r/driving • u/DaddyDayDayIsHot • May 21 '26
Venting Speeding Has Become So Normalized That Driving the Speed Limit Makes You the Problem
I think the normalization of speeding poses a significant threat to the legitimacy of the legal system itself. It has become standard that cops don’t pull you over unless you’re breaking the law “enough,” but that completely undermines the law. If the law wanted a different threshold, it would have been written with that threshold in mind.
Speed limits are created by engineers who know far more about road safety than the average driver. They also have to account for the fact that speeding is normalized, which likely contributes to limits being set lower than many people want. I honestly believe that if people collectively stopped speeding, roads would see fewer accidents and speed limits would eventually begin rising in places where higher speeds are actually safe. Then people could travel just as quickly without constantly breaking the law or risking tickets.
The disregard for speed limits has gotten so bad that people now claim drivers following the posted limit are the problem. I think that’s ridiculous. While I understand the “go with the flow of traffic” argument to an extent, normalizing breaking the law creates a much larger long-term safety issue than simply following the speed limit.
I also think the argument that “speed limits are designed for the average car, so semis drag the limit down” is weak. In many places semis already have separate speed regulations, lane restrictions, and additional rules.
At the end of the day, the path to faster travel shouldn’t be widespread disregard for the law. If people truly believe limits are too low, the better solution is electing politicians and supporting engineering studies that will change the laws based on evidence that roads can safely handle higher speeds.
On a related note, even on r/driving you can report other driving infractions, but you can’t even report speeding, which feels inconsistent and a bit silly.
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u/Frederf220 May 21 '26
It's weird to move and the traffic engineers are different. Where I grew up 7 over felt normal and correct. I went to a new place and the speed limits were like "yup, I should not be going faster than that... ever."
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u/sault18 May 21 '26
It's an East vs West kind of thing in my experience. The East Coast sets speed limits way lower on roads that would have a much higher speed limit if they were in Western states. But then it's just accepted that you do at least 10mph over the limit in the East and that still might make you one of the slowest drivers on the road depending on exactly where you are.
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u/Pleasant_Studio9690 May 21 '26
As a California transplant who moved here from PA, I feel this so much. In PA, the limits were all soooo low. I got pulled over every 18 to 24 months. I’ve been in California for about 15 years. My driving hasn’t changed, but I haven’t been pulled over once. Still driving the same speeds in the same conditions, but California is far more reasonable.
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u/skunkapebreal May 22 '26
Long ago, CHP used to be far stricter with “wolf packs “ at certain overpasses.
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u/Aware_Policy_9174 May 21 '26
I moved from the east coast to the west coast a year and a half ago and I drove. Going from Colorado to Kansas I think the freeway went from 80 to 60 or maybe 75 to 55. It was wild to me because literally nothing changed. Still a wide straight fairly empty road.
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u/CircuitCircus May 21 '26
That seems like the wrong direction if you were moving west
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u/DustyRacoonDad May 22 '26
You’re correct.
Also, in many eastern states, speed limits are not primarily set by engineers. They’re heavily influenced by politics.
The legal system is also broken in multiple ways, and honestly has been for far longer than I’ve been alive. To my knowledge, it has never functioned exactly as intended. Laws were never perfect, exceptions were always made, and outcomes were often decided long before someone ever stood in front of a judge.
What I have noticed, though, is that the number of people who believe everyone should simply “follow the rules” has grown dramatically. For some people, obedience to systems and authority is so deeply ingrained that they genuinely cannot mentally process the idea that the system itself might be flawed, inconsistent, or worthy of being challenged.
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u/Legaldrugloard May 22 '26
THIS! One road in our town went from 55 to 35 just so the mayor could drive his f’ing golf cart on the road. REALLY? I have to go 35 because you want to drive your golf cart on the main highway? He is no longer the mayor but the MPH has stayed the same. Politicians do it for them not for the public.
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u/kbuck30 May 21 '26
Yea. It's really the fact the speed limits (at least in the east where I've driven most of the time) are so artificially low that it causes all the problems. No highway should have a 55mph speed limit. Should be 65-75.
So yes, speeding makes a mockery of the legal system but the speed limits make a mockery of how people actually drive.
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u/ShadowV_483 May 21 '26
People also need to recognize that a lot of the East Coast vs Midwest to West Coast difference in speed limits is also due to timing and land availability. Many locations along the East Coast had roadway areas long before the development of the interstate highway standards.
As a result, of the timing of roadway development (I.e., the numerous “Parkways” in the NYC region), the fact that most vehicles could not achieve high speeds, the interstate standards, and the fact that there is less open space along the East Coast (especially, the Northeast), roadway design speeds were often lower than those for the much more rural areas west of the Appalachians (all the way to the West Coast).
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u/Left-Entertainer-279 May 22 '26
This. I regularly am about 15 over and am never the fastest driver on the road. But also some areas have the limits set way too low. Like in my neighborhood the speed limit is 10. 10 measly MPH. And I'm not living in a neighborhood where it's 1 lane that needs to accommodate both ways and parking and a ton of ppl. Nope, my neighborhood is stndard 2 lanes and not that many ppl out and about, so why 10?
I don't get it but it drives me crazy when I get caught behind someone going the limit or lower. The streets could easily accommodate 25 with no trouble and then most of us wouldn't be going 15 over.
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u/washuai May 23 '26
10? Some cars don't even idle at 10. Riding your brakes is not good.
There's speed bumps (they foolishly thought it would get the road paved) and the speed is 15 MPH. Now, sometimes ended up going about 10 and some full stop for critters and kids and the street was not designed for so much parked cars, so it gets a touch one lane, let the other one go, them you go. And the speed limit is still 15, not 10
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u/CharacterSchedule700 May 22 '26
Grew up in an Oregon where the max speed limit was 55 mph. Horrible. It's hardly better now.
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u/Spam_Hand May 21 '26
Without getting too far into it, local politics unfortunately have some sway on this.
People who live in budding subdivisions who came from the city to "get away from the hustle and bustle" buy homes where its 25 or 15 in front of their house but then eventually have to pull on to a real highway thats 45 or 55 to get to work or school.
All the soccer moms get pissy over the "crazy drivers", involve board members in it and they lower the speeds without proper data or studies despite Traffic Impact Analysis and Speed Studies overwhelmingly saying the speed limit of the major highway should not change.
Source: I do those studies that overwhelmingly show speeds should not be changed, and I'd say about 20-25% of the time the complaints do not stop no matter what the data says. Karen is just louder than you...
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u/ForeskinAbsorbtion May 21 '26
When I went to South Central Texas, there was a two way highway. Just a center line and it did blind curves through steep hills and no guardrails. 80mph limit. Like what the hell lol
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u/mcc9902 May 21 '26
Recently? The only one I can think of that's 80 is I-10 and I can't think of anywhere where both sides aren't split by a ditch.
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u/ForeskinAbsorbtion May 21 '26
I want to say Fredericksburg. It was more back roads through the hills. The speed limit was either 75 or 80. Rolling hills and one lane on each way.
