When my wife Sue & I are driving, locally or on one of our road trips, we’ve noticed that drivers have no idea how fast they’re going. Speed Limit signs are no longer even considered a suggested “speed limit,” but more like something that should be considered a minimum speed.
Speedometers
In 1902, German engineer Otto Schulze patented the speedometer and Oldsmobile would be the first American car company to factory install them into their vehicles. However, speedometers were originally considered an option, that owners could buy.
It wasn’t until 1910 that speedometers started becoming standard equipment in American automobiles.
How to Become a Road Hazard
If you really want to put your life in jeopardy, try traveling the posted speed limit. We have, and there’s not a single vehicle that will follow us. NOT ONE.
The Drive Rite Academy says: Speed limit signs serve as a guide for drivers to maintain a safe and appropriate speed, based on the type of road, traffic, and environmental conditions. They are designed to protect both drivers and pedestrians by reducing the risk of accidents and ensuring smooth traffic flow.
KEY POINTS:
- The number on the sign represents the maximum speed you’re legally allowed to drive, under ideal driving conditions.
- Ideal driving conditions include clear weather, dry roads, and low traffic.
- It’s important to note that the posted speed limit is NOT a target speed. Drivers should adjust their speed based on traffic and weather conditions, even if it means driving below the posted limit.
Does Your Car Have a Speedometer?
The question posed at the beginning of this section is rhetorical. Every vehicle built and sold for use on our highways and byways in America comes equipped with a speedometer, but we’re beginning to wonder if today’s drivers know how to use them.
Speed Limit signs are the law on our roadways.
Once upon a time, Americans believed no one was above the law. But those days are now in the rearview mirror. 99% of today’s drivers believe that speed limit signs don’t apply to them.
And don’t get me started on drivers who don’t come to a full-stop at STOP SIGNS.
AM Radio
It’s why I chuckle when the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) will try again in the 119th Congress to pass their “AM Radio in Every Vehicle Act.”
Personally, I believe, it’s more important that every vehicle come equipped with an FM radio, as that’s what the majority of Americans use – if they listen to broadcast radio at all.
Just Because…
Just because a vehicle has an AM radio – or speedometer for that matter – doesn’t mean anyone will use them for their safety, or that of their passengers.
DickTaylorBlog 
Actually Dick I take a slightly opposite view. I feel some of the Interstate speeds are too slow, and suggest that the signs be changed to “Suggested Speed” on Interstates. As long as you don’t cause an accident you can do faster speeds. Of course if you cause harm, they throw the book at you.
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Well Paul, it appears that today’s Speed Limit signs are nothing more than “suggested limits” as no one pays any attention to them.
And if people feel it’s OK to violate our speed laws, what other laws do they also feel don’t apply to them? It’s a slippery slope and we are sliding down if fast as a country.
-DT
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I grew up on AM radio, back when it was still exciting and entertaining. I started my career at an AM station. I still like AM radio, although most of my AM listening is over the Internet these days. But sadly, most AM (also FM and TV) programming I hear is boring .
To survive, any station has to provide something listeners *want*, whether it’s music, news, weather, traffic info or something else; it has to present it in an attractive, professional package; and it has to include a strong focus on the local community. Perhaps most of all, it has to be run and staffed by genuine broadcasters instead of corporate people who are focused mainly on making the most money for the company while spending the least. Provide what people want, and people will find and support it — even if it’s on supposedly-dying AM radio.
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Excellent points, Walter.
If you have unengaging and boring content — whether it’s AM, FM or Streaming — people will not be attracted to it.
The reality today is, most AM radio stations are automated/syndicated robots, that often are the last place to go if you want to know what’s happening in your area.
As Valerie Geller always says, NEVER BE BORING.
-DT
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Police have a unique and powerful tool
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They are “powerless” to really do much when traffic is flowing at 20+ miles over the posted LIMIT.
I don’t blame the police, but today’s drivers who simply believe they are above the law.
-DT
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The far right wants to preserve AM radio on the dash, because that’s where all their talk radio resides. Broadcasters want to preserve AM radio, because the automakers would prefer to just eliminate radio altogether. There’s no income stream from it, whereas the other services provide them with a piece of that ongoing bonanza.
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It isn’t just the far right. It’s anyone who wants to listen to stations outside the local area, beyond the range of FM.
When a tornado hit my town (and my home) two years ago, every AM and FM station in my normal listening area (including Memphis, TN) was either off the air, running nighttime or emergency reduced power, covering conditions only in Memphis itself (I’m in an adjacent county) or running canned programming that ignored the emergency. While I got most of the info I wanted from my fellow Ham Radio operators, the only useful BROADCAST coverage came via a 50KW AM station some 200 miles away in Nashville.
When disaster strikes, AM stations — especially those with older, all-tube transmitters as backups — beat all else for getting the word out to the public. Really powerful FMs can be useful too, provided you’re in their fringe reception areas …. and staffed nights/weekends.
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Walter, I understand what you’re saying, but the reality for a commercial broadcaster is, running an AM radio station 24/7 is not financially viable when there are no listeners.
I had a radio station that was a full-time news/talk information station, with a full-time sports director and live traffic reports from a plane in the sky.
The audience numbers didn’t justify its existence — and that was in the 1980s. Now, 40+ years later, it really wouldn’t except that now the station has an FM dial position.
Unless government wants to subsidize AM radio and keep it alive for emergencies, it’s time to move on.
I would endorse having local FM stations that can deliver the coverage of their AM stations to provide such a local service both in normal times as well as in emergencies and have written about this in the past.
I also could see making a case of a national AM high power service that could tie the country together in emergency situations. Radio stations that are fully staffed and provide a REAL service when there aren’t any emergencies.
-DT
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