Witness the Mass Pike, where, most of time, everybody is just cruising along at 80 with no problems, whereas the NJ Turnpike seems to have an accident anytime I drive on it.

The most electrifying/terrifying drive I ever did was somewhere in New Jersey, a near-city segment in morning traffic that was all moving at 75 and all with no following distance and very aggressive. Okay, part of the terrifyingness was the knowledge that my passenger, flea, was terrified. I was the sort of driver at the time (only a little less so now) who was completely ready to do battle with traffic, but preferred a little more space than that.

But yeah: the Mass Pike is consistently above speed limit, and not very dangerous. 128? Dangerous (though not because of speed so much as douchebaggery and breakdowns and abuse of breakdown lanes).

People who don't signal ::coughcoughmysistercoughcough:: when they change lanes drive me bonkers.

People, its called a PROCEDURE.

Which is the safer procedure?

I am going to change lanes
signal
Look around to see if when it is clear
change lanes

Or

I am going to change lanes
Anyone around?
Change lanes

Then some fool comes off a side street you didn't see because you're so used to doing this on an empty highway and you just didn't look long enough on this new road and BLAMMO we're all squashed and dead because you couldn't bother to develope the reflex that says "when I change laned I hit my damn blinker"

My mom was and is the most strictly law-abiding person I've ever met. She watches the speed of whichever family member is driving the car and comments, in tones of outraged accusation, whenever you're the least bit above the posted limit. She'd say to my dad, "Kelly, you're going FIFTY-EIGHT" if the car accelerated a little extra on a downhill, or to me, "Susan, you're going SIXTY," if I took advantage of her temporary inattention to the speedometer to try to match the pace of the surrounding traffic.

It's probably not surprising that while I'm ordinarily a well-behaved, law-abiding person who didn't even sow any appreciable youthful wild oats, I reflexively go about 15 miles over the speed limit whenever road conditions permit.

ETA however, I am a strict signaler.

Being a flatland-Midwesterner born-and-raised, I get nervous when I drive on the PA turnpike to visit my mom and brother out in NJ. All those hills and turns around hills and you can't see a mile in front of you like you can on IL highways--it's nerveracking! When you add in summer construction season, it's even worse.

You should definitely signal in parking lots. Maybe even more so than in regular traffic, because it's often less clear in parking lots where you're going. You have a lot more options than you do on a freeway.

No one seems to signal here. Ever.

It's funny that that's your perception. I'm constantly amazed (in a pleasantly surprised manner), after living in Louisiana, how often people DO signal here.

Of course, your "here" and my "here" are slightly different.

No one seems to signal here. Ever. It's crazy making, especially as a pedestrian.

Le. Freakin'. Word.

I speed, but not unreasonably. Since I started riding, I don't actually speed - losing control of the big metal box is one thing, losing control of the thing balanced on two wheels is another.

I honestly do think people should have to retake the driving portion of the test every 8 years or so - CA makes you re-take the written when you're changing your address if it's been more than a year since you took it. Skills get sloppy, and a retuning is not a bad thing.

I was just thinking that my most terrifying driving experience was not being T-boned after running a red light, but suddenly finding myself in a disappearing lane as two 3-4 lane highways merged somewhere in NJ. (On a different trip from the one Nutty recounts. I hate driving, and possibly also New Jersey.) May I introduce the state of New Jersey to the concept of following distance, please? Which needs to be longer, not shorter, when we are all going 75.

My feeling on (not high-traffic zone) highways is 10 miles over the limit isn't much. It's when people are doing significantly faster than the flow of traffic (which is almost always 5-10 miles over the limit) that it gets scary. But lots of people speed on residential city streets, which have speed limits for a reason. There's a big difference between 35 and 50 when you're trying to cross the one-way street with your stroller.

I tend to stick within 5mph of the speed limit. On the highway, I tend to go with the flow of traffic and that can pull it up a little higher though.

I signal in my driveway, because it's just ingrained habit.