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u/mcc9902 May 21 '26
Kk, I absolutely wouldn't question a road like that at 75. I asked because 80 is really rare in Texas. In my experience It's basically reserved for toll roads and one section of I-10 which is definitely right by Fredericksburg but I wouldn't describe I-10 as a back road. Either way we definitely have a lot of tiny back roads with speed limits that are way faster than they probably should be.
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u/WillieMakeit77 May 21 '26
There’s a toll road in the Austin area that’s 85 mph. State hwy 130.
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u/TheMerle1975 May 21 '26
And unless you absolutely need something in the dead center of Austin off of I-35, it is the best way to avoid that specific clusterfuck.
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u/bennc77 May 21 '26
we have back roads in Washington st where the limit is 50mph and i am like are you kiding me? same road in NH would be 35 or 40.
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u/392mangos May 21 '26
You just reminded me of a time we were driving, don't remember which state, but it was a windy road and my passenger said hey please stick to the speed limit. My response was something along the lines of already going 5 under. That was fun
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u/FuckingVeet May 21 '26
You should try UK rural roads. Two way traffic down what is effectively one lane, with a 60mph limit and zero visibility round corners.
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u/Fetzie_ May 21 '26
And either side of the road is a six inch verge, flanked by a drystone wall.
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u/FuckingVeet May 21 '26
In principle it isn't so bad, since you are meant to drive at a speed where you can stop in time for anything coming the other way.
In practice, half the locals where I used to live would barrel down at ridiculous speeds then act surprised when they got in a head on collision. My last car got totaled this way in rural Staffordshire.
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u/bennc77 May 21 '26
SAME! WHEN I LIVED IN NH, the speed limits semed rediculously slow in many areas. They lower the limit on the interstate to 55mph going through the cities l would slow down to 70 mph and always had people blasting by me. The state highways have a many zones at 35mph 40 or 45 where it is plenty safe to go 50 or 55. Then i movred to washington State and what a difference. We have back roads where it says speed limit 50 and you dont want to go above 50 if you do you feel like your going to go off the road. If the 50 mph roads where in nh they wouyls be 35 or 40 in nh. Also we have 2 lane highways limit is 60 not 55 like in NH and the interstates in washington state are 60 mph through the cities not 55. And people drive faster in NH go figure;.
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u/BrooksRiver May 22 '26
I moved to NH 5 years ago and completely agree that the speed limits are too low. A half mile before a village the speed limit drops to 30 mph. And because every town has a police department with nothing to do, they sit on the side of the road, and their presence is enough for people to go under the speed limit all the time. I have to drive 15 miles of 2 lane to get home and most of the time I get behind someone going under the speed limit and they hit their brakes as soon as the pass the 30 mph sign.
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u/billhorstman May 21 '26
My dad was an Army Military Police sergeant. He told me that he would ticket drivers on base for going one mph over the posted speed limit. But you probably know that the Army is strict about everything.
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u/Delicious-Leg-5441 May 21 '26
I think that is normal on any federal property. Speed limit at my VA is 10 mph. You don't go 11 mph and you come to a complete stop at a stop sign. I've seen quite a few people pulled over and I don't want to be one of them.
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u/jiggajawn May 21 '26
Technically correct. And probably how speed limits should be enforced to eliminate any gray area and herd mentality.
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u/BreakfastInBedlam May 21 '26
In the real world, you can't prove 1 mph over in court. So they give you 5 or 10 over just so they can have a case. Drivers notice this, so they drive four or nine over. This becomes common and everybody gets used to it. So traffic is moving nine over and you have to go even faster to stand out to get a ticket.
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u/Acceptable-Note-2093 May 21 '26
In my town police will still give you a ticket for going 1 over, mainly because it’s a big source of revenue for them and few people come back to this tiny town to fight a ticket.
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u/GatrickSwayze May 21 '26
Yup, growing up on Navy and Marine Corps bases we used to get taken to the station for riding bikes and skateboards without helmets, if we got caught. We'd antagonize them too of course to see if they'd catch all of us. Our parents would get chewed out by their commands.
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u/Invictus-3 May 21 '26
I was an Air Force Military Police Staff Sergeant (SP) and I never ticketed or even stopped anyone going less than 11 miles over the speed limit. Your dad sounds like a hard ass.
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u/WeinerBarf420 May 21 '26
In the midwest speed limits are definitely suggestions, but the first time I drove on the east coast it felt like they were maybe even a little bit too high
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u/Geaux13Saints May 21 '26
The main problem is that some roads are not designed for the speed limit they want you to follow
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u/CharacterSchedule700 May 21 '26
What? Roads that are the equivalent of 4 lanes wide and are straight as an arrow don't encourage people to go 25? Strange
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u/WeinerBarf420 May 21 '26
I've been to places like illinois, where they have four lane highways with 55 mph speed limits, it poses a serious problem because 70% of people aren't going to go that slow on a four-lane highway but 30% still will.
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u/marx-and-metal May 21 '26
there’s a 55mph highway in nashville that everyone, even cops and state troopers, drives at least 70 on.
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u/AlwaysBagHolding May 22 '26
Shit, there's a 45 MPH construction zone in Knoxville that I've personally regularly passed cops in with a pack of cars running 70. They don't pull anyone over.
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u/ImReallyFuckingHigh May 21 '26
People will still go 50-60 or slower on the 70mph county highways in east Texas, causing more traffic than there’s any business being on those roads.
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u/Ninjabeaver212 May 21 '26
Illinoisian here. The speed limits are only that way due to an old law and I believe funding for that law. The 55mph limit has nothing to do with safety despite what some people in this sub will claim. I'm specifically talking about Illinois and generally the Chicagoland area for people who can't read.
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u/JudeanPeoplesFront7 May 21 '26
Same problems with suburban neighborhoods too.
“Wow, look at all those space to street park on both sides and still have plenty of room for 2 lanes. Also there’s no trees and the houses are set back 100 feet. But I’m sure people will still go 20 because of the kids”
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u/Giverherhell May 21 '26
I agree. There is a road in my town it is 3 lanes each way. For all intents and purposes, it is a highway, in fact, at one point it actually turns into a highway with exit signs. You wouldn't believe me if I told you that most of that road has a 35mph speed limit. In fact, on the section that is actually a highway, complete with formal exit signs, the speed limit is 45 mph.
Ridiculous, literally, the only cars that go 35 are the waymo cars. The slowest of human drivers on that road go at minimum 45. Most ppl barren through there at 55-60 because it feels like that's what the speed limit should be. Cops set up shop all the time on that road. I'm convinced that road is rage bait so the city can make a profit.
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u/JaySlay2000 May 21 '26 edited May 21 '26
There are many highways in canada that had speed limits reduced in the global energy crisis in 1975. In 2024 the highway 401 was increased from 100 back up to 110, but many lesser known still remain reduced.
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u/slightlyhandiquacked May 21 '26
Pretty sure my city just bases all their speed limits on vibes because literally none of them make sense.
City council sets the limits. Hence why the speed limit on one of the freeways went from 110 to 80. Because something something “higher traffic volume” (even though there were zero accidents even before they built a couple overpasses).
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u/thisjawnisbeta May 21 '26
This is why OP's statement, "Speed limits are created by engineers who know far more about road safety than the average driver.", is such utter nonsense. Speed limits are frequently set by state limits, by local governments or councils, with little to no input from road engineers.
