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[Karlito]

Slightly more less than a 16th, actually.

[Mono124]

The US takes up about 1/16 of the entire Earth's land surface.

While it's true that the US is fairly large in comparison to some other countries, that seems a little big to me.

If I remember correctly, the U.S. is about 3,800,000 square miles, and the world landmass wise is about 60,000,000 square miles... so the U.S. is about 6.3% of the Earth's land surface, or roughly 1/16.

EDIT: Ninja'd

[SalmonGod]

You're severely overestimating your ability, Salmon. People like you are the reason so many die or get injured for life on the roads, and you're more than likely to cause an accident one day. Hopefully you'll have the self distance then to not blame the other driver, and victim, for your mistakes. Pre-edit: Oh, you already been in several, and learned nothing from them. Great.

First, you're accusing me of being reckless/over-estimating my ability for wanting to drive at the speed that is legally labeled as safe to drive...  Being unable to do that is the ONLY thing I have had complaint about in this thread, and I've even said that it only causes me serious rage when it's caused by multiple slow people clogging up multiple lanes, instead of leaving one lane open to those who want to go the speed limit as is widely considered to be common driving etiquette.

I've had three car accidents.

#1 - Three lane road.  I was in the left-most lane.  There was only one other vehicle around.  They were about one car length ahead on my right.  We were both doing 40 mph in a 40 mph zone.  They abruptly turned in front of me, without using a turn signal or even slowing down.  They were attempting to make a full 90 degree turn from the middle lane into the parking lot of the business on our left.  Obviously, I hit them.  Nobody was hurt.  He apologized.  We exchanged insurance info.  That was it.

#2 - Fresh, light dusting of snow on the interstate during rush hour.  Everybody, including me, was driving about 25-30 mph, when the speed limit was 55 mph.  Guy beside me lost control and side-swiped me.  Nobody was hurt.  He apologized.  We exchanged info.  That was it.

These two accidents both happened within my first couple years of driving, and it was a hellish couple years.  I literally avoided hundreds of people who seemed to be trying to kill me.  I was run off the road several times by people moving into my lane without checking first.  I avoided dozens of accidents because of people doing otherwise illegal or reckless stuff, similar to accident #1.  People who regularly rode with me even commented that I seemed to be a magnet for other vehicles.  Some mysterious force just made them all want to veer right into me.  This was during the period that I drove constantly under the speed limit and was super worried about safety.  My driver training had taught me to knock 5 mph off my speed for every adverse condition, which meant if it was dark, rainy, populated area, and plenty of traffic around that I was supposed to go 20 under.  I actually stuck to these rules almost all the time.  Over these couple years I got increasingly more paranoid.  Until...

#3 - This one was my fault.  Three lane road.  The middle and left lanes were shut down a couple blocks ahead due to construction, and they were backed up for several blocks with vehicles trying to merge into the right lane.  I was cruising along in the right lane at about 10 under the speed limit.  I was incredibly goddamn paranoid at this point.  I was completely convinced that one of those people was going to try and jump into my lane at any moment.  I was watching the line of blinking turn signals to my left very, very closely.  I didn't notice the light in front of me turn red just a couple seconds before I reached the intersection.  Mashed corners with the vehicle at the front of cross-traffic, totalling both of them.  A lady in the other vehicle pulled a muscle in her shoulder.

I realized that my excessive paranoia caused that accident and resolved that I would be a more relaxed driver from then on.  I would drive the speed limit and be more concerned with my responsibilities on the road than with other people neglecting theirs.  When I did this, I started having far less trouble.  Other people seemed less crazy, and I've had to avoid FAR less accidents.  It doesn't even make any sense, but it's worked.  Maybe people did crazy shit around me because I made them impatient, or maybe I just didn't fit myself into the flow of traffic.  I've been driving for 12 years, and haven't had any trouble for the last 9.

I'm also perfectly capable of driving on solid ice, and have kept control of the car when a tire literally exploded right out from under me (loud bang/half the tire torn to shreds).

