• Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.

Why is it so acceptable to speed?

Status
Not open for further replies.

Choomp

Banned
Probably the same reason it's generally acceptable to jay walk. Going over the speed limit doesn't automatically mean you are being dangerous or reckless.

Yeah, it's not really the spirit of the rule to stop someone if they're going like 5 over. Probably doesn't danger anyone if that's the case, and it's a waste of time for police officers stopping every little speed limit violation.
 

xsarien

daedsiluap
I go with the flow of traffic, however fast that may be.

Except this one time on the 5 somewhere between LA and Knight Rider country. Yeah, I opened that speedy little rental up something fierce. :)
 
Jesus, I get scared the rare times I push my car to 90.

Some cars are just built for it. I've driven cars that could cruise at 120 all day long if you wanted. It requires a different level of attention than normal driving and you look much farther down the road, but you get used to it pretty quickly.

What's fun is when you're going that fast, get on the brakes to what you feel is a pretty slow speed then look down and see you're still going 100+. It's amazing how used to speed your brain can get.
 
Sometimes around town I find it's unacceptable to go the speed limit, but generally most speed limits around here are set low and are broken by >90% of drivers.

That's because it's unlawful to pull someone over for driving 1-5MPH over the limit in most of the county.

I've heard stories of people getting stopped in VA for <=5 MPH over, but VA police are notorious cunts.
 

Dougald

Member
I'll only speed if its safer for me to do so (basically to avoid being rear-ended, I don't want to be rear-ended on a motorcycle). Normally when passing someone going 5 under the speed limit on the motorway

Police take a very dim view of motorcycles going ridiculous speeds in this country, though if you take the UK Police Bike Safe course and are going 60mph on a national speed limit country road, they'll tell you to speed up where appropriate.

Anyone going 40 in a 30 as the OP describes is recklessly endangering lives as these limits are set for residential areas.
 

The Technomancer

card-carrying scientician
On a highway? Eh, whatever, there's data and experience showing that at guidelines are sufficient.

In an urban area? In a residential neighborhood? Fuck off with that shit. My Dad probably has a worry ulcer because our house was on a block that, due to having a large cemetery, ran for almost eight normal blocks of width while only being fed from one side, and as a result assholes would speed down at 35-40 MPH all the time.
 
Some cars are just built for it. I've driven cars that could cruise at 120 all day long if you wanted. It requires a different level of attention than normal driving and you look much farther down the road, but you get used to it pretty quickly.

What's fun is when you're going that fast, get on the brakes to what you feel is a pretty slow speed then look down and see you're still going 100+. It's amazing how used to speed your brain can get.
Very true. My last car I pushed 90 and I knew I was going fast and it spooked me because of how the car reacted.

My new car? I could easily hit 90 crusing along and not notice it.
 

Barzul

Member
I've gone as high as 25 over the limit on the highway(which is very reckless and I have never attempted this again) but I usually do 5-10. Off the interstate I rarely go over 5. Never been ticketed.
 

TransTrender

Gold Member
Most posted speed limits in the places I lived are egregiously low for the roads and typical traffic conditions. Some roads had their speed limits reduced by 20mph even though there was not increased traffic or development while cars got after and safer. Also sometimes it's necessary to speed in order to keep up with the haphazard and broken traffic light synchronization that's soo prevalent in So Cal.

I agree there should be speed limits and some of them are entirely practical like school zones and residential areas but a lot of them are just too low to be practical.
 

Dougald

Member
The major impression I always get from these threads is that speed limits are far too low for the grade of road in America
 

Opiate

Member
Speeding is one of a long list of rules (be they corporate rules, legal rules, or otherwise), that qualify as "rules that can be bent as needed, unless you bend them too far and unless someone dislikes you."

Do you jaywalk? You can do that every day, unless you 1) Happen to jaywalk directly in front of the president's vehicle or something, or 2) Happen to be on the bad side of police who are looking for a way to get you.

The same can be said of being late to work 3 minutes every day. Can you do this? Probably. Unless the CEO happens to come in that day, and unless your manager doesn't like you and is looking for a reason to let you go.

There are lots of rules that can you liberally bend unless those who enforce the rules (be they police or bosses or anyone else) is predisposed to dislike you.
 

J-Rod

Member
Because most people are not robots and are capable of using discretion. Someone with years of experience driving and on a familiar road with light traffic, they know driving 5-10mph over the posted limit (which may be a bullshit arbitrary number anyway) isn't reckless. They are greater mysteries to uncover than this, like why people may periodically hit their brakes for no apparent reason, fight to get into the left lane just to hover and drive under the limit, never use a blinker, put on their makeup in rush hour traffic, etc.
 

TCRS

Banned
Some cars are just built for it. I've driven cars that could cruise at 120 all day long if you wanted. It requires a different level of attention than normal driving and you look much farther down the road, but you get used to it pretty quickly.