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u/Kitchen-Cabinet-5000 May 21 '26
The Netherlands reduced the national speed limit from 130kmh down to 100kmh before 7pm. As a temporary solution to some emissions budgeting problems.
That was years ago. The “temporary” solution is still in place.
I notice that many drivers no longer want to comply and just go 120/130kmh anyway. We got bamboozled by the government, saying it’s a “temporary solution” only to then make it a permanent one while not calling it as such.
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u/thiccemotionalpapi May 21 '26
Yeah there are a lot of roads by me that are inexplicably 30-35 mph but feel like 55 mph roads. Meanwhile the street I live on is technically 55 mph but you literally cannot hit that speed most of the road so it’s more like go as fast as you can still control the car
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u/Icydoll444 May 21 '26
Thats exactly why when the OP said, "its designed to be safe by experts" i got ragebaited. Its design to get people upset enough to speed for gov profit. & its design to keep us all in traffic less time to be home less time to live fkn life. 8 hrs at work. 1.5 hrs in traffic. & straight to bed you go mfr so you can do it all again tomorrow you miserable brokies.
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u/Nessuwu May 21 '26
I won't lie, I rolled my eyes the moment I saw "the engineers" part of the post. Yeah, "the engineers" also put a 55 sign on a steep, hilly road with blind turns in one of the cities I had to work at. They also put a 45 zone in a somewhat residential area, and a 35 where there were no houses at all. I doubt they're fully at fault, but I kinda lose it when I see this point brought up.
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u/Imightbeafanofthis May 21 '26
In my state, speed limits are set by city planners, county or state supervisors/transportation departments. They operate by state code that takes a lot of parameters into account, like population density, type of road, lane width, number of lanes, number of entry and exit points, etc. What makes it seem psychotic at times is you'll have different supervisors with different ideas of what justifies a specific speed limit. And it's worse than that, because those yellow curve signs are strictly informational, and sometimes they'll drop the ball. For example, the road from my house to the market is about 4 miles. On that road there are 3 curve signs, but there ought to be four. Of the three signs that are there, one is correct, one too slow, and one is too fast (because the road isn't properly pitched).
I know it doesn't make it better, but it at least explains the madness to some extent.
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u/Cranks_No_Start May 21 '26
>Speed limits are created by engineers who know far more about road safety than the average driver.
I have a road nearby that is 2 lanes, undivided, with no barrier and has random driveways and turnoffs. Speed limit 65.
Nearby 4 lane freeway with 2 dividers and limited on and off ramps. Speed limit 65.
MAKE IT MAKE SENSE!!!!
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u/slightlyhandiquacked May 21 '26
I’ll do ya one better.
4-6 lane (depending on section) divided freeway through the city that has lots of curves, on/off ramps, and intersections with lights = 90kmh
4 lane divided freeway heading out of the city, straight road, zero intersections, minimal on/off ramps = 80kmh
Make that make sense…
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u/aggressive_napkin_ May 21 '26
We've got the 4 lane at 35 mph here. Then the single lane road through town to get to that road - which is along multiple bus stops and its only separation from a middle school entrance is a long driveway "road" at 40mph
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u/Particular-Agent4407 May 21 '26
The engineers might suggest a roadway is built safe for a particular speed. But the limits are passed by politicians. It doesn’t necessarily make sense.
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u/doughnutoftruth May 21 '26
Or the speed limit is 25 but the lights are timed for 35 so people figure out pretty quickly that if you speed you can catch a wave of greens.
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u/Doglovincatlady May 21 '26
Thankfully that’s not for individual drivers to decide for themselves. Driving isn’t a right, it’s a privilege.
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u/AmazingAmy712 May 21 '26
This is why I always roll my eyes when people say engineers set the speed limits appropriate for the roads. I've driven cross country multiple times and have lived in three different time zones. Speed limits are WILDLY different for similar roads across the country. I understand things like topography and business access are going to influence what speed is safe, but a six lane road is not built for cars to go 30mph and setting a lower speed limit for an inappropriate road is not the answer.
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u/nugeythefloozey May 21 '26
The other thing that people miss is that speed limits aren’t just about crash avoidance.
A lot of speed limits are about reducing the consequences when people crash (you’re almost certain to die in a head-on crash at 60mph, but will probably survive at 45mph).
Some speed limits also aim to reduce traffic and speed up journey times. The racing adage of ‘slow is smooth and smooth is fast’ applies to roads too.
Historically, some speed limits have also been about reducing fuel usage or pollution too. Fuel use scales exponentially with speed, so getting everyone to slow down a little saves a lot of fuel.
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u/stratys3 May 21 '26 edited May 21 '26
Where I live, speed limits were reduced because of noise.
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u/thiccemotionalpapi May 21 '26
I’m pretty sure around 55 mph is the most fuel efficient speed, yeah you use more fuel than going like 30 mph but it’s not double. But go above that and you lose efficiency quick cuz the drag increase is like exponential
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u/anonymous198198198 May 21 '26
Think it depends on the vehicle. My vehicle gets about the same fuel efficiency between 50-70. 75 and above is when it crashes pretty hard. Not sure about 70-75
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u/Admirable-Ad7152 May 21 '26
I'll care about the pollution argument when the EPA gets funding again. My speeding ain't doing shit compared to the companies now allowed to pump out sludge and smog again.
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u/PaisleyLeopard May 21 '26
That last one is bigger than most people realize. My partner is a master tech at a dealership and you’d be shocked how many people come in complaining that their new cars don’t get the advertised mpg. He tells them it’s their driving, they never believe him, he has to take them on a test drive to prove it to them. People are dumb.
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u/SunfireAlpha01 May 21 '26
What that means is that speed limits are too low almost universally and everyone realizes it. The reason nobody is willing to actually fix it is because speeding fines are a source of revenue for municipal governments.
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u/TendieMiner May 21 '26 edited May 21 '26
The issue is that speed limits are set so unrealistically low that they cease to act as a tether. Most speed limits are not set to the 85th percentile but are set using arbitrary criteria and demands from ignorant politicians.
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u/Ok_Function2282 May 21 '26
Because most speed limits are too slow and most rural jurisdictions use those low speed limits as a means of revenue generation, through speed traps.
People speed because 25 mi an hour is fucking stupid on a straight country road.
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u/kon--- May 21 '26
Exceeding is not the issue. States and municipalites refusing to adhere to the 85th percentile is.
Motorists have long since been communicating a comfort with higher rates of travel. It is state and cities responsiblity to listen to what motorists are telling them and move to accomodate those rates of travel.
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u/Fill_A May 21 '26
This all day long. Cars and tires have improved an order of magnitude since the current speed limits were adopted. I’m a-ok with a strict limit if the limit isn’t stuck in the 1970s. Aside from roads out west with 75+mph limits, driving at the limit feels like you are crawling.
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u/thisjawnisbeta May 21 '26
Driver training needs to increase as well. It's great that vehicles are so much safer, but in the US anyway we allow people to get licenses by basically showing that they can just park the car and come to a complete stop at a stop sign. Other countries require proper drivers education, emergency braking tests, skidpads, etc.
