Posted on 03/02/2006 7:29:00 PM PST by Turbopilot
They knew it was dangerous.
"We could have really been hurt," said one of the Atlanta college students after their experiment.
It won't win an Oscar, but 'A Meditation on the Speed Limit,' a short film that was the brainchild of college student Andy Medlin, is quite a hit.
Some strange scenes, including a car passing in the emergency lane, were the product of Georgia State students simply following the speed limit.
"I was pretty sure that I was doing something stupid," said another.
That may be true. But, young and brash, they had a plan.
They wanted to go the speed limit on I-285.
In four cars, on all four lanes, the students from Georgia State University and other local colleges paced the entire midmorning flow of Perimeter traffic behind them at 55 mph for half an hour. They call it "an act of civil obedience."
"I get a lot of tickets," said Andy Medlin, 20, the Georgia State student who came up with the idea. "The best way to expose the flaws in the system is by following it."
Thankfully, they survived unharmed, though much maligned. The eight students captured it all on video for a student film competition, and the five-minute piece has fired up the country this week on blogs, talk radio, and national news broadcasts.
"NPR was the first biter," said Jordan Streiff, 21, the group's experienced filmmaker and an Asian Studies major at Georgia State. "Initially, we were going to be on ABC's cable network and Web site, but overnight the traffic to the video spiked so they put it on World News Tonight."
The film, "A Meditation on the Speed Limit," was intended as a drama, but won best comedy for Georgia last month at the Campus MovieFest, a traveling movie competition. It will compete against other states' winners for a national title later this spring, said David Roemer, one of the film festival's founders.
In the meantime, driven by blog attention to the video that Streiff posted on Google, a national discussion has bloomed about what is legal and what is right. One of the filmmakers, Georgia State student Amanda Hunter, was interviewed about it on Neal Boortz's radio show on WSB.
"It's just so overwhelming," Hunter said Thursday, after leaving a midterm exam on Sufism and Islamic mysticism. "Jordan's calling me today like, 'Do you have time for CBS?' I called him back and he said, 'Don't worry about that now, just take your test.'"
David Spear, a spokesman for the state Department of Transportation, said if the students weren't blocking emergency vehicles and were going the speed limit, "they didn't do a thing wrong." Spear added that the speed limit was lowered to 55 because it saves lives. "In Atlanta, the actual effect of it is we expect the people going 75 to move over so the people going 95 can have the right of way," he said.
There was little doubt what the students' companions on the road thought that sunny Friday in January. The video shows drivers' steadily mounting hostility to the blockade. Cars honk. They drive onto the shoulder to speed around the students. Obscene gestures are made. The money shot, however, was captured beautifully by Hunter, who stood with her camera on the Church Street bridge over I-285 to watch the approaching traffic.
What she saw was ... nothing. An empty highway, with one or two stray cars. And then, like the hordes on the horizon, over the rise come the students backed by a phalanx of cars, cars, cars. The film plays it for all it's worth, bouncing the image back and forth to the funky beat of the Guru Fish song "Plush."
"It was so fantastic," said Hunter. "I just started jumping up and down and going crazy. There's beeping horns and craziness."
Then it passed, Hunter said, and a woman driving on the bridge stopped and asked, "What was the point of all that?"
Hunter explained the project. It was to make people think, she said.
The woman amicably rolled her eyes, Hunter recalled. "It was kind of like, 'Oh, you kids and your statements.'"
Even better would be a law requiring you to keep right except to pass,...PA does. And they have troopers who hate NJ drivers going down the middle of the PATP.
Our freeways are designed for much higher speeds. I'd sure like to see limits of 75 on the freeway.
I drive faster. I have to get to work. Highways were designed for rapid travel. 80 is normal for me....New cars (if properly maintained) are also safer than when the speed limit of 55 was thought up. My Tib at 90 mph is much more stable than my KR 500 was at 70 mph.
If I move to Texas, I will use my Emperor of the World powers to limit the slow drivers to county and township roads. If that's a problem, they'll only be permitted to use bicycles and rickshaws. The ones that really tee me off will only be permitted to travel on foot when I am asleep.
Just wait until you see my solution thatfor people who get in the 10 Item or Less checkout lines with a cart full of stuff! You'll love it!!
You said -- "By the laws of physics, perhaps, but by no law of this country."
Well, I've seen it happen in two states -- Oregon and Texas. In both cases, people traveling the speed limit were "blocking" traffic in the left lanes (on a freeway, in both states).
I say "blocking" because there were cars in all lanes across the freeway. In Oregon, it was three lanes and three cars across. In Texas, it was two lanes and cars in each (I was the other car).
