Sloth crashes into crosswalk

A Sloth in a minivan was doing the usual nonsense, accelerating very
slowly from stops and blocking the left lane. After most of the blocked
traffic had passed the Sloth, it turned from the left lane into a
residential zone on the right, which has the usual posted speed limit of
50. Since it wanted to go 50 in the left lane of an 80 zone, it should
be going slower than 50 through the 50 zone. But the Sloth didn't like
the speed limit, and began speeding through the zone. Why do Sloths jam
up traffic on the larger roadways, but they speed up when they should be
driving slower? Speeding through a residential zone takes skill and
attention, something that Sloths don't have. The Sloth got stuck behind
a car that was going 50 and began tailgating, slowing down and speeding
up to tailgate again. Several pedestrians were crossing in the
crosswalk ahead, so the first car in line slowed to a stop. I began
slowing to a stop, but the Sloth accelerated and smashed into the
stopped car, pushing it into the crosswalk. The pedestrians had to run,
but weren't hit by the Sloth.

In article >, Alexander Rogge wrote:
> A Sloth in a minivan was doing the usual nonsense, accelerating very
> slowly from stops and blocking the left lane. After most of the blocked
> traffic had passed the Sloth, it turned from the left lane into a
> residential zone on the right, which has the usual posted speed limit of
> 50. Since it wanted to go 50 in the left lane of an 80 zone, it should
> be going slower than 50 through the 50 zone. But the Sloth didn't like
> the speed limit, and began speeding through the zone. Why do Sloths jam
> up traffic on the larger roadways, but they speed up when they should be
> driving slower? Speeding through a residential zone takes skill and
> attention, something that Sloths don't have. The Sloth got stuck behind
> a car that was going 50 and began tailgating, slowing down and speeding
> up to tailgate again. Several pedestrians were crossing in the
> crosswalk ahead, so the first car in line slowed to a stop. I began
> slowing to a stop, but the Sloth accelerated and smashed into the
> stopped car, pushing it into the crosswalk. The pedestrians had to run,
> but weren't hit by the Sloth.


Sounds like a typical slow-is-safe driver to me. A typical issue of
control. On the main road they can try to excerise control by slowing
everyone down other people. On the residential streets it's difficult to
excerise control in that fashion since most people are already going
slow. So intimidation to force people to go faster sets in.