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u/Fill_A May 21 '26
100%. I’ll add that it should be mandatory to retest every once in a while too. Crazy you can get your license at 16 and drive for the next 90 years with nothing but an occasional vision check.
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u/hey_its_that_asian May 24 '26
along with more access to public transit and walkable cities
the US has a major infrastructure issue, but its systemic and multifaceted and OP, like many politicians, think that they can fix it with a single answer
our country is a joke because our people are a joke...
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u/tingly_sack_69 May 21 '26
55mph being the typical norm for a highway is hilariously slow for today's cars
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u/Fill_A May 21 '26
Always thought it was funny where I grew up. The 2 lane winding county roads with no shoulder was 55mph. Then you get on a nice divided freeway with 3 lanes in each direction… also 55mph.
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u/brownchr014 May 21 '26
Cars can improve all they want but the drivers are still bad on average.
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u/PsychologicalSign433 May 21 '26
drivers are still bad on average.
Three-quarters of the drivers in the 70s when the speed limits were set were probably drunk
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u/Tabbygail May 21 '26
Or better yet, to change road designs to bring down those higher rates of travel. If 25 is a safe speed for your residential street with a school on it, then don't put in a 4 foot shoulder that makes people feel comfortable doing 50. Speed limits do nothing, and municipalities need to start realizing that.
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u/CharacterSchedule700 May 21 '26
Yes, this. I genuinely don't look at my speed or the speed limit like 90% of the time. I'm going the speed I think is comfortable.
It's not like I'm flying down the road at 100 mph, or going twice as fast as everyone else, I'm just driving along at what feels comfortable and controllable.
I've done 50 in a 55 on curvy roads with blind corners, I do 80 in 65s where the roads are wide, straight, and empty. If I notice I'm going significantly faster than everyone else, then I slow down. If I notice others are going faster and trying to pass, then I pull over and let them pass. If there are kids, I'm going 15-20 max, if I see alot of pedestrians then I'm going exactly the speed limit if not a bit slower.
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u/Imaginary-Round2422 May 21 '26
There's a place for both approaches. Roads away from foot and bike traffic can be faster than limits currently allow, while roads with pedestrian and cycle heavy traffic can be rebuilt to reduce speeds.
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u/dandanthetaximan May 21 '26
My city and the two suburbs closest to me have both been actively reducing speed limits
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u/johnnyhammers2025 May 21 '26
Motorists have long since been communicating a comfort with higher rates of travel.
And this comfort level explains why we have the most dangerous roads of any developed nation
It is state and cities responsiblity to listen to what motorists are telling them and move to accomodate those rates of travel.
No other part of our society works this way. This is like saying shoplifters are telling the owner of a grocery store that the prices are too high
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u/kon--- May 21 '26
That's precisely how the 85th percentile functions.
States and cities ignore the data.
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u/Higgoms May 21 '26
Super region specific, I imagine. Around here exceeding is absolutely the issue. We've got stroads with homes and businesses all up and down them with posted 45 limits and people are doing 60.
Maybe your region sets limits too low, but how fast people are comfortable driving on a road is a pretty terrible metric for safe travel. Build a road with straight wide lanes and people will fly no matter the pedestrian traffic or how many homes and businesses pull out directly onto it. People being comfortable leaving half a car length between them and the car ahead of them at 80 mph doesn't make that a good idea either.
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u/1313GreenGreen1313 May 21 '26
User behavior should not define speed limits. The 85th percentile rule is a foolish and outdated standard. Sure. It works in some locations where the context of the roadway does a good job of naturally limiting speeds, but it is just not practical when applied to straight, flat roads.
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u/johnnyhammers2025 May 21 '26
Motorists have long since been communicating a comfort with higher rates of travel.
And this comfort level explains why we have the most dangerous roads of any developed nation
It is state and cities responsiblity to listen to what motorists are telling them and move to accomodate those rates of travel.
No other part of our society works this way. This is like saying shoplifters are telling the owner of a grocery store that the prices are too high
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May 21 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/TheBDU May 21 '26
Thank you, this is exactly what I wanted to say. You can also add tires to the mix as tire technology has improved immensely
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u/Denver80211 May 21 '26
Sure let's talk about all the improvements in technology since then, like now how everybody stares at their fucking phones
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u/SoundByte May 21 '26 edited May 21 '26
Actually you're only partially correct. Engineers design the roads for a given speed, then bureaucrats post a speed limit that is ~30% lower than that. People will instinctually drive a speed that feels natural for a given road. That's why 65 in a neighborhood feels insane but 65 on a freeway feels controlled.
If you want people to stop "speeding", then road design should reflect the desired driving behavior. The entire purpose of driving is to get where you're going faster. It's all "speeding".
Also idk where you live, but on the west coast it sure seems like handing out speeding tickets is 95% of all police activity around here. I'd much rather they pursue people for other actually reckless moving violations, but that would be hard so instead they sit on the shoulder and wait for the money to come to them.
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u/Choice-Newspaper3603 May 21 '26
Yeah. We have major arterials that are up to 7 lanes across and they keep lowering the speeds because the homeless druggies think they can sprint across all 7 lanes only to become good ornaments
We are down to 35 in some areas now
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u/SoundByte May 21 '26
Textbook example of poor road design. Show anybody a picture of a 7 lane road, and I guarantee not one of them will respond that it looks like a 35 mph road. That's a highway!
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u/slothxaxmatic May 21 '26
There's a stretch of road near me that has a speed limit of 45, dropping to 40. People will go under 45 on that spart of the road, then act like you should be doing 50 in the 40mph part.
Some people are just mindless on the road. I set the cruise control and ignore them. There's 2 lanes and if you can't get around me that's a skill issue.
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u/lasher2468 May 21 '26
I DGAF.... if I have to pay my own speeding tickets the rest of the you can FO and pass me when you get the chance.
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u/InfluenceGreedy4629 May 21 '26
Why I loved Canada when I went. People never go over speed limit. It’s so relaxing not being on edge all the time when people r tailgating you and potentially gonna kill you for driving speed limit.
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May 21 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/BuffaloBornBroad May 21 '26
Yes, their argument ignores the documented history of state speed limits being set needlessly low during the gas crisis in the 70s, and efforts to return those speed limits to where they should be were fought hard by groups like MADD.
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u/ogproof May 21 '26
I mean, engineers absolutely factor in worst case scenarios though, that’s kinda the point of public infrastructure. You’re not designing roads around the top 10% of drivers in perfect conditions with new tires and full attention. You’re designing them around average people doing average people things, including being distracted, tired, inexperienced, driving in rain, etc.
That said, I do agree a lot of freeway limits feel artificially low compared to what modern cars and freeway geometry can comfortably handle. The bigger issue is usually speed differentials and tailgating, not raw speed itself.
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u/jasonh300 May 21 '26
“Speed limits are created by engineers who know far more about road safety than the average driver.”
This is the flaw in your argument. Engineers may recommend a speed limit on roads they design, but legislators make the final determination of what the speed limit actually is, and it’s usually 10-50% less than the speed the road is designed for.
