4 ms·

Wtf? Is this a US phenomenon? In Australia people do stick to limits, more or less. At least, speeders are judged by other drivers fairly harshly.

by regecks 10y ago

grmarcil 10y ago
Yeah, in the US, it's pretty much acceptable to go 5 or 10 mph over the limit on any non-residential road. Cops generally don't ticket unless you are going 10+ mph over.
- germinalphrase 10y ago
  As an American, I have certainly internalized a safe +10% mph heuristic when it comes to speed limits.
- mercer 10y ago
  That's fascinating. In Holland we use a similar rule of thumb, but in Km/h, which is significantly less of a speed increase. Fascinating how the choice of unit of measurement affects behavior like this. Going 8-20 Km/h too fast (the US equivalent) would definitely not be okay here. It happens, but if the police notices you're likely to get a ticket.
wyager 10y ago
My US driver's ed specifically instructed (unofficially) that, if the posted limit is over 40mph, feel free to go as much as 10mph over if it matches traffic conditions.
TheSpiceIsLife 10y ago
Yeah, even after nearly two decades of driving and being aware that drivers in the US routinely exceed the speed limit I'm still a bit surprised by it. Maybe it's because Australians get ticketed more for it, or are more likely to get ticketed for it. Back when I was living in one of the capitals (Adelaide) I recall there being quite a few fixed location speed cameras, red light cameras, and combined speed and red light cameras, plus regular mobile cameras on the arterial routes and often on the secondary routes. Back when I used to expose myself to free-to-air TV I also remember there being regular advertising campaigns about how driving even 5k/hr faster increases stopping distance significantly. The required stopping distance on dry road at 40k/hr is 26 meters[1] and at 50k/hr is 35 meters. Maybe we care about each other just a tad more. I don't know. 1. http://www.tmr.qld.gov.au/Safety/Driver-guide/Speeding/Stopping-distances.aspx http://www.tmr.qld.gov.au/Safety/Driver-guide/Speeding/Stopp...

Wtf? Is this a US phenomenon? In Australia people do stick to limits, more or less. At least, speeders are judged by other drivers fairly harshly.

by regecks 10y ago

Wtf? Is this a US phenomenon? In Australia people do stick to limits, more or less. At least, speeders are judged by other drivers fairly harshly.

grmarcil 10y ago

Yeah, in the US, it's pretty much acceptable to go 5 or 10 mph over the limit on any non-residential road. Cops generally don't ticket unless you are going 10+ mph over.

germinalphrase 10y ago
As an American, I have certainly internalized a safe +10% mph heuristic when it comes to speed limits.
mercer 10y ago
That's fascinating. In Holland we use a similar rule of thumb, but in Km/h, which is significantly less of a speed increase. Fascinating how the choice of unit of measurement affects behavior like this. Going 8-20 Km/h too fast (the US equivalent) would definitely not be okay here. It happens, but if the police notices you're likely to get a ticket.

wyager 10y ago

My US driver's ed specifically instructed (unofficially) that, if the posted limit is over 40mph, feel free to go as much as 10mph over if it matches traffic conditions.

TheSpiceIsLife 10y ago

Yeah, even after nearly two decades of driving and being aware that drivers in the US routinely exceed the speed limit I'm still a bit surprised by it. Maybe it's because Australians get ticketed more for it, or are more likely to get ticketed for it. Back when I was living in one of the capitals (Adelaide) I recall there being quite a few fixed location speed cameras, red light cameras, and combined speed and red light cameras, plus regular mobile cameras on the arterial routes and often on the secondary routes. Back when I used to expose myself to free-to-air TV I also remember there being regular advertising campaigns about how driving even 5k/hr faster increases stopping distance significantly. The required stopping distance on dry road at 40k/hr is 26 meters[1] and at 50k/hr is 35 meters. Maybe we care about each other just a tad more. I don't know. 1. http://www.tmr.qld.gov.au/Safety/Driver-guide/Speeding/Stopping-distances.aspx http://www.tmr.qld.gov.au/Safety/Driver-guide/Speeding/Stopp...