this post was submitted on 17 Oct 2026
110 points (87.7% liked)

Ask Lemmy

41892 readers
1581 users here now

A Fediverse community for open-ended, thought provoking questions


Rules: (interactive)


1) Be nice and; have funDoxxing, trolling, sealioning, racism, toxicity and dog-whistling are not welcomed in AskLemmy. Remember what your mother said: if you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all. In addition, the site-wide Lemmy.world terms of service also apply here. Please familiarize yourself with them


2) All posts must end with a '?'This is sort of like Jeopardy. Please phrase all post titles in the form of a proper question ending with ?


3) No spamPlease do not flood the community with nonsense. Actual suspected spammers will be banned on site. No astroturfing.


4) NSFW is okay, within reasonJust remember to tag posts with either a content warning or a [NSFW] tag. Overtly sexual posts are not allowed, please direct them to either !asklemmyafterdark@lemmy.world or !asklemmynsfw@lemmynsfw.com. NSFW comments should be restricted to posts tagged [NSFW].


5) This is not a support community.
It is not a place for 'how do I?', type questions. If you have any questions regarding the site itself or would like to report a community, please direct them to Lemmy.world Support or email info@lemmy.world. For other questions check our partnered communities list, or use the search function.


6) No US Politics.
Please don't post about current US Politics. If you need to do this, try !politicaldiscussion@lemmy.world or !uspolitics@lemmy.world


7) No Hit-and-Run questions.
Please don't delete your post for no apparent reason. If you plan on deleting a question later, say so in the post, or if you feel that you have a good reason to remove it, message a mod beforehand. It's not fair to the ones who took their time to answer, and it's not in the spirit of the community.


8) No Bots.
Posts or comments from bots, LLM's, AIs, Neural Networks, Transformers, or Marvin the Paranoid Android are not welcome in AskLemmy. Real humans only please.


Reminder: The terms of service apply here too.

Partnered Communities:

Tech Support

No Stupid Questions

You Should Know

Reddit

Jokes

Ask Ouija


Logo design credit goes to: tubbadu


founded 3 years ago
MODERATORS
 
  1. Why does everyone drive 10-15 miles above the speed limit?

  2. Why don't we raise the speed limit if that's how fast everyone wants to go?

  3. Why is traffic enforcement given to very expensive and ineffective police instead of cheaper and more automated traffic cameras?

  4. Why do we refuse to ever use ANY traffic calming measures? Yes, than you flashing digital sign for telling me I'm going 10 miles above the limit on this incredibly wide and straight and flat road with high curbs and perfect visibility.

It's a serious confusion I have about how society is supposed to operate because it seems like a complete and total breakdown of logic and sense.

And, yes, I know there's some thing people did long ago to set the speed limit at some percentile of what people were already traveling at, but that's obviously a stupid way to do it and we did it anyway. So why?

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] bitteroldcoot@piefed.social 12 points 1 day ago (3 children)

First off you are wrong. I for instance, drive the speed limit.

Secondly, because whatever limit you set, some people will speed, even if it kills them.

Many speed limits are set so that you can still drive the road in adverse conditions. If they chose to ignore that and kill themselves, well then, I hope they enjoy their Darwin Award.

The best illustrations is the current usa situation were about 40% support trump even as he destroys their livelihood and bulldozers the White House.

You will always get a large percent of people who are self destructive, selfish, ignorant and abusive, had a toxic childhood and grew up to be toxic adults.

I had a friend once who rescued a lady who put her car in a ditch driving to fast for the icy conditions. The moment he got her out, she sped off down the road, going way too fast and weaving all over the place.

You can't cure stupid. Just obey the speed limit and try and stay out of the crazy people's way.

[–] schipelblorp@sh.itjust.works 5 points 1 day ago (1 children)

I also drive the speed limit as of about 2 years ago, which is why I bring this post up. But I'm basically the only one. People are constantly passing me, even on a double yellow line. In fact, it's gotten so obnoxious, that I'll sometimes drive just a touch below the speed limit when there's a safe pass (like a 4 lane road) to encourage people to pass me instead of them wondering, "Is this guy going to speed up?" for a few a minutes before finally passing.

Anyway, I didn't mention my law-abiding ways because I assumed the hatetrain would derail the conversation.

[–] Rhaedas@fedia.io 4 points 1 day ago (1 children)

I've always gone the speed limit or just a tad above (because of traffic flow) because going any faster is inefficient in so many ways and only increases risk. Even on a long trip that 10 mph over is only going to gain a few minutes, and you've used more fuel. Why bother? Plus there's the fact you mention elsewhere of not standing out as a target. Not that it matters, I feel enforcement is highly variable, and I've seen on highway trips people going 20 or more over in a construction zone, and I wonder where the cops are. Only when they feel like it, I suppose.

The one good thing about a toll road that I'd support is how it can measure an average speed, and someone speeding that much over has no way to easier balance out the math at the end, so instant ticket/justice. I mean, they could just limp the last mile or pull off, but that's waving red flags to anyone monitoring.

[–] adarza@lemmy.ca 1 points 1 day ago

Even on a long trip that 10 mph over is only going to gain a few minutes, and you've used more fuel.

i've always 'had more time than money', and i've never had a car that was more fuel efficient at 70-80mph than at 50-60mph.

we actually take the '2 laner' into the city over the interstate specifically because there isn't a bunch of morons doing 20+ over, weaving all over the place.

[–] gastroglizzy@piefed.social 0 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Many speed limits are set so that you can still drive the road in adverse conditions.

This is not true. There may be some statutes in some jurisdictions with language that may suggest something like this is done, but the truth is, all speed limits were originally set by simply measuring how fast people drive, averaging all the number together, then reducing that number by 20%. From there, how it's changed over the years depends on where you are (with the exception of the nation-wide speed limit of 55 mph in response to the oil crisis in the 70s) but all of them started completely arbitrarily.

It's also worth mentioning, car technology is such that a modern cars only needs about 40% the stopping distance of a vehicle made when the speed limit was decided upon. So, not only are they arbitrary, but if they truly were based on vehicle performance, they would be a lot higher today (at least on rural roads. City streets are another story).

[–] bitteroldcoot@piefed.social 6 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (1 children)
[–] Rhaedas@fedia.io 2 points 1 day ago

Oh, sure, fall for Big Transportation's story... /s