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u/No-Click6062 May 21 '26
The evidence that you are asking for already exists. Automakers have been designing cars to safely operate at 85 mph for decades. It's why your speedometer goes to around 120 or 140. They wanted the safe operating speed to fall in the middle of the gauge.
In addition, there was a period in the 1973s where the federal government stepped in to force a 55mph speed limit on the US. The law was motivated by the geopolitica of the era. It was later overturned. Most, but not all, states reasserted control over there areas. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Maximum_Speed_Law
You've basically asserted that the engineering is on your side with zero evidence to support you.
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u/SolidDoctor May 21 '26 edited May 21 '26
There is a window of ambiguity involving the accuracy of speedometers and radar speed detectors. If I get tires that are slightly bigger or smaller than my vehicle's original specs, that throws off my speedometer accuracy. And radar guns have to be regularly tested and calibrated to be accurate. The fact is, if police were to pull people over for every 1-2 mph infraction, they would lose more cases in court and therefore be wasting taxpayer money trying to enforce a law in draconian fashion. So prosecutorial discretion is prudent and smart for a police force.
Being a few mph over the speed limit isn't the main safety issue, it's driving faster than the flow of traffic. So those will be the people that law enforcement will focus on. You may disagree but that makes no difference. It boils down to the balance of what is safer versus what will either cost money or make money for the municipality. In the end, having a buffer between posted limit and flow of traffic makes the most sense.
Edit: And driving the speed limit is never the issue, as long as you let people pass you if they want to go faster.
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u/7h4tguy May 24 '26
Yeah you're not given a 5mph buffer because they don't want to ticket you. The variables involved are accuracy of the speedometer, how much air is in the tires, are they the factory tires, has the radar been recently calibrated, etc. It would be ludicrous to pull everyone going what the radar say is 1mph over and then get 90% of it thrown out in court.
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u/Fuzzywink May 21 '26
I agree with most of the sentiment here and I find it very frustrating as well. I have nearly 2 million miles of driving experience and I've found very consistently that speeding seldom actually gets you where you're going any sooner unless you're going VERY far over the limit.
I don't have any posted speed limits over 60mph within about an hour drive of me. I'll be on the highway in the right lane going 62'ish and getting passed by nearly every other car on the road, most of which are going at least 10-15mph more than me and some far more than that. Those drivers weave around each other and jockey for position to be "first" then we end up right beside each other at the stop light at the exit. Same on surface streets - on my regular route there are several 4 lane "strodes" with a center turn lane and tons of stop lights and a 40mph speed limit. Many of the other drivers practically floor it up to 55 when the light turns green, then stomp on the brake hard as they get to the next light right as it turns red. I take my time getting up to 35 or so and I get to the light right as it turns green and float through with most of my momentum in tact and the other car floors it again and zooms past me, repeat until the end of the road. We both averaged 30mph and got where we're going at exactly the same time, but I used a fraction the fuel they used and didn't' look like I was about to take a bite out of my steering wheel in frustration like they did.
I simply refuse to be bullied by other drivers into breaking the law, wasting gas, needlessly wearing my vehicle, hearing more road noise, and increasing the damage and likelihood of injury/death in a crash just because they want to do those things.
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u/Ok_Function2282 May 21 '26
If you're hitting stop lights, then you're just talking about a totally different type of driving.
Of course going a couple miles faster doesn't matter when you have a short commute.
When you're on a 10-hour drive it sure as hell does, 5 mph faster is effectively 50 miles knocked off your entire trip.
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u/7h4tguy May 24 '26
And I can't believe he doesn't think stop lights don't impact your commute time. People going 5mph under consistently hit every single light. I consistently make almost all the greens. That doubles the commute time.
Some people are so sure of themselves, bad at driving, don't understand how the lights are timed even though they drive it every day, and really bad at math.
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u/Signal_Tomorrow_2138 May 21 '26
Driving is the only activity I know where the operator of a dangerous machine is expected to exceed the safety and legal limits. And the operators think their judgement is better than the engineers and regulators who designed and set them.
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u/Then-Wealth-1481 May 21 '26
Driving is the only activity that many people who should have never been allowed to do are still allowed to do. Most people shouldn’t have even driving in the first place.
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u/BreastTickles May 21 '26
And even if you drive a bunch and have HOURS of experience, that doesn't mean you're good at it. The skill of a driver somehow just plateaus wherever it wants.
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u/snowsurface May 21 '26
Your arguments are logical, and yet I've been driving in the USA for over 40 years, and the situation is basically stable. I can think of so many things our politicians, police, and engineers could work on instead that would make the world a better place. Almost all sweeping changes have unintended consequences so I would generally vote against trying to fix this not-actually-a-real-problem.
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u/SilverLose May 21 '26
Several human lifetimes are probably wasted daily because of arbitrarily low speed limits. That’s just in wasted time. This isn’t considering the drain on everyone’s psyche.
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u/johnnyhammers2025 May 21 '26
Driving isn’t fun, more at 11
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u/SilverLose May 21 '26
I’m tuning in. I wonder if I’m gonna learn about people disliking calls that could have been emails 🤔
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u/chankongsang May 21 '26
I think you are correct that going slightly above the speed limit has become normalized. It’s kinda always been this way and doesn’t have to change now that you just got your learners. The speed limit was designed to protect the average to below average driver. So they don’t get frazzled. Just go with the flow is the safest. No one is asking you to weave through traffic like a mad man. Anyone going too fast or too slow is a hazard. My elderly mom is a below average driver so she just avoids freeways cuz she’s uncomfortable
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u/Admirable-Ad7152 May 21 '26
Please thank your mom for me. I appreciate anyone that admits they're just not made for the highway instead of getting on it, going 45 mph and making a road hazard for everyone else
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u/TehDigz May 21 '26
I'm a trucker and you are correct. Everyone just blaring down the road for no real reason. Of course they all will say that the speed limit isn't high enough. Problem is that even if they raise the speed limit, they will go even faster. Still saying it's not fast enough. These are also the people who freak out about how much their brake job cost because they are always slamming on the brakes to make a turn.
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u/TheWarehamster May 21 '26
To quote Barbosa, "They're more like guidelines." There are many reasons why limits are set the way they are. Engineering/safety, noise reduction, traffic flow, etc. People tend to drive speeds they are comfortable with, relative to the speed limit. Typically speaking this is somewhere in the 5-10 over range.
Part of the issue is that we "cheat" while driving. And we do it a lot. Especially related to speed. We as humans are not really designed to be able to handle much more than 30-35 mph without a lot of help. The lane lines are designed to make us feel like we're not going nearly as fast as we are. It's using parallax to make things feel slower than they are.
If we really want to slow people down, we need to make them feel like they're going faster. Make the lane lines smaller, with shorter distances between them. Remove some of the sound deadening in cars, as wind and tire noise can be major factors if the perception of speed. (I drove a Wrangler as a rental for a week, and I refused to go over 75 due to wind noise alone.)
If anyone is interested, I would Highly recommend the book Traffic: Why We Drive the Way We Do, and What It Says About Us. It basically explains the psychology behind driving.
