I’m sure the judge would love a good laugh. And I’m equally sure that I wouldn’t get a break.

Good for you, Izabelle! If people don’t like the shoe that fits them, maybe they should change their behavior. Yes, tentaulistic, we are both talking to you. You seem to overlook that when you speed, you endanger others. Willingly, and without any apparent concern for anyone but your precious self and infinitely valuable time. I’m sure glad that my moral code is a whole lot less selfish than yours!

Several years ago, the provinces of Nova Scotia and New Brunswick changed the speed limits on all of their multilane divided highways from 100 km/h to 110 km/h, without changing any “traffic congestion, exit distances, lines of sight, population density” or anything else.

How was that possible if the 100 km/h limit was, as you imply, carefully selected based on a complex amalgam of factors? Was the road always safe for 110 km/h, and it was set at 100 km/h merely to write more tickets (as I’m asserting)? Or was it built to be safe at 100 km/h, and reckless politicians are endangering everyone’s lives by encouraging people to drive beyond the engineering limits of the highway?

You live by the moral code you wish to live by, but I am fed up with people saying, in essence, that they would do things differently if only people around them did too. Everyone who says they speed because they have to is, essentially, blaming their behavior on others.

I have more respect for those who stand by their actions than for those who blame their wrongdoings on the need to follow others. Being an adult in a free country means that sometimes, you gotta take the lead. If everyone slows down, the flock effect for speeding goes away.

And I didn’t mention morality, you did. But your right to speed stops at my right to live.

Really, *shameful*? Ha ha, high horse much?! I honestly am baffled by people who somehow conflate speeding with immorality. And act like as if the only moral way to live your life is to go exactly the speed limit. I don’t know, I guess I struggle with enough other legitimate moral weaknesses and temptations (unlike you maybe?) that I don’t really see speeding as a moral issue.

I’m also baffled by the thought that the “change” you might effect is better driving in other drivers, rather than road rage fueled craziness. Although deliberate rear-ending too is change, I guess. But hey, you can console yourself that you’re “in the right”, if you survive.

Me, I figure it’s best to walk a line between not pissing off other drivers and not getting pulled over by a cop. Although obviously I’m not always so good at the second one… and yet somehow I consider my soul to be in ok shape.

In my neck of the woods, new drivers (no matter the age) have a 2-year probationary period during which they are only allowed 4 demerit points and a blood alcohol level of 0. There’s no way someone is going to bully me into speeding.

Yeah, I hear you! I recently got a big ticket (bad habit, I try to “outwit” the cops when driving long distances, to keep myself alert and reduce driving time) and have since been driving with strict cruise control. I agree, from recent experience, that setting it at the speed limit is asking to be aggressively bullied and road-raged by fellow drivers. Hoo-boy, people get mad!! Even 5 – 7 mph over the speed limit is very much not welcome, but if you stay in the far right you can get away with it.

I am surprised more people haven’t jumped in, calling shenanigans on Trent’s story. A ticket for 6 miles over?? And Mr Frugality didn’t contest it in court? Riiiiiight. I think this is one of those well-it-COULD-be-true stories that people tell when they want to have a personal touch, but don’t actually have a story to tell (I have a friend who does this).

Also, what’s with Trent driving the exact speed limit or max of 5 over, but then letting his speed just drift away going up a hill? To me, this is one of those instances in which frugality steps over the line and becomes selfishness – it’s dangerous and rude to drive this way. I am surprised he hasn’t had to deal with angry fellow drivers! That would make me crazy. Please tell me that you’re at least in the far right lane at ALL TIMES, Trent!

Speeds on highways and roads are set for a variety of reasons, the least of which is how fast you, as a driver, can manage to drive without wiping out. It has to do with traffic congestion, exit distances, lines of sight, population density, etc. then likely tagged with a safety factor to take weather conditions, tractor trailer hauling, etc. into account. Major highways have different criteria that suburbs, etc. You’re supposed to slow down in a school zone because there is a high probability there are kids around, either walking or on buses. You generally have slower traffic in a business area because people have to be able to a get in and out of parking lots safely to go to the business. They slow highway traffic in the cities because the exits start coming one after the other. They even use speed limits on the autobahn when there is a need to manage traffic speeds. Feel free to talk to any civil engineer who deals with traffic flow and patterns and you’ll find it isn’t arbitrary at all.

