Traveling by interstate highways provides a fast but limited view of the country. Speeds vary from 65 mph to 80 mph. You need a vehicle that will keep pace reliably at such speeds.
Many people believe that 55 mph delivers the optimum fuel savings and, therefore, absolutely refuse to drive faster. Well, if you are driving 55 mph in an 80 mph zone, your fuel savings will be nil if you cause an accident. Other drivers expect traffic to flow at the same relative speed. Consider this: if you are driving 35 mph on your local street and there are several vehicles beside and behind you, what happens if you suddenly come upon someone riding a bike directly in your lane? Everyone, including you, will be scrambling to move to the outer lane to avoid a collision. It’s likely that someone will not stop in time to avoid hitting that person in the middle of the road. Ratchet that up to tractor-trailer rigs going 75 mph – you all know they have limited stopping power - and the certainty of a rear-end collision ratchets up exponentially. Big rigs, including RVs, can’t be swerving from lane to lane to avoid folks who either refuse to or can’t drive faster than the speed limit allows. So, if you can’t keep up the speed, don’t drive the interstate highways.
It is a universal truth that traffic will speed up at the entrance of a city and that the interstates traversing said city will be miserably worse – potholes, rough bridges – you name it, it’s bad. Sometimes all you can do is hang on and pray. Or, as a sticker touts: “Get in, sit down, shut up, hang on”.
I’ve found that US highways and State highways are preferable over interstates where possible.
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