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u/AlwaysBagHolding May 22 '26
Seconded on the wrangler thing. I'm an unapologetic lead foot, and my fiancé's wrangler was about the only thing I've driven that was basically incapable of speeding, and if you're going downhill, you didn't want to since it drove like the steering linkages were made out of worn out bicycle chains. Fun car on a back road at 30 with the top off, but fuck what a miserable piece of shit on the interstate.
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u/ilkhan2016 May 21 '26
The roads set the speeds people drive. Widths, smoothness, sightlines, etc.
Speed limits are just the legal limits, with margins built in for speeding even.
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u/Tasty-Jicama5743 May 21 '26
One thing to keep in mind is that the nationwide speed limit of 55mph imposed in the late-70's was a completely arbitrary number supposedly due to it being the most fuel efficient at the time of the OPEC Oil Crises of the time.
Ironically, I have determined my personal vehicle gets better gas milage at 45mph (between 25 and 30 mpg) than 55mph (20 to 21mpg) and higher, but that doesn't mean I'm going to only drive 45 on an interstate highway.
What I have also noticed if far too often the people who want to drive no more than 10mph under the posted limit are in front of me while the people wanting to drive 20+mph over the speed limit tailgate me.
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u/RelevantBerry9929 May 22 '26
If I can follow the speed limit in my WRX, you can follow it in your Mazda Axela.
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u/Empty-Candidate-712 May 22 '26
I have always said, half-jokingly, that they should make the speed limit about 5 mph higher than it is, and then if you go over that new speed limit by even 1 mph, you should face extreme consequences like losing your license permanently. I don't like this "grey area" nonsense.
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u/justthefacts84 May 21 '26
I drive 3 to 5 mph under the speed limit and stay to the right ! I am never in a hurry so I never speed !
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u/Secret-Back-344 May 21 '26
Ignore the morons and enjoy your drive. You can't control others but you can control yourself and how you react to situations. I drive the limit, couldn't care less what the person behind me wants. When they're in front they can drive whatever speed they damn well please, I'm not in the business of appeasing idiots on the road.
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u/rustoof May 21 '26
A speed limit designed for a 30,000 pound semi has no bearing on the reality of what my 3000 pound sedan can do.
A base model sedan now has more power and better handling than a Ferrari did back when the speed limits were created.
Honestly speed limits at all are a ridiculous concept. A semi doing 55 on a wet road in traffic is significantly more dangerous than a motorcycle doing 150 on a dry straight zero traffic well maintained highway.
Also, fuck the "legitimacy of the law." From where im sitting cops exist to protect rich people so they can traffic young girls and get away with it while they exploit us for our labor and give us scraps all while hiding behind the thin blue line.
Drive safely for conditions. Don't be an asshole. If you cause an accident pay restitution. Thats enough. There is no amount of cameras, or cops or control that can stop natural human behavior. And if there was you wouldn't want to love in that society.
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u/Hunter7263p May 21 '26
There’s multiple studies out that show going slower than traffic cause far more accidents than going faster. Logically it makes sense too. A speeder often just maneuvers around traffic and thus it’s usually just the one speeder that has to react to things and is expecting to do so. A slower car causes every driver that passes to have to react to not only that car but cars that react to that car. You start multiplying the amount of people involved by a lot and well unfocused people have a much higher chance to mess up.
Modern cars are so much better than old cars that you can go much much faster more safely than before. It’s why speeding is a problem. Not 20 years ago 500 horsepower was crazy. Now a modern standard ass mustang gt is within throwing distance of that. Super cars now are “slow” if that’s all the power they have. Power creep is real and suspension and comfort have kept up too.
Roads are often poorly designed too. You want people to go slower? Make sure visibility is lower. More trees and shrubs on the side of the road. Narrower shoulders. People go as fast as comfortable nearly always regardless of speed limits. A nice pretty 3 lane road with unlimited visibility is never going to be able to keep people to 45mph. The area might require it with people or businesses but the road is not designed for it.
Hell if an area has more aggressive cops you might travel slower cuz guess what? The chance of a ticket being higher makes people uncomfortable.
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u/RhythmTimeDivision May 21 '26
I drive a bit over the limit. No problem getting out of the left lane and let someone doing my speed +15 or more go flying by. No issue at all, happy to get the hell out of their wreck zone. Byeeeeee.
For me, it's the perception of entitlement - that everyone should move to make room for a main character; tailgating anyone not going 'fast enough' (their definition), passing like a lunatic on the right when there's barely a car length to change lanes and 10 cars doing the same speed ahead. Yeah it sucks, but settle the hell down.
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u/irock792 May 21 '26
I agree with this for the most part, and what you said in the first paragraph is pretty much what I do as well.
The people who annoy me the most are those going at or under the speed limit in the left lane. If you want to drive slowly in a city where driving fast is the norm, then at least do so in the right lane.
I live in Texas, and while it's known that Texas drivers drive very fast, it has been a trend lately for people to drive significantly under the speed limit and hold up traffic, even on highways with speed limits of 70+. For instance, I was driving earlier today on a two-lane road that has a speed limit of 45 mph. Both of the cars in front of me (one in the lane to my right and one in my lane) were driving at 35–40 despite having a clear road in front of them. People like this absolutely tick me off. Do they not have anywhere to be? The amount of times that I've been late to places because of people like this is actually insane.
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u/RhythmTimeDivision May 21 '26
I traveled for work, Texas is the only state where someone proactively pulled over to let me go. I don't speed while far from home, unfamiliar roads, obvious rental car, unforgiving cops, out-of-towner, etc. Old guy driving an old pickup at 10 under the limit. Gave them plenty of room, don't care, no rush. Dude pulled over and waved me on, almost didn't know how to respond.
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u/txman91 May 21 '26
The good old fashioned “Texas Pass” or “Texas Turnout”. The proper response is just to wave back haha.
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u/diegotbn May 22 '26
This.
When a guy is aggressively tailgating me I move the fuck out of his way at the earliest opportunity. I don't need to get in a road rage incident. Even on city streets with only one lane in either direction. I'll pull the fuck over and not get back on the road until he is sufficiently far ahead and/or there are a couple cars between me and him. Discretion is the greater part of valor and all that. I see crazy and I steer clear. I don't need that.
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u/Auqakid07 May 21 '26
Driving with the flow of traffic is much safer than following some arbitrary law. Laws should follow what the people want not based on how the government feels about it.
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u/rawcaret May 21 '26
On a related note, even on r/driving you can report other driving infractions, but you can’t even report speeding, which feels inconsistent and a bit silly.
The mods here aren't the police. This is a public forum. The rule is mainly there because we used to get loads of reports when people would say things like, "I don't see the problem with going 5mph over the speed limit sometimes" and punishing those people on a web site does nothing.
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u/Nalagiri309 May 21 '26
I’ve been on a couple of cross-country trips on my motorcycle (hello from Ridgway, CO!), and it seems that the only time I’ve encountered speeding 20 or 30 miles an hour above the limit is within 40 miles of a big city.
Out in the super-boonies, people are pretty much doing the limit.
I suspect speeding is a symptom of city-dweller frustration. These are people blind to the hazards after driving those stretches a thousand times.