In both states, even if you are going up to the speed limit, if you are "blocking" the lane, you are going to get a ticket. Like I said -- I saw it happen (plus the fact that I know it's a law, too in both states).
That's why I said in another post, that what a person better do is accelerate around the other car, even if it means going faster than the speed limit -- and then slow back down when you pull over a lane to the right.
I've done that several times with a state trooper behind me. They usually come up on you really fast, even if you are going the speed limit. You can accelerate to faster than the speed limit and then slow back down again -- as long as you do it almost immediately.
Regards,
Star Traveler
Yes, it does have to do with the speed limit. Yes, it's unsafe if people are having to brake and take evasive maneuvers, but if it is because they are going way beyond the maximum allowable speed, that's their fault. Trying to put blame on the person who is going as fast as possible under the law rather than the person speeding is ridiculous.
It wont be fiction when it happens.
In essence, the speed limit is discretionary, and the "effective" speed limit varies based upon how many tickets Mr. Officer needs to write....
Which section of the Constitution authorizes the federal government to set speed limits?
How come nobody called *47? The Highway Patrol would have put an expensive end to this stunt.
When you're driving across country, it should be 75. Used to be you hit Nebraska and Iowa, you had to drop from 75 to 55, just idiotic. It has changed though. By the way, out in Nevada, Utah, Colorado, Montana Wyoming, I never do under a 100. Never got a ticket either.
"Even better would be a law requiring you to keep right except to pass,...PA does. And they have troopers who hate NJ drivers going down the middle of the PATP."
Great. Clog already clogged roads MORE, and give the donut munchers another 50,000 cars to choose from when it comes time to fill the monthly coffers.
That said, I always wanted to do just what these college kids did - follow the stupid speed limit rules, clog up the highway with infuriated drivers, and cause general havoc by following the letter of the law.
No and no. The law requires traffic going slower than the posted speed limit to move to the right. Also, by going the speed limit they were not 'impeding traffic'. Had they been going 54 mph they would have been impeding traffic. As it was, they were only impeding speeders, which is not illegal. They were not blocking emergency lanes, nor were they blocking emergency vehicles. Nope, no laws broken. Were they being obnoxious? Yes, but that in itself is not illegal, either. At least they didn't shut the road down completely like they do for bridge jumpers or crane sitters!
I really don't have a problem with this little act of civil obedience with one caveat - blocking emergency vehicles is dangerous, inconsiderate, and illegal. However, the kiddies should not be surprised that people got upset at them - when you step into someone's life and use them for your own purposes, whether that be politics or performance art, you are courting a punch in the nose for presumption whether you are technically legal or not.
A couple of Drivers/writers from Road and Track proved this long ago. The safest highway is when people all drive around the SAME speed. If traffic is moving at 80, drive 80.
If you do not like how slow the person in front of you is going, then you should get up earlier. Sounds like theses people were effectively setting the flow of traffic.
The snide and tepid point has been made time and again. Notwithstanding, federal laws exist. You are welcome to break them and then deal with the aftermath.
You said -- "And you are relying on the trooper's discretion in not ticketing you for violating the law."
Well, if you're talking about getting a ticket for impeding traffic in the left lane, you wouldn't get that if you move over. In other words, as long as you "pass" and get around and then over to the right -- you're not impeding traffic. The ticket will happen if you're "sitting there" and blocking that lane of traffic -- just because you happen to be going the speed limit. You can't do that -- even if you are going the speed limit. Therefore, what I'm saying is that as long as you *pass* and get out of the way, there's not a problem (with "impeding").
But, if you're talking about getting a ticket for "speeding" -- you wouldn't get it as long as you *get around* and slow down again. Speeding up is preferable to slowing down (to go back in the right lane) -- because if it's a question of "impeding traffic" -- slowing down is going to impede it even further. Speeding up to get around and then slow down again (immediately) -- is not going to get you a ticket.
Again, the scenario is first going the speed limit, and gradually passing, but having traffic coming up behind you with you starting to "impede traffic". In that case, you speed up faster than the speed limit for a few seconds, and then immediately slow back down again when you get over.
So, either way, you're not going to be getting ticket.
Regards,
Star Traveler
You said -- "That doesn't make any sense. You can't be cited legally for impeding someone's "right" to go 25 MPH over the speed limit especially if you are already going the maximum allowable speed."
Well, in Texas and Oregon (from the law and from me seeing it happen) you can very well get ticketed for impeding traffic. No matter whether it makes sense to your own logic -- it is the law and it happens.
Regards,
Star Traveler
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.