The motorcycle accident was an isolated incident, when I only had a couple months of riding experience.  There was a turn carved into a large hillside that looked really wide, but was actually fairly sharp and even doubled back a little bit.  You couldn't tell because of it being at roughly eye level from a distance, causing perspective wierdness until you got closer.  I overshot it into the ditch at about 40 mph, and learned that protective gear really works.  The bike was mangled beyond repair.  I got a slightly sprained ankle and a little scratch on my stomach.

Edit:  I completely agree with Kaijyuu that the best answer is more public transport.  I would totally be up for hopping on a train every day and then walking a bit more, but mostly I think that people who are not comfortable driving simply should not be forced into a situation where they have to do it anyway.  There is almost zero public transportation where I live (Indianapolis).

[Yoink]

See, this is why motor vehicles are bad- in addition to roads killing natural habitat, fumes killing the environment and high-speed crashes killing humans, they also make everyone really fucking impatient.
(See, with a smiley I can make the most confrontational statement seem harmless and light-hearted!)

[Sirus]

Huh...looking at a world map, it doesn't seem quite that big

I'm guessing it's because Alaska, the largest state by area, is separated from the rest of the states. Perception check fail.

[Leafsnail]

Slightly more than a 16th, actually.

That includes the area of the US that isn't land.  But yeah, it's still about a 16th.

[Karlito]

Oops.

[sneakey pete]

On a slightly related note, the area of the island of great britian (eg, not including ireland) could fit in the rocket range we had here in Australia in the 60's.

I'm generally a patient driver (helps that i don't commute via car), however there are times when I go to certain country mountain roads for a single reason: to enjoy driving. It really, really bugs me when there's people who will stay on one of these roads, more often than not doing 10-20 below the limit, seemingly oblivious to the fact that i'm sitting right behind them, when there are slow vehicle passing bays on the road. I've sometimes resorted to overtaking on double lines, in a moment of RRAAAAAGGGGEEEE.

On the other hand, sometimes i get top blokes (and gals) who will pull over at the first moment and let me past!

[MaximumZero]

My home state is about the size of the UK. On top of that, we have a shitload of fresh water, too.

[nenjin]

What some people don't understand is this: in America, 35 is your average speed for main streets. 25 is the speed relegated for residentials, neighborhoods and places with kids.

When you're on a major street driving the speed reserved for schools and neighborhoods, you're a problem. You're a problem if it's a one lane road, it's 5pm, and there are 80 fucking cars behind you all wondering the same thing. "Why am I almost rear-ending the person in front of me driving the speed limit?" "Why am I sitting here rolling 15 mph in neutral, sweating my ass off, for no other apparent reason than that guy up there?"

Driving at that little below limit doesn't cause any accidents unless the people driving into them is extremely careless and self-absorbed.

You mean like the careless and self-absorbed dickhole who can't drive the speed limit, because they're some kind of special snowflake who the basic rules of the road don't apply to?

Yeah, I agree, they're a big problem.

See, the difference is, when I speed I acknowledge that I'm doing something "bad." And yet, slow drivers seem to think they're driving on some higher plane of existence and everyone else is just impatient. It's not about time, money or anything else besides equality. At the speed limit, everyone is equal. Below the speed limit, everyone is only going as fast as the one stupid, self-absorbed, careless dink.

[scriver]

Dude, get some anger management training or something, because being so angry over people doing something they're allowed to do, and which is in fact smart if you're an inexperienced or uncomfortable driver, is not healthy. It's speed limit, meaning "don't drive faster", not "don't drive slower". You only get dangerous when you get way down below the speed limit, and mostly then you have a "slow vehicle warning" sign slapped upon you rear end.

[Lagslayer]

Actually, there are ways you can get in trouble, even if you follow the rules to the letter. Let's say you are on the interstate. The speed limit is 55, and most people are going 75+. If there's just one guy going 55, the cop on the side of the road can pull that person over and charge them with obstructing traffic. Because it's easier to stop one person than it is a couple thousand. Your safest chance is to just be a good little herd animal and just not stand out in any way.

