Well, his point wasn’t that he must speed and that everyone going slow is causing the problem. His point was that if you DO speed, you encounter these traffic snares and can see what’s causing the problem. He’s right, and I encounter it myself despite driving at or slightly above the speed limit. When a driver is going 10 miles below the speed limit, he or she causes traffic behind him to change lanes. If that driver is boxed in by someone else going a normal speed, they have to wait to change lanes and then come up to speed, which will push people over into the left lane (if it exists). When you add larger vehicles into the mix, like tractor trailers that can’t accelerate quickly, you end up with bubbles of congestion on an otherwise empty road.
Assholes will always speed, but most people who go above the speed limit are not really bothered by drivers who drive AT the speed limit. They’re bothered by drivers who go much slower than the speed limit, especially if they’re not in the right lane.
Incidentally, roundabouts work not because they have fewer total accidents, but because they have significantly fewer fatal accidents. All fender benders suck, but that lady who just tore into a roundabout is just as likely to just tear through a perpendicular road cross, and in a cross she’s more likely to kill someone. Roundabouts cause people to slow down, and if people complain about them because they’re confusing, that’s exactly the point – they cause you to slow down and think instead of just drive on through. The only people who LIKE traffic circles are city planners and people who hate sitting at red lights for minutes on end.
