From mhonman@pins.co.zaSat Nov 25 00:27:15 1995
Date: Sat, 18 Nov 1995 12:25:26 GMT
From: Mark Honman <mhonman@pins.co.za>
Subject: speed limits

For your info, in South Africa the limits are 75MPH on most dual
carriageways, and 62MPH on major roads. As noted in my response to the
slow-joes suggestion, my two cars are rather different in performance.
However even the 13 year old Golf can comfortably cruise at these limits
(and that is my normal practice). In a Porsche it's always tempting to
drive fast - especially as one may have paid a lot of money for a car
able to do this safely - and as this brings about a high speed differential
I'll be sticking to "classic" Porsches where the fun happens between 50 and
100MPH. 

Perhaps another category of responsible driving is in the real of speed
differentials, for example if there is a recommended maximum speed (oops, meant
realm above) speed differential when passing should be no more than (say)
20MPH, if the speed is above the recommended maximum. I've been surprised
by very fast overtakers when driving the Golf, and must admit that I've
done the reverse to slower drivers in the 911. Other than a case where I found
pedestrians crossing round a blind bend, these have been the most dangerous
near-accidents I've experienced (no accidents in 13 yrs of Golf and 1 year
of Porsche driving - no tickets either, for that matter). 

I try to use lightly-travelled roads and avoid peak traffic. This has two
advantages:
  1) clear roads and light traffic mean high average speeds
  2) the thin "revenue stream" makes them unattractive to traffic cops
The route is often longer, but is inevitably a whole lot more *fun* (if I
wanted to blatt along at 100MPH practically any modern 1600cc car could do
it).

Cheers
Mark Honman 
Richards Bay, South Africa

From mhonman@pins.co.zaSat Nov 25 00:27:33 1995
Date: Sat, 18 Nov 1995 12:33:18 GMT
From: Mark Honman <mhonman@pins.co.za>
Subject: speed limits

Forgot to say that in S.A. it is *illegal* to drive in the RH lane (we are
RHD) when there is space in the LH lane(s), and it is *legal* to flash your
lights at someone who is bottling up traffic in these circumstances (passing
on the left is *illegal*. Have only had to do this once, and the blighter
wouldn't move over (despite others having gone past on the left) until I
put the lights on bright and left them there.

As an aside - one of the advantages of an "early" 911 is that many people 
are used to the speed of the 3.0l + cars and don't try to "race" when being
overtaken at a small speed differential (again something which is illegal
in SA, but a constant nuisance when I'm driving the VW Golf).

Mark