It's bullshit, though, if you ask me.

[nenjin]

Dude, get some anger management training or something, because being so angry over people doing something they're allowed to do, and which is in fact smart if you're an inexperienced or uncomfortable driver, is not healthy. It's speed limit, meaning "don't drive faster", not "don't drive slower". You only get dangerous when you get way down below the speed limit, and mostly then you have a "slow vehicle warning" sign slapped upon you rear end.

I don't know who you're talking to, but if you think driving under the speed limit on something like the interstate is smart, you need your license revoked. In Germany, they'll ticket your ass for driving under the speed limit on the Autobahn. And as mentioned above, you'll get ticketed in the US too if you go slow enough.

If you're an insecure driver, stay off main streets. Stay out of rush hour. Stay off the interstate. Or do some driving to get comfortable. But don't subject the rest of the people around you to your BS insecurities when they know what they're doing and want to get the fuck home. If 5 mph to reach the speed limit is too much for your delicate faculties, you're a bigger danger by far than the rest of motorists.

I can follow someone driving 30 mph without falling apart, angry as I may be. Why the reverse isn't true for them is a mystery.

[SalmonGod]

It appears that Scriver doesn't understand that IN AMERICA, time is money. Every minute is extremely valuable. Every minute that you're late to a job is a chance that you will lose that job. Every minute that you leave early is wasted time, because you could have been doing something more important than waiting on some jackass who won't drive to society's standards, like checking stocks or reading important news. You also have to realize that distances between urban areas in the US are fucking enormous. The US takes up about 1/16 of the entire Earth's land surface.

Yeah, I described how this effects me earlier.  I really feel the effects of losing two hours of my time a week to traffic.

And the reason is there's a "hurry up and wait" mentality in America towards customers and employees.  My workplace, for example, treats lateness as an absolute.  A single second late is exactly the same as four hours late.  I'm allowed to be late 6 times in a six month period, 7 times is a verbal warning, 8 times is a written warning, 9 times is fired.  This is essentially the company forcing the cost of unpredictable delays onto me.  If I aim to get to work on time, the tardies pile on fast.  I have to be there early every single day to account for the unpredictability of bad luck in traffic (or occasionally bad luck at home).  I could give myself 20 minutes (double the amount of time it would take if everyone drove the speed limit) to get to work and be there on time 18 days out of the week (very rough estimate).  Those other two work days that some bad luck makes me a few minutes late would get me fired.  So I have to waste my time getting to work early 18 days out of a month, just so that the company doesn't have to deal with me wasting a few minutes of their time 2 days out of a month.

You only get dangerous when you get way down below the speed limit, and mostly then you have a "slow vehicle warning" sign slapped upon you rear end.

This is exactly what I've been describing, though.  The speed limit for 4/5 of my commute is 45 mph.  I get stuck every single day behind people going 10-15 under that.  That's a huge portion of the speed limit.  Most days, I only get stuck at those speeds for portions of my commute.  On days when I am stuck at that speed for the entire time, my commute ends up 2.5x longer what it would have been at the speed limit.  That is more than a minor nuisance, and the only reason for it is inconsiderate driving BECAUSE THERE ARE TWO FUCKING LANES.

[penguinofhonor]

Actually, there are ways you can get in trouble, even if you follow the rules to the letter. Let's say you are on the interstate. The speed limit is 55, and most people are going 75+. If there's just one guy going 55, the cop on the side of the road can pull that person over and charge them with obstructing traffic. Because it's easier to stop one person than it is a couple thousand. Your safest chance is to just be a good little herd animal and just not stand out in any way.

It's bullshit, though, if you ask me.

No it's not. Forcing everyone else to dodge you is a dick move.

You've got to actually have a little critical thinking, common sense, and reaction to your surroundings, not just blindly following speed limits like they're the word of god.