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Man, sorry for the downvotes. This link -> http://www.lsp.org/pdf/troopc85thSpeed.pdf doesn't include any references, unfortunately, but the statements are that:

-- 55% of drivers regularly exceed the speed limit, meaning that the speed limit represents the 45th percentile speed

-- driving between the 50th and 90th percentile speeds is the safest

Taken together, driving at the speed limit is significantly unsafe.




Man, sorry for the downvotes.

You have to remember that many people on here probably don't own a car, or necessarily even hold a driver's license. They most likely either live at home or at school, or take a bus to work (NTTAWWT).


As far as I understand your comment, driving at the speed limit is unsafe because everybody is speeding. Sounds like a self-fulfilling thing. Maybe it would be even safer if the majority would obey the speed limit?


Did you read the link I posted? Theres lots of empirical data out there that says that drivers drive the same speed on a road, regardless of the posted limit. That speed is based on their judgment of the road - sight lines, shoulder width, sharpness of curves, etc.


People speed because of poor road design and poor enforcement of speed limits.


Just curious (and not trying to challenge or be confrontational), how long have you held a driver's license?


And the idea that the speed limit itself is the problem... is there any room in your worldview for that possibility?

Why not lower it to 5 MPH on a nationwide basis? Think of all the lives that would save!




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