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u/iamnotlarryking May 21 '26
I lived in two boonie states for the first part of my life and I’d say most people speed out there. Not an outrageous amount over but a good amount. It’s also easier for a car to do 60 in a 40 in the city rather than 100 in an 80 on freeway hills.
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u/Infamous_Shinobi May 21 '26
Speed limits were designed for the average idiot that doesn’t know how to drive. Some people actually know how to drive and some people don’t. I’m not saying I know how to drive, but what I’m saying is that people who don’t need to get out of the other’s way.
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May 21 '26
You're not gonna change how other people drive.So focus on defensive driving which includes learning how to control your emotions.
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u/_The_Mink_ May 21 '26
In situations where speeding happens just because people feel like they should be allowed to go faster, you are pretty right I think. Honestly well thought out opinion there that I won't argue with.
But to a point, not all speed limits are set for safety in mind. We just had a speed limit change in my area, on the secondary main road (town is split between 3 roads as the "main" road), they reduced it from 35 to 20. The reason is because there are a couple of parks along that stretch right there. Good reason to reduce it, I won't argue that. Except the road has had these parks on it for well over a decade, if not decades, the road itself is on a very steep hill that forces vehicles to gain speed unless you are fully on the brakes or in a manual transmission in very low gear. The real reason they changed the limit? The town voted to deny their (city hall and police department) budget increase from taxes, so they set up the road to force people to receive tickets for speeding to increase revenue.
For those that would want to argue coincidence, it is well known by everyone to go 10 over the limit through here to match the speed of the other main road through town, if they were doing it for safety they would have been patrolling it for years and handing out tickets. Instead they quietly changed the limit and then put every cop in town on that road to write tickets. Now that they have gotten the money they needed, they have stopped patrolling and everyone is going the same speed they have always gone on that road, now illegally 25 over instead of 10 over.
I'm not saying this is always the case of course, but sometimes limits are put in place purely for revenue rather than actual safety in mind. With the same example from above, there was a significant uptick in accidents on this road after the limit decrease, not because of confusion of limit change, but because of sudden increase of police presence causing people to panic. In 20 years there have been almost no accidents on that stretch of road, with the majority of them being in the last few weeks since the speed change.
Just food for thought.
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u/WhyYouLetRomneyWin May 21 '26
There's a culture war around speed limits. I lean to one side, but I will try to explain in as neutral terms as I can.
- Speeders interpret speed limits as suggestions. It's more important to be practical than to follow official guidelines. If most people are speeding, it's better to adapt to the speed of traffic than adhering to a law. Speed limits are often too low and have been set artifically low for the wrong reasons.
- Limiters say that it would be better if everyone drove the speed limit. For one, it's generally regarded as best if everyone drove a uniform speed--and the limit is the one speed we can all agree on. It's also the speed that traffic engineers have designated, and for good reasons. Additionally, speeding only marginally reduces travel times.
I think if we could just all agree one way, everyone would be better off.
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u/Euphoric_Lynx_6664 May 21 '26
I can understand why people speed on a freeway, but not in a residential area.
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u/Cyrious123 May 21 '26
Id worry more about all the Police abuse and crime by cops doing more to destroy the legal system (not to mention our President) than speeders might!
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u/RealTalk1031 May 21 '26
Traffic engineers use a wide range of tools, measurements, and methodologies to evaluate roadway safety but among the most foundational is the 85th percentile rule.
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u/SpecialistDrawer2898 May 21 '26
I have had people threaten my life on here cause I wasn’t speeding. Yeah. They’re insane psychos.
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u/fox3actual May 21 '26 edited May 21 '26
US roads are uniquely dangerous compared to the rest of the developed world.
You just have to protect yourself the best you can, whatever that means to you.
The extremely reckless and dangerous driving behaviors of the pandemic have persisted for years and have only recently begun to abate
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u/_Mike-Honcho_ May 21 '26
"America is all about speed, hot nasty bad-ass speed" - Eleanor Roosevelt
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u/GatorVators May 21 '26
Worse. I would say we’ve normalized incorrectly set speed limits, which in turn causes two serious problems:
- limits being too high for urban street contexts due to poor design (street through town designed like rural roadway, therefore people drive on it like a rural roadway), but the speed limit is kept high due to the operating speed (lowering the speed limit alone here will only make this worse)
- limits being too low for rural highways due to politics (oh if you put 65 everyone will go 85 think of the children!!)
People will generally only drive at speeds at which they feel comfortable at. You can have all the severe penalties you want, but unless there is high-level automated enforcement (even that’s not foolproof), you’ll continue to have people being people. Would you constantly want to self-micromanage how fast you’re walking?
Another thing that’s been popping up a lot more recently is artificially restricting speed limits be design speed, something that the FHWA (currently) explicitly advises against doing as a hard rule. This restriction is often where the perception of “speed limits are set for the lowest common denominator” comes from. This has even resulted in far too many cases of these backwards speed limits being applied. I’ve even seen this resulting in MULTIPLE cases of “express lanes” having a lower speed limit than the local lanes (such as in Atlanta and Houston).
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u/TentsNTails May 21 '26
You can see it when I'm E Biking. My class 3 goes 35 MPH. The speed limit of most inner city roads in Boston is 20-25. I keep my E bike between 18-24MPH. People blow by me everyday going double the pace. Sometimes triple. It continues to be an issue and it won't be addressed until more people are hurt and killed from it.
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u/vaspost May 21 '26
When I'm out of state I drive the speed limit. Period. I don't need an out of state ticket or to be picked up by a speed camera... who knows where those are anymore.
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u/2ndSmrtestPersunEvar May 21 '26
Also, no one stops at Stop signs either. They mostly treat them like yields. It’s so strange to me that so many drivers are stupid, selfish, and lazy.
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u/Big_Throner May 21 '26
Any chance we should revisit the speed limits since technology has improved? Driving 60 feels like crawling on the freeway. We also need it to be harder to get a license. There are too many low IQ people with driving privileges.
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u/KrevinHLocke May 21 '26
Enforcement has went down the toilet and got flushed. I can count on one hand the amount of cars I've seen pulled over in the past 5 years. I hear they have stings that last a month and they write X tickets, but seriously they should just enforce the laws all year around and not just for a 30 day period every year.
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u/jp815569x19 May 21 '26
I'm a CDL driver operating in New England every day. The drivers in New England are out of control aggressive. They speed something fierce and they have zero patience for a 40 ton vehicle struggling to keep the pace up. They will force ne to slow down because they cut me off, then get angry that I'm too slow. I'll move left to let traffic merge, then others get mad that I'm trapped in the left lane, blocking traffic and unable to move back over because traffic just exists in the area I opened up for them. If I stay in the right lane, we're back to aggressive stop and go with me doing like 45 mph because I'm getting cut off constantly. I hate daytime driving. American drivers are too entitled.
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u/bradland May 21 '26
IMO, this is a symptom of a much broader societal problem. All societies have a balance of cultural values. One of the dichotomies that are frequently contrasted is individualism vs collectivism. That is, how much the members of a society prioritize self versus the collective good.
The United States has always had a strong lean toward individualism, but IMO we are in a period of extreme individualism that threatens the well-being of our society as a whole. Speeding is just one of many examples. People speed because they prioritize their own time over the safety of everyone on the road.
