# Speed limits and speeding

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/speed-limits-and-speeding/759971>\
**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:** 1\
**Showing post:** 42

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**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")

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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. ☹

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