Highway 62 Odd Speed Behaviors

Below, you will find Report #0001, titled Highway 62 Odd Speed Behaviors. This report looks at a small portion of Highway 62 that connects Prairie Grove, Arkansas, and Lincoln, Arkansas, specifically westbound traffic (Prairie Grove to Lincoln). 

In the report, you will notice that the majority of the portion of Highway 62 we're looking at has a 55MPH speed limit; with this, vehicles tend to exhibit odd speed behaviors. In less than 3.5 miles, some drivers exhibit a difference of 25MPH in speed, with an unchanged speed limit. 

Drivers will tend to slow down around the first bend, even though it's pretty minor. Drivers will slow down around the second bend even more, even though it's also pretty minor. Although it does have a slight incline as you finish the bend, most drivers have slowed down to 45MPH before that incline. 

These behaviors can be easily attributed to safe driving techniques, slowing down around corners, and preparing for unknown conditions around unforeseeable corners. Although this is all thrown out the window when we arrive at the third bend, this bend, just as minor as the previous two bends, sees drivers increase speed. On the third bend, only the westbound lanes open up to two-lane, and there is a steep incline, but on this portion, drivers typically speed up to upwards of 70MPH (15MPH over the speed limit) until they reach the top of the incline and speeds typically resume normal behavior.

There can be many theories made for these behaviors, but we believe this to be the most feasible:

Drivers are typically driving on "auto-pilot" where they aren't paying much attention to speed and driving while driving on these 55MPH two-lane highways, this causes drivers to slow down around bends because that is what most vehicles will do around bends if you are not actively paying attention to holding a specific speed. This changes when the road opens to three lanes, with two lanes for westbound traffic; here, drivers tend to pay more attention and speed up to the speed they actually want to travel at, which for a majority of drivers is 60MPH on a 55MPH highway. This causes a disruption between drivers who were paying attention the entire time and drivers who weren't. The attention drivers will want to pass the non-attention drivers because they have been stuck behind them, failing to maintain speed for the last 3 miles; non-attention drivers attempt to prevent this by speeding up more than 60MPH and causes the attention drivers to speed up more than that and only one of them can make it to the top of the hill first. 

This coupled with older vehicles, large trucks, etc trying to make it up the hill, Arkansas law to use the right lane only to pass, drivers needing to be in the left lane at the top of the hill to make the left turn onto Highway 45, and the right lane ending around 200 feet after that turn onto Highway 45 causes disasters on this short portion of Highway 62. These behaviors are especially noticed during the 5 o'clock rush.