That speed will vary according to the nature of the road on which we drive. The World Health Organisation concluded, in its 2004 World Report on Road Traffic Injury Prevention, that the maximum speed limit for various types of road should be:

19 mph in locations with possible conflicts between pedestrians and cars;
31 mph in locations with few or no pedestrians, but containing intersections with possible side impacts between cars;
43 mph on roads with possible frontal impacts between cars, including rural roads;
62 mph on roads with no possibility of a side impact or frontal impact (only impact with the infrastructure).

Those speed limits are lower than those currently set by municipalities in the United States. Perhaps the traffic authorities in those municipalities are all in league with the local undertakers, for whom they are attempting to generate revenue.

The point I’m trying to make is that it is dangerous to drive at highway speeds on roads where there is opposing traffic, occasional animal and child crossings, as well as the assumption that the road is empty (making the occasional child or animal crossing all the more startling). That coupled with modern road arrogance and impatience costs lives.

@David: The agglomeration I am referring to contains approx. 36 000 people. The accidents listed above all happened within a 65 km stretch. On a 1 km segment near my parents’ village, there is at least one young life lost per year.

So the same vehicle driving 55 versus 75 is the same mass times 3025 versus 5675, or basically going 75 means you’ll hit with nearly twice the energy as you would at 55.

Looking at distance traveled:

75 mph = 110 ft per second.
55 mph = 80 ft per second.

Typical honest reaction time is on the order of one to two seconds. Being conservative, in two seconds you’ve traveled an additional 60 ft before you even begin to react, not to mention the additional stopping distance needed. Most vehicles aren’t intended for high speed maneuvers, so you’ve got less reaction time and less ability to maneuver the vehicle without losing control.

So it’s pretty obvious why higher speeds kill.

Finally, traveling 55 versus 75 how much time are you really saving:

100 miles = 1 hour 49 min 1 hr 20 min
20 miles = 22 min 16 min
10 miles = 11 min 8 min
5 miles = 5.5 min 4 min
2 miles = 2.2 min 1.6 min

You’ll have to make your own decision as to whether or not you want to risk life or limb at higher speeds to “save time” or what traffic will bear. The above applies just as much to 65 in a 40 zone, or 45 in a 25 zone.

Finally, you’re kids will drive the way you do, not as you say. If you’re flying down highways, passing dangerously, tailgating people who aren’t going as fast as *you* want, etc. be assured that your children will likely be doing that same exact thing when you aren’t in the car with them.

I found it eye opening when teaching my kids to drive, that doing the speed limit is apparently the rudest thing people believe you can do to them. One macho man was tailgating and flashing his highbeams, so I confronted him at a stop sign and asked how much of a man he felt trying to intimidate a sixteen year old girl into breaking the law. Then I demanded he stop looking at me and justify his actions to the twelve year old girl (probably his daughter) who was sitting in his passenger seat and then explain to me how he wanted her treated when he tried teaching her. He didn’t have much more to say at that point.

“The fact is, at higher speeds, the risk of dying and/or the severity of injuries increase.”

Of course it is. However, the logical conclusion of that argument is that we should all drive 0 mph. That is, not move at all, because every incremental increase in speed produces a corresponding increase in fatality rates. Since this argument concludes we should all remain stationary, it is thus useless and totally irrelevant.

The fact is, the increasing risk of higher speeds has to be balanced against the practicality of being able to move at all. So trotting out such an argument is an utterly irrelevant red herring to the question of where the speed limit should be set.

“Why is speeding (i.e., breaking the law) generally considered ok & getting a ticket for doing so an insult?”

Because everybody knows most highway speed limits are set arbitrarily low in order to generate revenue for municipalities, rather than out of safety concerns.

- 5-year-old hit by a freight truck while crossing a country road (dead on impact)

-28-year-old in a head-on collision (the other guy was drunk), dead on impact

-27-year- old who stopped on the curb to check something on his car (hit-and-run, found long dead)

- 23-year-old who tried to pass another car in the opposing traffic lane while in a blizzard

I could go on… all of them are related to someone’s negligence or impatience on the road. The fact is, at higher speeds, the risk of dying and/or the severity of injuries increase.