It is against the law to speed. Most of the population does it. You can drive safely and speed. I don't buy the fact that in a 70 mph speed limit area that a driver doing 70 is safe and 71 is being unsafe. If that was the case police would pull people over for doing 1 over. I have never heard of anyone being pulled over for doing less than 5 or more over. That tells me that the police must feel that a few over is safe.
I have seen many people that drive the speed limit that are unsafe. They have no awareness of what is going on around them and don't plan ahead when driving. It's obvious watching them.
Edited: Kyrroeth on 21st Jun, 2017 - 3:21pm
In a court of law you are not wrong. The speed limit is set due to road conditions and usually population density. I can tell you that in some states if you are doing 9 or less over the posted speed limit on the open highway it will not effect your record or your insurance. Every state is different and you will have to check with your state. The key here is the open highway. Construction areas, and residential areas especially school zones are very different.
A cop won't charge you for being 5 over because in a court there will be an argument about the accuracy of the reading which has a +/-5 leeway but you will know if you are going over or not. Not know how to drive is different to the speed limit. The speed limit is just one part of it that I touched on because you mentioned it earlier. I could go on about indicators, blind spot, and all that but I thought the focus here is speed and driving safely so that's why I am saying that part of the safety is not finding reasons to go faster than the limit.
Kyrroeth you have to think of the highway designation. Even if it is a four lane highway if it is not a Interstate highway but a state or US route the speed is less than that of a Interstate highway. Does not matter the visibility or amount of traffic. Some of those speeds are set by the US Transportation department.
Im just saying that it doesn't make a person an unsafe driver because they sped even 1 mph over the speed limit. A few mph has little effect if any on stopping times. There is an issue with the highway speeds set on many highways. They don't factor in vehicle performance. The speeds were determined to be safe back in the 70's or 80's according to the average vehicles around then. Vehicles have so much better stopping capabilities now. Modern Toyota Camrys can probably stop faster than sports cars from that era.
I've been on a state highway that is four lanes. It passes through a rural area. Towns are few and far between. Corn on both sides of the road and hardly any businesses. The terrain is flat and traffic is always light on the road. Yet the speed limit is 65. That makes zero sense.
Edited: Kyrroeth on 21st Jun, 2017 - 4:48pm
I'm with Kyrroeth on this one. If the speed limit is 70 and you're doing 71 you are fine. One MPH over the posted limit isn't going to affect you. And I can tell you that I often drive a bit faster than that when I'm in the passing lane and get very upset at people in the passing lane doing the limit or slower when they can be doing the limit in the right lane.