No, I'm not talking about that guy who goes 20 or 30 over. He's gonna go around me and be gone, so he's no longer my problem. He's also statistically likely to self-correct by running into a tree if he keeps driving like that, so after the cleanup he'll no longer be anybody's problem.

I'm talking about people who putz around at 10-20mph UNDER the speed limit in normal, clear-weather, daytime driving conditions.

I live in a pretty rural area of the Midwest. It's very flat, and county roads are pretty much a straight grid. There are very few significant hills or curves, and you can often see for miles. The speed limit on county roads is 55mph unless otherwise posted. Yet for some reason I regularly get stuck behind people going 40mph on these clear, straight, mostly empty roads. And worse, they'll pull out in front of you and do this when there's nobody behind you. Or you'll be driving down the road between 55 and 60mph, and you'll come up on a line of 5 or 6 cars stacked up behind some goober going 35.

Where do these people come from? Why are they like this?

I'm not usually in a giant rush, but I do have places to be and stuff to do. If I'm going somewhere I'm moving with a purpose, and Mr. "I can't drive 55" is an impediment to that.

Maybe they are tourist looking at the sights.
Speed limits are just that, the max speed you are allowed to drive, not a mandatory requirement.
The slow drivers don't bother me nearly as much as the the people that exceed the speed limit, tailgate, and when they do pass they cut back in front of you too soon.

Its thoe Amish, again.

Have a heart, asking them to go >40mph will kill those horses.

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Where do these people come from?

Minnesota

If it's just one, I just pass them with no malice.

Stacks happen in Northern Michigan when a car comes up to a slightly slower car, but doesn't pass. Those two come up on another slower yet, but don't pass and so forth until 6 cars are going 50 in a 65.

When I run into that situation - which is often - my response is "It's nice that you're taking your car out for a walk, but I've got things to see and people to do!"

Unless I'm driving the Vette, and then it's "Hammer down and see ya, bye!" as soon as there's an opening.

It was even MORE fun on the Yamaha and occasionally involved wheelies...

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Originally posted by RichardC:
Its thoe Amish, again.

Have a heart, asking them to go >40mph will kill those horses.

Lol. We do have those. The good thing about them is that they are so slow they're typically pretty easy to get around. People that don't live around them have no idea how hard they are on the roads, though...consistent hoof traffic will wear a trench right down into the asphalt in a very short time. Thankfully the biggest concentration of them is up in the northwest corner of our county, though, so we don't have those issues around us.

Thankfully around here the state mandates that they have to be very well lit at night. They've got batteries and giant flashing billboards on them here. Back in Ohio where my parents live they just use lanterns and maybe a couple of reflectors and you can't see them in the dark at all. Car/buggy accidents can be pretty tragic .

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Originally posted by PHPaul:
When I run into that situation - which is often - my response is "It's nice that you're taking your car out for a walk, but I've got things to see and people to do!"

Unless I'm driving the Vette, and then it's "Hammer down and see ya, bye!" as soon as there's an opening.

It was even MORE fun on the Yamaha and occasionally involved wheelies...

I was never confident (or crazy?) enough to do wheelies...but I do miss my bike!

We get a lot of ag equipment on the roads during certain times of the year. Those big sprayers with the tall, skinny tires are a summer staple, and while I've never done it the temptation always existed to squirt under them when I was on the bike !

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Maybe they are tourist looking at the sights.

Not sure how many corn and soybean fields you've seen, but it ain't exactly a tourist attraction (especially in the winter)!

I think we live in the same area and I drive SR 49 and SR 6, about a 1/3 of my drive is on the 2 lane parts and it is maddening sometimes!

I drive with two groups: One group wants to go 110 MPH. The other group wants to go 20MPH.

I know 2 guys who would not go over 55 mph during the 1st 500 miles on a new vehicle. This was a freeway posted at 70, everywhere.

At least one said ‘it’s in the manual’.

Drives me batshit insane everyday. Go as slow as you want...just let me by. They can't seem to figure that out though.

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Originally posted by Gustofer:
Drives me batshit insane everyday. Go as slow as you want...just let me by. They can't seem to figure that out though.

Same. Narcissism at its finest. The work I had to do this evening to get around people was something else. Bricking the fast lane on the highway now, is so common it’s rare you can even use it.

If I’m driving, it’s with purpose. I’ve got shit to do. I’d say half the drivers on the road here, or more, are driving distracted by their phones. I just pass them with reckless abandon. And if I can’t, I just get stuck behind them, and talk shit. The driving today is way worse than in the past. I mean it’s night/day bad. Covid, the phones, I think all these people just have rotted out brains. They don’t seem to have the ability to focus just on driving, and paying attention. It’s asking too much.

92f, my best guess is they think they are saving on gas doing this. I’ve never understood it either. My rural land gets like this sometimes. 55mph and they’ll be doing 45mph. It’s really not saving you any fuel.

Around here half of those dorks speed up when you try to pass them.

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Originally posted by sourdough44:
I know 2 guys who would not go over 55 mph during the 1st 500 miles on a new vehicle. This was a freeway posted at 70, everywhere.

At least one said ‘it’s in the manual’.

There's a simple and responsible solution to that if they feel so strongly about it...stay off the freeway for the first 500 miles!

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92f, my best guess is they think they are saving on gas doing this. I’ve never understood it either. My rural land gets like this sometimes. 55mph and they’ll be doing 45mph. It’s really not saving you any fuel.

Yeah, I guess that could be the thought process, but I agree with you, if that's why they're doing it they're deluding themselves.

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get stuck behind people going 40mph on these clear, straight, mostly empty roads.

These words don’t go together.

Here in South Florida in the winter it's AWEFUL. They are on a 2 lane road doing 20-25 mph for miles and miles when the speed limit is 35. Then on I-95 they clog the left lane doing 10 mph UNDER the speed limit.

My theory is-

People drive and function (or at least SHOULD) at the speed that they can mentally process.

There’s the ones that move through life faster than they can actually process things.
They eventually crash.

There’s the ones that can only process that they are the only ones moving through life. Not really aware that there’s other people around them, trying to get by.
They just get in the way.

There’s the ones that think that everyone else needs to move at their pace, they are the most important ones out there, and anyone moving faster is wrong.
These assholes purposely get in the way.

Welcome to Alaska in the summertime. Tourists in rented RV's, FOP's from the lower 48 in their RV's, tour busses, big ass boats being trailered and oversized equipment bound for the Slope. And all the signs stating to pull over if holding up more than 5 cars? They might as well be written in braille.

I understand driving the speed limit but I don’t subscribe to it.
I live in a town that has a BUNCH of retirees. Some slow poke driving at 10-15 under is just maddening!
Get over to the right and drive how you want. Stay in the left lane and my brights will be in your rear view mirrors…flashing.

Sometimes though, you just gotta take a deep breath and get through it.

Some people seem terrified of driving.

Around here the people driving 10-20 under the speed limit seem like they shouldn’t have driver’s licenses.