# Speed limits and speeding **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [July 15, 2016, 1:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/speed-limits-and-speeding/759971 "2016-07-15T13:19:42Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Le\_Ministre\_de\_l\_au-dela](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/le_ministre_de_l_au-dela/32/12181_2.png) [@Le\_Ministre\_de\_l\_au-dela](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Le_Ministre_de_l_au-dela)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2016, 9:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/speed-limits-and-speeding/759971/41 "2016-07-19T21:02:23Z")
An interesting experiment today - in light of [this article](https://www.thestar.com/opinion/commentary/2016/07/11/reducing-speed-limits-quickest-way-to-road-safety.html), I was really paying attention as I drove along Davenport Road to Home Depot. Driving at the posted 40 km/h limit is really difficult - everyone else on the road wants to go faster, so you get tail-gated and honked at, while there remains a large gap in front of you. Staying at 40 in 4th gear means taking your foot off the gas pedal and just touching it on every 10 seconds or so. 30 km/h would only be possible in 3rd gear, I suspect. I don’t really consider myself a driver - I walk or take transit as much as possible, saving the car for trips where the load is going to be impractical for transit, or where I’m driving beyond where transit is a possibility. I’d be more of a cyclist, except that cycling in the city gives me a sore throat, in addition to feeling threatened by all the car traffic. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2016, 9:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/speed-limits-and-speeding/759971/42 "2016-07-19T21:14:14Z")
I’ve just made 22-hour (southbound) and 21-hour (northbound) drives, so speed limits have been on my brain. I was going to ask a GQ about ‘Speed Limit’ vs. ‘Maximum Speed’, but [I see I already did 12 years ago](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=269685). 😃 **tracer** posted in that thread: > [@Speed limit vs. maximum speed](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/speed-limit-vs-maximum-speed/258267/6): > > Here is the law in California:[ul][li]“Maximum Speed” is a numeric speed, specified in miles per hour in the California Vehicle Code, which you may **not** exceed under any circumstances. There are currently three numeric maximum speed laws in California: a 70 mph max. speed for some rural freeways that are rated for such high speeds (CVC sec 22356), a 55 mph max. speed for 2-lane undivided roadways (CVC sec 22349(b)), and a blanket 65 mph max. speed everywhere else (CVC sec 22349(a)).[/li] > [li]A “Speed Limit”, however, isn’t a law. Posted speed limits, called “prima facie limits” in the California Vehicle Code, are the **suggested maximum safe speed** for that particular stretch of road under normal driving conditions. The law in force here is CVC sec 22350, sometimes called the Basic Speed Law, which states that “No person shall drive a vehicle upon a highway at a speed greater than is reasonable or prudent having due regard for weather, visibility, the traffic on, and the surface and width of, the highway, and in no event at a speed which endangers the safety of persons or property.”[/ul][/li]However, if you drive faster than a posted “Speed Limit,” the burden of proof will be on **you** to demonstrate to the court that your speed wasn’t a violation of the Basic Speed Law (cf. CVC 22351(b)). So my question was answered. As far as my driving habits, I will drive as fast as I think I can get away with, or as fast as I’m willing to pay for (in fuel – in a Prius :p), or a combination of those. Generally on 70 mph stretches, my speedometer indicates 75 mph, which is probably actually 73 or 74 mph. There’s one stretch where I’ll indicate 78 or 80. Since most people up here drive 5 mph under the speed limit, I feel it’s my civic duty to drive 5 mph (indicated) over the posted limit. On the trip to SoCal over the weekend, I would have indicated 80 the whole way were it not for the trucks and other people getting in my way. Oh, and at an indicated 77 to 80 mph, the Prius was only getting about 41 mpg. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2016, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/speed-limits-and-speeding/759971/43 "2016-07-19T21:23:24Z")
I drive the speed limit. Set the cruise control and hang out in the right lane. If the flow of traffic wants to go faster, it can flow around me. ---
**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:** [July 27, 2016, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/speed-limits-and-speeding/759971/44 "2016-07-27T18:44:03Z")
> [@Ethilrist](#): > > I drive the speed limit. Set the cruise control and hang out in the right lane. If the flow of traffic wants to go faster, it can flow around me. Bless you for doing this in the right lane (assuming you are in a drive-on-the-right country). Too many people do this in the leftmost lane. I won’t rant further as the Internet is already overflowing with it. ---
**Author:** ![excavating\_for\_a\_mind](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e8c25b/32.png) [@excavating\_for\_a\_mind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/excavating_for_a_mind)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2016, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/speed-limits-and-speeding/759971/45 "2016-07-27T19:02:43Z")
> [@CookingWithGas](#): > > > [@Ethilrist](#): > > > > I drive the speed limit. Set the cruise control and hang out in the right lane. If the flow of traffic wants to go faster, it can flow around me. > > Bless you for doing this in the right lane (assuming you are in a drive-on-the-right country). Too many people do this in the leftmost lane. I won’t rant further as the Internet is already overflowing with it. I also do what Ethilrist says. Funny thing, once I started doing that, the bozos in the left-hand lane no longer bothered me. ---
**Author:** ![joyfool](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/df788c/32.png) [@joyfool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/joyfool)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2016, 9:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/speed-limits-and-speeding/759971/46 "2016-07-27T21:12:54Z")
> [@Channing\_Idaho\_Banks](#): > > I like to set the cruise control for the speed limit and just leave it there. This is me, except I set mine for about 3 mph over due to the amount of police constantly around on regular roads. In residential areas, I go slightly under, as well as country roads where there are deer or hogs. On the interstate, I’ll go with the flow of traffic and pretty much hang out in the middle lane unless I need to pass. And that’s pretty much the only time I’ll really crank it up… if I have to get around some nitwit driving 45 in a 70 on a two-lane. We have so many places here that you’ll never get to drive the speed limit if you don’t haul your ass up to 80 to finally be free. I figure it’s a negligible risk for the 4.5 seconds it’s necessary to do so, therefore I’ll keep trucking when I have to. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/speed-limits-and-speeding/759971.md?page=2)