lane or overtake you where it is safe to do so! Simple, you follow the rules, I follow the rules. How's that! Now if you chose to be a sleeping policeman and drive in the inside lane at slow speed, deliberately trying to slow me (and everyone else down), that might change the situation, in that scenario we might both end-up breaking the rules/laws!
In other countries, not far from ours the speed limit on the motorway is 140kmh (87mph I believe), or even unlimited in certain cases! Not everyone there travels at 140kmh! But guess what: if they don't they get out of the way and stick to overtaking only on the inside lanes! That's simply because they know someone else could be coming-up behind much faster than they do! It's called discipline and respect! Which BTW is totally missing from the British roads! I've seen so many drivers get straight on the middle lane and spend their entire motorway journey there, regardless of what happens in the other lanes! Why? Because they cannot be bothered with the mirrors, or with paying attention to the traffic around them, all they want is to look forward! F*** the rest! Technically they're not breaking the law (all the time)!
And as for reducing the speed limits to move more traffic faster bunched-up together, here's another scenario we've all seen: We've all caught-up with the Police Patrol car driving on the OS lane at 65mph, all the traffic slows down and bunches-up, all driving at roughly 65-70mph. Have you all noticed what happens ahead of the bunch? I'll tell you: OPEN, ALMOST EMPTY ROADS!!! Until the Patrol car exits the motorway and normal service resumes, traffic stretches! The reality is we DON'T like driving very close to other cars, probably for the same reasons we don't like sitting too close to other people in confined places, so why do all the do-gooders try to bunch us up all the time? In a crowd you're more likely to slip-up and cause a bump than you are where distances are greater. You're also more likely to involve more than one other vehicle when it comes to it, simply because there's no room to avoid the collision!
It is also proven (by myself and others) that you are more likely to have an accident at low speeds and on familiar roads than you are at higher ones and on roads you're not familiar with. Why? Because at higher speeds you pay more attention to your driving and get less distracted by what's around you. It's a lot to do with the Tunnel Vision! The tunnel gets narrower the faster you go. I'm not sure on this one, Ian will correct me, but I think Einstein thought that one out.
Dan
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