What's fun is when you're going that fast, get on the brakes to what you feel is a pretty slow speed then look down and see you're still going 100+. It's amazing how used to speed your brain can get.

yup, that's why I slow down 2-3 km before I have to get off the autobahn to get used to low speeds again. otherwise it's easy to misjudge the exit and you'll land in a ditch or something.
 

Relix

he's Virgin Tight™
I usually go 10mph over and have never been pulled over. Then again I traveled from SF to LA and I was going at 90, but then again everyone was going as fast as I was.

If you are going at the speed limit or less stick to the right and don't change lanes for fucks sake. I hate when two or three slow-asses get together and line up, stopping anyone from passing.




Disclaimer: I suffer from real road rage. :p
 
Georgia? Yeah, there isn't a single person who isn't breaking the speed limit on 75/85 in Atlanta. Not a single fucking person.

That's where I am, and where I see that bullshit I described. 285 West heading toward I-20 seems to be a police free zone. The minimum I see on that road is 20-30 MPH over the limit.
 
In-town, especially near residential areas, compact streets, or areas with any amount of foot traffic, I stick pretty strictly to the speed limit. If I'm on a country road, highway, or interstate, I'll usually go 5 over; so if it's a 70 MPH speed limit, I'll go 75. That's my limit unless I'm passing someone in which case I'll go up to about 10 over.

Also, the video posted previously is great.

Anyway. I prefer to stay close to the speed limit to avoid tickets. If I see the traffic is going much faster (some areas of Chicago/the suburbs for example) I'll speed up to keep the flow of traffic going as I think that's probably the safer option rather than driving too slowly.
 
Yeah, it's always bugged me as well. Just make the damn speed limit 75-80 on the freeways, and enforce the limit. But no, we'll say 55 and even the slowboats are doing 65. More like speed suggestion signs, that cops can hold you too when they feel like it.
 
I usually go 10mph over and have never been pulled over. Then again I traveled from SF to LA and I was going at 90, but then again everyone was going as fast as I was.

If you are going at the speed limit or less stick to the right and don't change lanes for fucks sake. I hate when two or three slow-asses get together and line up, stopping anyone from passing.

Disclaimer: I suffer from real road rage. :p

Friendly Adviser: Don't suffer from road rage! If something is agitating you on the road, just recognize you're getting pissed and drop off to the right lane at the speed limit. It's just not worth it. I used to be pretty bad about it but now only rarely get bothered because it's just not worth it.
 

wildfire

Banned
Why is it so acceptable to speed, seriously? The limits are there for a reason: they are tried and tested. They save lives. If everyone stuck to or close to the limit, driving would be easier for everyone. I don't get it.

They are tried but the results they aren't necessarily looking for safest speeds. Some areas would rather go the extra mile and use group psychology to control traffic.

What saves the most lives are drivers being within 12 mph of each other. The more you vary in speed the greater danger you are to either yourself or other people on the road.

If everyone stuck close to the limit that wouldn't be so bad but many people don't bother using cruise control, or don't know how.


The 10% rule is only applicable to white people. Try doing 10% over as a minority in a rich white neighborhood.

*blinks*
 

Two Words

Member
I fucking hate it when I'm already going 85 mph on the left lane in a 60 mph freeway, and the guy behind me is tailgating me hardcore and trying to take every opportunity to pass me.
 

muteki

Member
I have a general 10mph over limit or, not being the fastest person around.

If I am on a multi-lane highway and everyone is doing 20mph over, I have no problem running at 15mph over.
 

v1lla21

Member
I go 5-10mph over depending where I'm at. If I'm on the freeway and it's 65 I go 75 on the farthest left lane. Always go with the speed of traffic even if most are going 5-10 over. Going slow and matching the speed limit disrupts the flow traffic and you could be the one getting the ticket.

Now that we're on this I hate people who drive below the limit because they see a cop behind or in front. The road by my house is a 45mph zone and people will go between 30-40. Gtfo my way bitch you're just making it worse for people and the cop is probably laughing at you.
 
I usually go 10mph over and have never been pulled over. Then again I traveled from SF to LA and I was going at 90, but then again everyone was going as fast as I was.

If you are going at the speed limit or less stick to the right and don't change lanes for fucks sake. I hate when two or three slow-asses get together and line up, stopping anyone from passing.




Disclaimer: I suffer from real road rage. :p

I love getting in front of easily agitated drivers and seeing them flail their arms around in frustration. It makes my heart smile.
 

Ganhyun

Member
Not sure how it is in the rest of the country, and this might have changed since my dad taught me this ~10 years ago, but only state troopers (or maybe it's highway patrol?) in GA can pull you over for <10 MPH. The reasoning is that local cops don't get the required training on radar guns to accurately get you within a 10 MPH margin of error.

