3 ms·

Four lane divided, limited-access highway. Lanes are 12' wide. Visibility is unlimited. Road is straight as an arrow out to the horizon. Terrain is flat. D

Four lane divided, limited-access highway. Lanes are 12' wide. Visibility is unlimited. Road is straight as an arrow out to the horizon. Terrain is flat. Diffuse daylight. No appreciable traffic. Without being told the speed limit, how fast do you go? Now that you're going that fast, you enter a section of highway that has been annexed by a nearby incorporated town, its speed limit in town lowered to 35 mph, and its only cop sitting out on the highway, clocking cars and looking for speeders to cite for "70/35". Without the threat of cops, most drivers generally drive at the subjective and situationally variable speed described by Adams in HHGttG as "R1", which is the maximum reasonable and prudent speed for the ambient conditions. When lanes narrow, R1 drops. When fog blankets the road, R1 drops. When traffic gets congested, R1 drops. Everyone already has ample incentives to drive at a safe speed to protect their affordable insurance premiums, their expensive vehicles, and their priceless lives. In general, the locales that recognize this set their posted speed limits to the 85th percentile of driver speeds in normal conditions. They only ticket people that are clearly beyond the community norms for R1. The locales that want ticket revenue set the speed limits to R0.9 or less, so that everyone is occasionally subject to citations if they aren't extremely vigilant about avoiding the enforcement. The latter is why not. When there is profit in catching law-breakers, the law will be adjusted to criminalize otherwise normal behaviors.

chrisseaton 8y ago
> Without being told the speed limit, how fast do you go? If none is posted, then whatever the national or state speed limit is. > The locales that want ticket revenue set the speed limits to R0.9 or less, so that everyone is occasionally subject to citations if they aren't extremely vigilant about avoiding the enforcement. So the only people who aren't caught are those that are carefully observing the speed limit? Sounds good to me. These supposedly revenue-seeking police departments never bother me.
- logfromblammo 8y ago
  Same here. I don't want to give them the satisfaction. Nevertheless, it is annoying to drive 35 mph on a limited access highway that clearly supports 60 mph. There are plenty of people willing to actually drive R1, which would be 60 mph, if there weren't any cars poking along at just under the speed limit, trying to avoid giving the cops their pretext for a highway robbery. Setting the limit too low makes the road less safe, because it increases the range of speeds at which the cars are moving. It is small consolation to see literally half a dozen other cars pulled over on a 5 mile stretch of road-that-should-be-highway, because the town certainly could save money by firing at least three of their cops, and possibly the whole department. There's no excuse for that kind of official depredation. And yet, I don't live there, so I can't vote for them. It is no sin to break the law when the law is turned against the people, but I am reluctant to pick fights that other people would have to join in order to win. I'd rather enact a boycott on that particular town's businesses--and any on the other side of them--until they clean up their own mess.

chrisseaton 8y ago

> Without being told the speed limit, how fast do you go? If none is posted, then whatever the national or state speed limit is. > The locales that want ticket revenue set the speed limits to R0.9 or less, so that everyone is occasionally subject to citations if they aren't extremely vigilant about avoiding the enforcement. So the only people who aren't caught are those that are carefully observing the speed limit? Sounds good to me. These supposedly revenue-seeking police departments never bother me.

logfromblammo 8y ago
Same here. I don't want to give them the satisfaction. Nevertheless, it is annoying to drive 35 mph on a limited access highway that clearly supports 60 mph. There are plenty of people willing to actually drive R1, which would be 60 mph, if there weren't any cars poking along at just under the speed limit, trying to avoid giving the cops their pretext for a highway robbery. Setting the limit too low makes the road less safe, because it increases the range of speeds at which the cars are moving. It is small consolation to see literally half a dozen other cars pulled over on a 5 mile stretch of road-that-should-be-highway, because the town certainly could save money by firing at least three of their cops, and possibly the whole department. There's no excuse for that kind of official depredation. And yet, I don't live there, so I can't vote for them. It is no sin to break the law when the law is turned against the people, but I am reluctant to pick fights that other people would have to join in order to win. I'd rather enact a boycott on that particular town's businesses--and any on the other side of them--until they clean up their own mess.