In all fairness, the 65-70 mph posted on most rural interstates is usually an uneventfully featureless speed, on uneventful, featureless roads. Meanwhile the urban grandfathered interstates are like NASCAR with a concrete wall to one side, and ruthless traffic inches to your side. And even sometimes on a suburban parkway signed for 45, with four lanes going the same way, you fear for your life as SUVs heading home from work weave around you to get two cars ahead.
There is a wide variance in driving difficulty throughout the day, even on the same stretch of road, and varying with the amount and nature of traffic, the sun in your eyes, wind, the weather. And as you say, driver assist and safety systems like widespread adaptive cruise control, electronic stability control, blind spot warning, emergency brake assist, and curtain airbags encourage a style of driving that's 'not truly defensive' at best, oblivious at worst. Because why not go the speed limit if cars are so safe and they've got your back?
This isn't misplaced nostalgia for the days when driving was more dangerous, but I do believe as cars get safer, situational awareness worsens and riskier behaviors are less likely to result in serious accidents -- so some drivers continue to take more risks.
> 65-70 mph posted on most rural interstates is usually an uneventfully featureless speed, on uneventful, featureless roads
This is true. 95% of the time, it would be just as safe to be cruising at 90 mph. But for those other 5% where there's an unexpected tire in the middle of the road, a deer, a driver who swerved into your lane or any other danger... a few extra milliseconds to react and respond is what makes the difference between a close call and severe damage.
This means driving is condemned to be a mostly boring activity, and in our present age where boredom is to be avoided at all costs, it becomes a magnet for distractions.
One solution is to drive a vehicle that requires more immersion: a stick shift car, a convertible, a jeep, a motorcycle, etc. These are vehicles which let you feel the road.
A manual car is only engaging below 50mph, above that you're in highest gear anyway. Any once you learn it, it becomes second nature and you don't really engage anymore, because it just happens as you drive.
I'd say more like 99.99% of the time, which is the problem. There's very rarely an unexpected obstacle.
Also, with a closing speed of 0, a driver swerving into your lane happens no more quickly at 90mph than at 50. (assuming they use correspondingly less steering input so the lateral speed remains the same).
But yeah, overall I agree with you. I kind of think every new driver should be forced to drive a Geo Metro or a Miata or something for the first couple of years. (as a former Miata owner, motorcyclist, and stick shift driver).
The buffer thing amazes me, I know people who drive 70 MPH leaving a 5 foot buffer between the and the car in front of them. I have a close my eyes sometimes it makes me so nervous. And it's rude to comment on other people's driving...
>This isn't misplaced nostalgia for the days when driving was more dangerous, but I do believe as cars get safer, situational awareness worsens and riskier behaviors are less likely to result in serious accidents -- so some drivers continue to take more risks.
You put this into words better than I did. I'm not suggesting we abandon all the improvements we've gotten in the last 30 years, just recognize how less effort required can breed disassociation with the task at hand.
There is a wide variance in driving difficulty throughout the day, even on the same stretch of road, and varying with the amount and nature of traffic, the sun in your eyes, wind, the weather. And as you say, driver assist and safety systems like widespread adaptive cruise control, electronic stability control, blind spot warning, emergency brake assist, and curtain airbags encourage a style of driving that's 'not truly defensive' at best, oblivious at worst. Because why not go the speed limit if cars are so safe and they've got your back?
This isn't misplaced nostalgia for the days when driving was more dangerous, but I do believe as cars get safer, situational awareness worsens and riskier behaviors are less likely to result in serious accidents -- so some drivers continue to take more risks.