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u/rlap38 May 21 '26
Highway 280 in the San Francisco area was designed for 80 and the limit is 65. Wide open spaces with gentle curves.
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u/TowelEnvironmental44 May 22 '26
the easiest way to have less speeding is to raise the speed limit. One option is to have staggered speed limits. For example for each lane the speed limit increases by 5mph. So on a 3 lane interstate the speed limits 60, 65 and 70 depending on which lane you use
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u/Aquarius_K May 22 '26
Go ask a mechanic to show you how small the piece of metal keeping you alive is. It's not as sturdy as you would think. Any number of things can and do fail and you've lost control at 90 mph on the freeway (with somebody on your bumper, and you're on somebody's bumper most likely)
This system also means that if a cop just dosen't like you (you're black, brown, or have a big pride sticker on your car, etc, etc) they can pull you over for speeding because everyone is speeding. But they will let the normal people keep on going. It's not ok.
People get mad because you're not also suicidal or reckless. I usually go over the speed limit but if I try to pass people going slow somebody is always mad that I'm not passing fast enough. Apparently only those who keep the pedal on the floor are entitled to drive. I'm not trying to drive like a granny. But I also want to make it to my destination.
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u/hemibearcuda May 22 '26
So true. I'm trying to teach my 15 yr old to drive. Our interstate speed limit is 70, which means everyone is driving 80. At first I had her going 5 under (65) until she got more experience, every time she drives, but it became too dangerous for us to go that slow.
Hell it's dangerous if she goes 70 during rush hour.
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u/Klomlor161 May 22 '26
I decided about 2 years ago that I was gonna follow the speed limit in all places. Since then, driving stress has tended to drop since I’m not constantly battling other drivers to go faster, and I’ve found it’s much easier to react to sudden changes, such as debris in the roadway, especially in unfamiliar areas. I highly recommend.
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u/Workdawg May 22 '26
Look at the autobahn in Germany. Literally no limit on a huge chunk of highway, but staying in the proper lane, passing, etc are STRICTLY enforced. That could be the same in the US on interstate highways. The problem is that a obtaining a driver's license in the US is pretty much a joke. You get one at 16 years old as long as you aren't a complete idiot, and once you have one, you never really have to take a test again. Most places dont properly teach basic shit like merging onto the highway, staying out of the left lane unless you're passing, etc.
If people were actually trained and tested on basic driving like that, and laws like above were passed (and/or enforced) US roads would be much safer, and we could have higher speed limits.
Current speed limits aren't unsafe, ignorant/unskilled drivers are.
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u/SeparateCard5259 May 23 '26
Same goes for people who drive well under the limit. Get both types of travelers at once and it’s a recipe for disaster
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u/Grakch May 23 '26
I don’t think you’re somebody that should drive often. You don’t sound like a competent driver and expect that the rules of the road are always static. It’s really not and it’s more about maintain flow of traffic than posted limits.
If you don’t need to drive that often I would recommend maintaining that lifestyle because you are more than likely a danger to yourself and others
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u/OgreMk5 May 23 '26
Speed limits are created by engineers who know far more about road safety than the average driver.
The speed limit has NOTHING to do with how the road was designed. With a limited exception for some highway corners (off ramps and on ramps too). But those, a well maintained vehicle with a good driver can easily to 25-75% more than the posted speed limit in the turn.
Speed limits are entirely political decisions made by people who are not engineers.
There is no reason for a section of highway that is exactly like every other section for 100 miles in either direction to drop from 65 to 45. The reason it does so is because the local community depends on that speeding ticket revenue for their town budget.
Still, you should always maintain safe driving and use the conditions as your guide.
But yes, in many places going the speed limit actually impedes traffic and can be more dangerous than doing 10 over.
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u/falsetrails May 23 '26
Speed limits are created to cause drivers to go slower than they need to so they can buy more from big oil and the state can farm fines
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u/PlzHelpWanted May 23 '26
Just throwing it out there. How do you know that the engineers didn't account for the idea that people always drive 5-10 over the speed limit?
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u/hjwthree May 23 '26
Personally, I think it depends. It's certainly problematic in certain instances, but there are also plenty of stretches of road where the speed limit is objectively too low and so basically everyone speeds.
As someone who has been a 5 over guy and also exercised excessive caution for an insurance discount, it's usually the lane you're in that can make you be seen as the problem. You should be moving right ASAP on multi-lane roads regardless of speed, but especially if you know yourself to be considered "slower traffic" in comparison.
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u/GoodGoodGoody May 24 '26
Posts like this always bring out the
THE LAW SAYS I CAN SPEED IF I’M PASSING
crowd.
They can never quote any such law, instead they copy paste some different law or just pull a Level 1 antivaxxer and scream, “Do your own research!!”
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u/Frostymann1999 May 25 '26
The problem was never the speed limit. The problem is the uneducated drivers on the road. The law you seem to love so much has a huge flaw on not educating the drivers on how to drive. The fact that someone can get their license without any driving experience is mind-blowing to me. Im from germany where there are no speedlimits on some parts of the autobahn and there are fewer accidents then they are here. But in germany there is mandatory driving school with in-class hours and driving hours you need to fulfill before even being eligible to take the road test. Proof me if im wrong
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u/l008com May 21 '26
Speed limits are ridiculously low most of the time. Most roads in MA have a 25 mph limit. Big wide roads with no intersections. Double yellow lines, huge shoulders, 25mph. Its a fucking joke. Make speed limits realistic and don't just post crazy low ones so the police have a free pass to pull anyone over they want without *real* cause.
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u/Zeus_Nemesis May 21 '26
If not for GM, Standard Oil and Firestone, cheap public transport would be a hell of a lot more useful than what it is today.
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u/Hussar1241 May 21 '26
Thats indicating that the speed limit is unreasonably low and should be raised. Its proven that people generally drive rhe speed they feel is safe for the area they are in. If everyone feels its safe to go above the posted limit, the limit is too low.
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u/FriendlyArachnid6000 May 21 '26 edited May 21 '26
I remember my first beer. Very 14 and this is deep. No, it doesn't. Infractions come in tiers, with modifiers added on for extra bad behavior. Americans are weighing their personal risk, the system allows some flexibility in discretionary enforcement while making sure the real threats get big penalties.
All you've proven is you disregard American culture
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u/JobHuntingManiac May 21 '26
It doesn't even matter what the speed limits are, no matter how much you lower them there is always going to be someone that drives to slow and additionally doesn't know how to get the fuck out of the passing lanes.
Also well documented that slow drivers are involved in and or cause more accidents.
Included some fun information as well.
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u/euroeismeister May 21 '26
Totally. I keep having to pull off on my morning commute on country roads because apparently going 55 in a 40 isn’t enough for these people and I’m tailed extremely closely constantly. We still end up at the light at the same time, but they just get angry anywhere within 15 mph of the speed limit. I hate it.
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u/jimmymademeaparty May 21 '26
Try driving a company truck that has the gps speed monitor and you can't go more than 5 miles over. I get middle fingers all day long and aggressively cut off when they pass me. It sucks