It is obvious (at least to some of us) that conditions vary between locations. If you're at the legal speed limit and same speed as many other vehicles a "slow moving vehicle" indication
is clearly inappropriate, and the speed is clearly appropriate. This situation doesn't occur here in Alberta because we don't have a lower limit for trailers, but it does elsewhere.
In Alberta I generally tow on flat land at about 105 km/h, which is 5 km/h under the speed limit on the divided highways. I pass quite a few other vehicles at that speed, although of course more pass me... without incident, because I'm in the correct lane.
One suggestion is to tow on other highways. This can be a good idea, but it can be very bad. The other highways can run through every little town, which makes using them slow, inefficient, and more dangerous. In congested areas, the only "other highway" alternative to multi-lane freeways may be city streets.
There's also the problem that the speed which may be unusually slow for the multi-lane may still be slow enough on a two-lane secondary highway to cause a dangerous level of frustration. Alberta Highway 2 is divided and has two to three lanes in direction, with a 110 km/h limit; the parallel alternatives (such as Hwy 21) are two-lane (undivided) mostly with a 100 km/h limit. It is far safer for traffic to pass a 90 km/h trailer on the freeway than to try for a gap in oncoming traffic to do it on the two-lanes.
Quote:
Originally Posted by cpaharley2008
... put your blinkers on like trucks do when driving slower than the max limit.
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Yes, but the hazard flashers (blinkers) are for traffic
much slower than the general traffic speed, such as as the trucks crawling up 6% mountain grades as fast as they can go, and still only half the speed of the cars. I don't think that running at the speed limit for your vehicle type fits. If someone were driving at 90 km/h (55 mph) in the right-hand lane on the busiest inter-city highway here in Alberta (Hwy 2), where the limit is 110 km/h and most vehicles are between 100 km/h and 130 km/h, I think most of us would not expect that vehicle to be using hazard flashers.
The idea of simply making the trailer more noticeable seems much better to me than labeling it as "slow moving".