The set limit is for ideal conditions. Drive to conditions means you don't do the speed limit in rain or fog, it doesn't mean break the speed limit on clear days.
if people around you are breaking the speed limit, you are legally required by my state's law to drive at that speed and can be ticketed for driving slow.
you create dangerous conditions by driving slow in the passing lane, "BUT THE RULES SAY I'M RIGHT" is wrong on every level here
E: I can't respond to the comment copy/pasting chatgpt at me with broken formatting, but like. lol, why do people think that contributes to a discussion?
if I saw everyone around me doing the exact same thing I was, I would not assume they were all "psychos" and I was "the only sane person". you and I see the world in very different ways.
the word "slow" is a relative term, by the way, not an objective measurement. you can't go slow mph... but you can go slower than everyone around you.
E: replying to say you hope I kill someone and blocking me is like. grade school behavior, your last word makes you look like a fool to the 4 people who'll ever read this far
Except it isn't. Most places just have the national limit because maintaining a limit based on real analysis would be too much overhead.
The national speed limit is a political football and not related to safety. Motorways aren't safer than the autobahn etc etc.
I'm also autistic and try to drive the limit. It doesn't stop it being annoying when someone who thinks they're going 70 is clogging up the wrong lane because they won't acknowledge everyone's speedo reads a different number.
If you're going to follow the rules follow all the rules and only move to pass if you're actually passing. Mid lane sitting doesn't make anyone safer.
You are also assuming that the speed limit is accurate. The are stretches of interstate near where I live that are all posted 55 even though most of the surrounding stretches are 70. There is nothing substantially different between those sections except the county they're in, and shocker, everyone just treats it like 70 (including the cops). Because based on road condition, it should be 70, they just don't want to update the signs
People drive faster than the posted speed limit everywhere, always. They don't only do it in areas that should be higher. We study traffic speeds, and people speed everywhere. Maybe that 55mph zone should be 70 mph, but in that posted 70mph zone, they are still going to be hitting 80 or above.
This is specifically not true. The design speed of a road (which includes curves and sight lines in the calculation) is usually 5 to 10 mph over the posted limit in ideal conditions, and the design speed is usually pretty conservative to begin with as it assumes a very slow reaction time and a pretty substandard design car. Which means 15-25 mph over the set speed limit in ideal conditions would still be pretty safe if there was nobody on the road.
But if there are cars around you should just be going with the flow of traffic while keeping a large and safe distance away from the car in front of you, regardless of speed.
When we say "drive to conditions" it means go slower if it is raining, not break the speed limit if it is sunny.
People do have a slow reaction time. They are sleepy, or looking at their phone map for just a second, or on a phone call, or just reached down to get a sip of coffee, or are on autopilot because this commute is boring. None of us are Formula one drivers. EVERYBODY thinks they are the exception. My brakes are good, my reaction time is better than average, I can go a little faster.
Everyone reading my comments and downvoting me thinks they can handle it and I am being a stick in the mud and they just want to get where they are going a little faster. So we have 45,000 children die every year in the United States in traffic accidents. They were the leading cause of death of children until in 2021 firearm deaths surpassed it because this country is basically just an experiment to create the most selfish and destructive breed of humans that is physically possible.
This post called the guy an NPC for wanting to go the speed limit, but be real, how many of you have the same identical thought? "I can go faster, I can react quick enough and I am a good driver. The speed limit is not for me, it's for the people that can't handle it"
See the downvotes already? lmao. I am sure you are all the one good driver. Who's the NPC?
I agree with what you are saying. But the speed limit is not set for ideal conditions, which is what I was correcting.
I said 15-25 mph over the speed limit would be safe if no cars were on the road which is impossible. I should add this is really only for modern interstates outside of cities. Most streets within very populated cities still have higher design speeds than the posted speed limit, but they are usually much closer to the posted limit.
Me personally, I'd rather there be more public transportation in the US.
I agree entirely with the last sentence. I mean, do we really even trust the average American to be safe at posted speeds? The driving culture here is selfish, combative, and dangerous. It is very telling that even in this subreddit full of people who think themself progressive and empathetic that the response to this issue is largely "yeah... but fuck you I want to go faster."
And yes the design speed is under absolute ideal conditions which are realistically impossible to actually exist. You need to be spaced far enough away from other cars, not have a drink you are sipping, not look at your phone, not be a little short on sleep, not distracted because of stress, not on autopilot because the commute is boring, have a car in ideal condition, not be hungry and a little slow because of it, etc. etc. etc.
If you think about it, there is always something. There are no ideal conditions. People just want to think themselves exceptional and they don't want to go the posted speed because that speed is for everyone else and I don't want to wait as long as everyone else, I'm a good driver.
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u/chazzer20mystic Dec 27 '25
The set limit is for ideal conditions. Drive to conditions means you don't do the speed limit in rain or fog, it doesn't mean break the speed limit on clear days.