I want to write about a small stretch of road near my house.
Although I live in a small town, a larger state highway runs
right through the middle of town. It brings people from
Phoenix to their favorite hunting, fishing, and skiing spots
"on the mountain," and it brings dollars in for local
businesses.
All the way through town that highway has four lanes, two in
each direction, plus a median and shoulders. It is wide, and
since it is maintained with state dollars, it is always in
good repair. From the looks of it, you might easily travel
at 65mph safely, but for the fact that you're in the middle
of a small town.
The actual legal speed limit on this road ranges from
between 35mph to 45mph in town, depending on where you are.
The particulat spot that I want to write about is in a
"census designated place" called "Wagon Wheel," where the
speed limit is 45mph. The local police generally tolerate
people drivers who go about 5-7mph over the speed limit.
For some unknown psychological reasons, 9 out of 10 people
will drive ~10mph+ over the limit right before they come in
to Wagon Wheel on the south end, and 9 out of 10 people will
drive 5-10mph under the limit going through Wagon Wheel
itself.
I started to notice this behavior because of my habit of
driving with "cruise control" turned on. In the speedy part,
folks would be passing me like madmen, while I'd be passing
those same people in the slow parts; all the while, my speed
was electronically maintained.
So, I started to wonder "why?" In the speedy part, you're
coming out of the close-to-the-road buildings and into the
forest. It "feels" more wild, and that might contribute to
people speeding there. There is a slight hill in the speedy,
part but people tend to speed going up or down it, so I'm
not sure if that is really a huge factor (if they only sped
downhill, perhaps that would be something.)
In the slow part, you could attribute the speed change to
the fact that you're "in town." But, there are buildings
both before and after the speedy part, and indeed on almost
all of the 260 as it winds through a few towns- but this
odd speedy/slow segment is only near Wagon Wheel.
My wondering hasn't really gotten me any answers; I'm still
convinced that there is some psychology going on there that
I don't quite grasp. I have found myself going both too
slow and too fast, but knowing that this oddity is there, I
try to keep things steady. The police have also noticed the
spot; they tend to hide out right in the middle of the
speedy area to wait for unsuspecting victims.