But yeah, I speed, but not recklessly. I know on some roads around me, I can go 20 over fairly easily. On others, I don't dare hit that 10 over mark. But, I never drive like an asshole, and I never weave through traffic.

edit: it's acceptable because most people realize that speed limits are fucking horse shit and no one needs to ever be driving only 35 MPH, ever.


Yea, I don't believe it. Treutlen County Ga stops people for less than 10 over all the time.

Georgia? Yeah, there isn't a single person who isn't breaking the speed limit on 75/85 in Atlanta. Not a single fucking person.

Actually, at times they do exist, but are usually people not local to the area or a school bus or something. They tend to get stuck in a lane and unable to get over due to the other drivers giving them no ability to get out of the way once they realize they are in the way.

The really scary thing about Atlanta is the
 
It's so acceptable to speed because many speed limits were put in place when driving was a much more dangerous act. Speed limits were largely issues in the 50s, 60s, and 70s, when most cars did not have power steering, had no breaking system / ABS, lacked seat belts, had windshields made of plate glass, had rigid bodies that turned them into 50MPH bullets, and had nothing in the way of preventing injuries to passengers and drivers inside the vehicles.

We've had 50 years of safety improvements to vehicles and driving, 50 years of road improvements to divert water, improve surfaces, and so on, and speed limits that have gone relatively unchanged throughout the entire country.

People speed because you can speed safely without endangering anybody.

Also, on highways and main roads, I don't use a 10% rule, I use a 10MPH rule and often break that. On thickly settled streets I usually go the speed limit or a few MPH over. Frankly, I think there are far more dangerous things you can do while driving than speeding, and it's pretty silly that speeding is the only one that is routinely and regularly enforced.
 

The Lamp

Member
Here in Texas, people regularly go 10 over, and yet for some morons that's still too slow! Those morons can have their accident/speeding tickets.

5-10 over is very common. Anymore than that and I think you're just trying to be a speedster cartoon villain.

I'm not sure why it got so acceptable. Probably because in Texas you have to drive long distances.
 
I love getting in front of easily agitated drivers and seeing them flail their arms around in frustration. It makes my heart smile.

Not only is this an incredibly dickish thing to do, it's also dangerous. A good way to get hit, especially if it's one of those idiots in their stupid pick-up trucks with those bumper guards.

I've seen it happen.
 

Ganhyun

Member
It's so acceptable to speed because many speed limits were put in place when driving was a much more dangerous act. Speed limits were largely issues in the 50s, 60s, and 70s, when most cars did not have power steering, had no breaking system / ABS, lacked seat belts, had windshields made of plate glass, had rigid bodies that turned them into 50MPH bullets, and had nothing in the way of preventing injuries to passengers and drivers inside the vehicles.

We've had 50 years of safety improvements to vehicles and driving, 50 years of road improvements to divert water, improve surfaces, and so on, and speed limits that have gone relatively unchanged throughout the entire country.

People speed because you can speed safely without endangering anybody.

Also, on highways and main roads, I don't use a 10% rule, I use a 10MPH rule and often break that. On thickly settled streets I usually go the speed limit or a few MPH over.

While I know cars are much safer now, I will say that I personally will not buy and drive one of the smart cars in the Atlanta Metro area. Thing looks like a moving coffin. Get hit and you're already ready to be buried.
 

TalonJH

Member
In towns, I always follow the speed limit. When on the highway I go no more than 10 miles over the speeding limit. I understand that you don't want to speed and you shouldn't feel like you have to. 5-10 over (on the highway) is pretty common and is not ticketed.

Full disclosure: Most highway limits here are 75mph.
 

IISANDERII

Member
5-10mph over the limit? Man, people really are afraid of the police; in Canada people routinely go 20-40kph over the limit on the highway.
 

ahoyhoy

Unconfirmed Member
Maryland drivers usually drive around at the speed limit or a little above

Now living in Upstate New York. Even the drivers in the right lanes drive at least 10 MPH over the speed limit. Shit is cray.
 
Friendly Adviser: Don't suffer from road rage! If something is agitating you on the road, just recognize you're getting pissed and drop off to the right lane at the speed limit. It's just not worth it. I used to be pretty bad about it but now only rarely get bothered because it's just not worth it.

My road rage defense tactic has been the same for about as long as I've been driving. A friendly smile and a wave. It makes the ragers really rage. I'm surprised I haven't been shot (I've been followed more than once)
 

.GqueB.

Banned
I do 80 minimum. But it's because I don't really like driving and want to get it over with.

...one way or another.
 
Because people are dumb.
If im already going 75 in a 60 zone, and you still want to pass me up...then go around. I already did my part by going fast.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Top Bottom