A Driving Question ...

[mrdreamjeans]

I have a driving question ... or is it a question about driving? :) I made my first foray into Christmas gift shopping yesterday. As you head through the town of Bellville, there are a series of speed limit changes, one right after the other. Though it's a state highway and two lanes, the speed on Highway 36 quickly escalates to 70 mph, with a minimum of 45mph.

My question: When you see a speed limit sign, do you wait till you've passed the marker before you increase your speed? Or, once you can read the speed listed, do you accelerate so that you're at the speed by the time you reach the sign? I'm not asking what is proper. I'm curious as to your instinct in that situation.

Comments

[bjarvis.livejournal.com]

I wait until the sign has passed before I accelerate, to the occasional chagrin of the vehicles behind me.

[pagerbear.livejournal.com]

It all depends on how mean your highway troopers are. Seriously.

[ricksf.livejournal.com]

Well, it depends...

If the speed limit is increasing, as soon as I see the sign, I'm accelerating. But then I love going fast.

If the limit is decreasing (and particularly if there are signs warning 'Reduced speed ahead'), I'll try and be at the slower speed by the time I pass the sign. My experience has been that some small towns use reduced speed limits as revenue generators and I'm a bit (radar) gun shy.

[apparentparadox]

Me, too. Start accelerating when seeing that the speed limit is increasing, make sure I'm at the slower speed limit by the time I hit the sign.

Oh, unless I'm in the Prius, in which case I'll do whichever shows better MPG on the screen :-)

[nudewoody.livejournal.com]

As soon as I see the speed limit sign I decelerate to the proper speed!

[gotmoof.livejournal.com]

As soon as I see a sign for a slower speed limit, I begin slowing down so that by the time I pass it, I'm at that speed. I've always maintained that by the time you pass the sign, you should be at that speed.

And if I see a sign indicating a speed increase, I wait until I pass it to begin my accelerate.

I think of it like those "Do not park past this sign" things.

[grandiva1968.livejournal.com]

By law, it's as soon as you see the sign.

You're going to Belleville for Christmas shopping?

[tbone1961.livejournal.com]

I start accelerating when I see the sign to be up to speed by the time I hit.

Mostly cuz the difference between the zone I"m in and the one coming up usually isn't significantly different.

Part of this also depends if I'm driving in regular territory or if I'm somewhere different.

[poohbearjim.livejournal.com]

I wait until I pass the sign.

[geometrician.livejournal.com]

My bad experience with a trooper who knocked my punk white ass down -- okay, okay, he gave me a warning -- learned me that even though I see a sign that says 45 (after a 25 zone), I shouldn't be going 45 until I actually pass the sign. Going the other way, I'm with Moof, I dwindle 'til I'm at that speed as I pass the sign.

[becker-boy.livejournal.com]

Another factor to consider is:

Is Bellville a notorious speed trap, known for it's sudden speed limit changes and the (verified) claim that 60% of all the city municipal funding comes from...you guessed it...Speeding Citations!

That's Waldo, Florida...so famous for it's 55...45...30...25Mph speed limit signs (all within a stretch of a half mile), that AAA put up a huge billboard just outside of the city limits warning all motorists that they were about to enter the worst speed trap in the United States.

Driving through Waldo taught me: when accelerating, do not be at the speed limit of the next sign until you are at that sign. However, when slowing down, be at the next slowest speed well ahead of the sign....

And...when some idiot passes by you, telling all the world by the speed he is driving that he thinks all the speed limit signs are ridiculous, just sit back and watch...the fun is about to start...

Hugs

[greatbearmd.livejournal.com]

Anyone who knows me well knows I would be driving too fast to notice the signs anyway.

Technically, though, the speed zone changes at the sign itself. This is why you will usually see cops set up at the beginning of a reducing speed zone (often right behind the sign!).

[madisonbear.livejournal.com]

Hmmmm. I always accelerate at the sign itself..though i don't slow down until long after a slower speed is posted. Hmmmm. I don't think that is good.

Anyway, i throw my vote for change speed at the sign. :)

Hugs!

[designerotter.livejournal.com]

Well... there's the safe version, i.e. don't change speeds unitl you've arrived at the sign. And then there's the way I do it: see the sign, and let the foot on the pedal do the rest (this is called the "lead-foot" approach, as in lead-weight).
However, that's usual for me only on routes I know. If I'm driving through some small town on a longer route, I always decelerate quickly when I see the lower speed limit, and accelerate only when I've passed the sign. Frequently small towns regard those posted signs as a form of revenue enhancement.

[aquariandeebee.livejournal.com]

sounds like belleville is a speed trap just like madisonville and corsicana.....