On random days, there is a highway car sitting on the right shoulder using perhaps LIDAR. Traffic usually backs up on the LIE going west until the last exit ( Van Dam Street) and since many cars exit at that point, traffic becomes much lighter and cars tend to pick up speed. The speed limit on this section of the LIE is 45 MPH, and many people are unaware of this, so most vehicles are at least 5-10 miles above this speed, which normally is 50 in the city and 55 outside NYC.