# Highway speed limit **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [September 30, 2008, 4:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/highway-speed-limit/465816 "2008-09-30T04:48:15Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2008, 4:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/highway-speed-limit/465816/21 "2008-10-01T04:05:44Z")
> [@With\_Rye](#): > > I’m surprised because I didn’t think so many people would still go over the limit knowing this. … > > I can always drive at the limit of course, but that’s kind of lame. Do you see how these two sort of go together? ---
**Author:** ![Absolute](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b2d939/32.png) [@Absolute](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Absolute)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2008, 4:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/highway-speed-limit/465816/22 "2008-10-01T04:27:33Z")
I have had a Connecticut state trooper tell me, after pulling me over for doing 88 in a 65, that no one would bother me if I kept my speed at 80 or below. I heeded his advice, and find that at 80 I’m still passing 95% of the cars on the road. Which is fine with me - I’m much more comfortable passing cars than sitting like a lump staring at someone else’s license plate for 100 miles. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2008, 1:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/highway-speed-limit/465816/23 "2008-10-01T13:30:25Z")
> [@Exapno\_Mapcase](#): > > I’ve driven on 75 mph expressways in Florida and New Mexico. [nitpick] We don’t have 75mph expressways. The state’s blanket speed limit is 70mph. [/nitpick] ---
**Author:** ![CookingWithGas](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cookingwithgas/32/485_2.png) [@CookingWithGas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CookingWithGas)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2008, 1:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/highway-speed-limit/465816/24 "2008-10-01T13:35:48Z")
> [@With\_Rye](#): > > I’m surprised because I didn’t think so many people would still go over the limit knowing [that you can get a ticket for it]. This means that CHP officers can have their pick of violators anytime and write tickets all day long if they were so inclined. It annoys me that I’m basically sitting in a slaughter pen and at the whim and mercy of some cop. > > I can always drive at the limit of course, but that’s kind of lame. I interpreted your OP as a question about what the cops can legally do. What they \*can \*do under the law and what they actually do as a matter of practicality are two totally different things, as I explained in the entirety of my post you quoted. I knew a woman who got a ticket for speeding. She claims she was moving with the flow of traffic. She fought it in court. Told the judge that everyone else was speeding, too, but the police just picked on her. The judge said with a sarcastic and jaded tone, “Big net, one fish. Guilty as charged. Next case.” 😃 So \*can \*they pull you over anytime for speeding? Of course. \*Do \*they? Of course not. I drive over the limit all the time. In fact the only place I stick to the limit is in school zones and residential neighborhoods. I usually drive 15 over on interstates, and usually 5-10 over on main arteries, and even then I am never the fastest car on the road. I do so with the risk of getting a ticket. But in fact I have gotten only 5 speeding tickets in 35 years. So the cops aren’t out there trying to snare everyone (except for that [speed camera ticket I got in DC](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=479218)which still pisses me off :mad:). ---
**Author:** ![BrandonR](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/779978/32.png) [@BrandonR](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrandonR)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2008, 1:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/highway-speed-limit/465816/25 "2008-10-01T13:54:27Z")
It’s simple: speed tickets are a driving tax. Most people speed because the speed limits are too low in the first place. If the speed limit was 100 for example, I doubt many would go 100 (or break 100) because most people have an upper limit of a speed they personally feel comfortable and safe with. It’s why people aren’t constantly maxing out their speeds on the Autobahn. I moved from Texas to Indiana a few years ago and I’m still disgusted with the speed limits on the highways here. Almost all of them are 50 or 55. I’m used to 60-70 (even [80](http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,197072,00.html)!). There’s even some parts of a freeway with speeds down to 40 or 45. It’s incredibly frustrating to be going at such a slow pace on a freeway. You also have to remember a lot of speed limits are set by archaic, outdated safety formulas based on old, heavy, inefficient, and less safe vehicles. I know this is a problem with [advisory speeds on turns](http://www.texhwyman.com/laws.htm#AdvisorySpeeds) and whatnot. ---
**Author:** ![Santo\_Rugger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e95f7d/32.png) [@Santo\_Rugger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Santo_Rugger)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2008, 2:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/highway-speed-limit/465816/26 "2008-10-01T14:06:11Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > [nitpick] We don’t have 75mph expressways. The state’s blanket speed limit is 70mph. [/nitpick] Sucka! Pretty much all of our interstates are 75. There are also quite a few places where single lane (or are they double?) highways are 70. ---
**Author:** ![pkbites](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pkbites/32/204_2.png) [@pkbites](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pkbites)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2008, 2:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/highway-speed-limit/465816/27 "2008-10-01T14:33:47Z")
Couple of points: \*One of the reasons you can go a bit over the limit is that all clocking devices have a margin of error. It’s presented in the operators manual. The radar gun I used to use was a bit older and had an margin of error of 4mph (most newer models are less than that. 1 or 2 mph). So if I wrote a ticket for 3 over I suppose a savvy person could show in court my unit had a margin of error of 4 and get the case dismissed. **THIS IS NOT LEGAL ADVICE** , JUST AN OBSERVATION!!! \*If limits were always enforced very strictly, citing at 1 or 2 over, I might think a majority of people would find that to be too strict and would take their chances in court. If every single person who got a ticket demanded a trial it could clog the courts up and the system would collapse. **THIS IS NOT LEGAL ADVICE,** JUST A THEORY! > [@BrandonR](#): > > I’m used to 60-70 (even [80](http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,197072,00.html)!) I’ve been to Texas but I’ve never driven on that stretch. What’s it like? Are people keeping to the 80 limit or going even faster? How’s it being enforced? How fast until folks are getting pulled over? ---
**Author:** ![dinoboy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/65b543/32.png) [@dinoboy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dinoboy)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2008, 3:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/highway-speed-limit/465816/28 "2008-10-01T15:45:00Z")
> [@BrandonR](#): > > It’s simple: speed tickets are a driving tax. Most people speed because the speed limits are too low in the first place. If the speed limit was 100 for example, I doubt many would go 100 (or break 100) because most people have an upper limit of a speed they personally feel comfortable and safe with. … … You also have to remember a lot of speed limits are set by archaic, outdated safety formulas based on old, heavy, inefficient, and less safe vehicles. I know this is a problem with [advisory speeds on turns](http://www.texhwyman.com/laws.htm#AdvisorySpeeds) and whatnot. I tend to agree to a point, though I feel safety is something that I don’t want to fully leave in the hands of the public (nearly EVERYONE thinks they are an above average driver _regardless_ of their actual driving histories :dubious: ) The posted limit probably sets a subconscious benchmark that we judge this “safety limit” off of (no online cite, but this is a pretty common psychological hypothesis in perception and negotiation - [Cordellia Fine, “A Mind of its Own”](http://www.amazon.com/Mind-its-Own-Distorts-Deceives/dp/0393062139) discusses such phenomena) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/highway-speed-limit/465816.md?page=1)