Sensible Speeding...

I might sound like a grumpy old guy on this one. But, I couldnt help but notice this obvious fact that we all violate at some point of time or the other. So, my conscience wanted me to bring this topic up to the podium. It is about driving. I always thought that, passing all the cars in a road would mean that I am going to reach the destination much faster than others. But, when I did some simple math, it was obvious that I was wrong, especially comparing the risk to benefit trade off.

My reasoning stems from a basic comparison between driving at 75mph on a 65mph highway. Let us say we have to travel 25 miles, it would take 20 minutes if we drive at 75mph and 23 minutes if we drive at 65 mph. This is assuming the fact that there is no one slowing down the freeway, which is almost always the case. You can make the calculation for other numbers and surprise yourself..:)... If you travel a very long distance, the minutes difference could be sizeable. Still, remember that speed is always limited by the slowest vehicle on the road. If everyone is doing a higher speed, thats a different story. If you do a simple risk to trade-off analysis, it doesnt make much sense to drive fast when you are travelling to a nearby destination. You are not saving any time. If you drive fast just for the heck of it, to keep your adrenaline pumping, thats a different story as well.

It is also a universal fact that higher RPMs translate to higher energy consumption. So, if you are pressing hard on the accelerator when the light turns green, you are not necessarily translating all that power generated to useful purpose. Higher RPMs are bad for the engine and tires (if you produce one of those smoking effect). I dont hate speeding. I just think we should do some sensible speeding. That way, we are not putting our lives or others at risk.