Precision driving: Speed-awareness key to safe driving

Maintaining proper vehicle speed should be an exact science. But guess what? Evidently it is not.

After all, vehicles are equipped with speedometers — in fact, they are the biggest gauges in our instrument clusters. Besides that, departments of transportation put a tremendous effort into researching safe speeds, and posting them everywhere we drive. It should not be a difficult task for drivers to drive at similar, safe, legal speeds. Since they do not, I must blame it on lack of awareness or indifference.

We will always contend with intentional speeders, and certain vehicles (trucks, antiques, boat towers, e.g.), which are slow by their nature. What should not run rampant, however, are drivers who obliviously operate their vehicles at incorrect and unpredictable speeds.

When a driver is stopped for excessive speed, an officer might ask, “Did you know you were speeding?” The scofflaw is likely to answer, “No.” I would actually like it better if this were a lie, but sadly, I believe many drivers are truly unaware of their vehicle speeds as they drive.

According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, variance in vehicle speed is a major contributor to close following distances, passing problems, road rage, and accidents.

I say that the driver error of speed variance is often due to oblivion, but that disregard often has an underlying cause: distraction. Yes, the familiar forms of driver multi-tasking (cell phones, eating, etc.) play a role in drivers’ accelerator modulations.

Transportation Research Center Inc. has done studies on vehicle speed variance due to phone conversations. They concluded that the degraded object and event detection experienced by drivers on phones causes this driving flaw, along with many other mistakes. A driver inherently senses his inadequacy while having a phone conversation, and over-slows in reaction to perceived hazards.

I recently experienced another example of how driver perception affects vehicle speed. I made a round-trip to Pullman last week, driving a pickup truck that was loaded with large, tall cargo on the way there, and empty during the return.

Traffic was relatively the same (medium heavy) both ways, but accompanying driver behavior, apparently due to perception, differed greatly for each leg of the trip. I drove at a steady 60 miles per hour both going and returning, but you wouldn’t know it by the actions of vehicles following me.

Vehicle after vehicle, upon approaching my cargo-laden truck, would follow me closely until they could make a pass. Evidently, my vehicle was perceived as a slow obstacle — something drivers felt they must get around, even though my speed never dipped below 60 mph. I surprised a couple of the close-following-but-reluctant-to-pass types, by moving to the shoulder. It took them a few moments to react and pass, as I’m sure they were not used to this courtesy (I know I seldom encounter it).

At first, I thought this was National Speeding Day, but on the return trip, when I had no load on board, drivers reacted more normally, and the ones that were behind me generally stayed there, and at normal following distances. It was the same 60 mph speed, but since it didn’t appear like I might be slow, drivers weren’t racing to my rear bumper, anxious to pass me.

In other words, I believe that drivers sometimes base their vehicle speed decisions on perception rather than fact. Even though my vehicle speed was constant (60 mph), the loaded truck appeared as though it might be slow, so drivers wanted to get past it regardless of (or oblivious to) the speed required to do so. When my truck looked normal (unloaded), other drivers acted more normally around it.

In a related phenomenon, I also believe that many drivers just go from obstacle to obstacle, speeding in between, with little awareness of their own vehicle speed. Even on four-lane highways, I often watch vehicles in my rear-view mirror that are closing at a rate indicating that their speed is greater than mine. Many times, these vehicles will ride at my rear once they catch me, and not go around me, even though there is a “free” passing lane to the left. I can only conclude that these drivers coincidently get tired of speeding once I am “in their way,” that they aren’t thinking at all, or most likely, they are victim to one or more of the dreaded driver distractions.

Please be decisive in your vehicle speed — at, or near the posted limit is a good baseline for driving optimally in good conditions. If you pay attention, and use cruise control when you can, it’s not that hard to hold a steady, predictable speed. Speed unawareness and variation are driving errors that are simple to avoid with a bit of concentration. If we all strive for that, we’ll be safer and saner on the roadways.