While driving to
work today, I ran into the following situation. I find that this happens way too often to just be a
fluke.
A group of cars all drive normally on a road with a speed limit of 65 MPH. Suddenly, the car in the front of the pack sees a cop and hits his brakes, slowing down to 55 while passing the cop. All the cars behind the guy in the front must slow down to 55 as well. When the cop is out of sight, the cars all speed back up to their previous speeds.
Why do people feel compelled to drive BELOW the speed limit when they see a cop on the side of the road? Do they think they'll be reward by the cop? Do they want a gold star for obeying the speed limit really well?
Note to all people that do this: You will not get a reward for driving below the speed limit! In fact, you're just causing more harm than good. You put extra wear on your breaks by slowing down more than necessary. Furthermore, you hurt fuel efficiency by having to accelerate more to get back to your desired speed. Also, due to the Red Light Effect (delayed reaction time), you're causing larger slowdowns behind you, ultimately leading to a traffic jam if the situation gets bad enough
Plus, you make me late to work. Damn you!