Is every speed limit too low

What the articles says is true. Driving around Denver on the interstates the limit increases from 65 to 75. On I-70 at Tower Rd or Colfax, south on I-25 just after you get thru Castle Rock (may be north too but I don't drive that section), and heading north it goes up once you get out of Thornton. What I see, are the people that are probably not even aware the limit goes up, those that do know, but keep driving at 65 (or lower) and those that are fully aware. But eventually the majority of drivers are going about the same increased speed. Yes, you have the slower ones and those that just have to be in front of everyone else, but people tend to drive as fast as the rest of the crowd.

If you are on a road alone, do you do the speed limit? Do you even check your speed? I don't. I just drive.

Well silly me. I drive the speed limit or lower even when I am the only one on the road. Never know when some wildlife is going to come shooting out of nowhere.

We have enough idiots who exceed the speed limits. It will be the same ones who continue to exceed them if they are raised.

About wildlife. I have one friend who has killed more deer with his car than I have with a rifle. And that doesn't even count the ones he has missed or just bounced up and ran off. Sometimes in the early morning or evening I will follow a car and let him flush out the wildlife.

Someone killed a fawn on Kennedy Gulch yesterday afternoon. Whether it was excessive speed or just not paying attention is unknown.

Interstate 10 in west Texas.


And State Highway 130 from Austin to San Antonio.

Ashley wrote: Well silly me. I drive the speed limit or lower even when I am the only one on the road. Never know when some wildlife is going to come shooting out of nowhere.

We have enough idiots who exceed the speed limits. It will be the same ones who continue to exceed them if they are raised.

The difference between us is a matter of how we perceive our fellow citizens and residents Ashley. You take a rather dim view of them while I tend towards viewing them as reasonable and competent individuals. I notice, as an example, that when the road conditions are adverse for any reason that the vast majority of them reduce the speed of their vehicles in response. I notice, as another example, that average road speeds decrease between sunset and sunrise as compared to what they are while the sun is shining in that beautiful Colorado sky.

Were I to term any of them idiots, it would be the ones who decide to travel at a speed that is substantially higher or substantially lower than the bulk of the traffic around them because it is the disparity of speed which creates danger. While 85% or more of traffic is traveling 65 the idiots are the minority 15% or less who insist on doing 55 or 75, and they are both equally idiots for their choice. The safest speed to travel is the speed that 85% of traffic is traveling. Now, you can say that 85% of the drivers are idiots if'n you wish to, but that belief is going to be a bit difficult to sustain using anything resembling logic and reason.

As for me, I prefer to keep my eyes traversing the road and traffic ahead and behind me as opposed to taking my eyes off of that road to make sure that the needle on my speedometer is pointed at some randomly chosen number emblazoned on a sign because some politicians got together and passed a law that said that all roads that fall within certain parameters will have X mph as a speed limit. I'm much more likely to miss that deeror any other creature (whether 2 legged or 4) getting ready to make a dash across the road if my gaze is inside the cockpit instead of outside of it after all. Looking down to check the speedometer is no more or less distracting than looking down to find the right button on the radio when all is said and done.

Interesting...the only speeding ticket I have ever received in my driving lifetime was in Breckenridge. I was just leaving a school zone and according to the time on my watch and the time in my car, had not yet his 8 am when the speed limit dropped and I got pulled over for speeding in a school zone...didn't get a "double fine" ticket 'cuz the cop said he was being nice to me. I still think it was a raw deal 'cuz I am very careful about speeding in that school zone.

I do believe some speed limits could be raised...but not along 285 between Kenosha Pass and Red Hill Pass. Too many people get antsy about going too "slow" and pass when they don't know the road and there are a lot of fatalities on that stretch of the road.

Is 45 MPH on the curves in the canyon right before Morrison too slow? Sometimes.

Thanks PS for your comments. It is hardly necessary to keep your eye on the speedometer all the time rather than traverse the road as you have suggested.

I can pretty much tell from someone's driving who is law abiding and who thinks they are above the law or flaunts when they feel justified. Using the excuse of going with the flow of traffic is hardly justification for exceeding the speed limit. It also indicates who are likely to go with the crowd (in their views too) rather than use a slower speed and avoid the crowd, a tactic used in defensive driving.

PrintSmith wrote:

Ashley wrote: Well silly me. I drive the speed limit or lower even when I am the only one on the road. Never know when some wildlife is going to come shooting out of nowhere.
We have enough idiots who exceed the speed limits. It will be the same ones who continue to exceed them if they are raised.

The difference between us is a matter of how we perceive our fellow citizens and residents Ashley. You take a rather dim view of them while I tend towards viewing them as reasonable and competent individuals. I notice, as an example, that when the road conditions are adverse for any reason that the vast majority of them reduce the speed of their vehicles in response. I notice, as another example, that average road speeds decrease between sunset and sunrise as compared to what they are while the sun is shining in that beautiful Colorado sky.

Were I to term any of them idiots, it would be the ones who decide to travel at a speed that is substantially higher or substantially lower than the bulk of the traffic around them because it is the disparity of speed which creates danger. While 85% or more of traffic is traveling 65 the idiots are the minority 15% or less who insist on doing 55 or 75, and they are both equally idiots for their choice. The safest speed to travel is the speed that 85% of traffic is traveling. Now, you can say that 85% of the drivers are idiots if'n you wish to, but that belief is going to be a bit difficult to sustain using anything resembling logic and reason.

As for me, I prefer to keep my eyes traversing the road and traffic ahead and behind me as opposed to taking my eyes off of that road to make sure that the needle on my speedometer is pointed at some randomly chosen number emblazoned on a sign because some politicians got together and passed a law that said that all roads that fall within certain parameters will have X mph as a speed limit. I'm much more likely to miss that deeror any other creature (whether 2 legged or 4) getting ready to make a dash across the road if my gaze is inside the cockpit instead of outside of it after all. Looking down to check the speedometer is no more or less distracting than looking down to find the right button on the radio when all is said and done.

Ashley wrote: Thanks PS for your comments. It is hardly necessary to keep your eye on the speedometer all the time rather than traverse the road as you have suggested.

I can pretty much tell from someone's driving who is law abiding and who thinks they are above the law or flaunts when they feel justified. Using the excuse of going with the flow of traffic is hardly justification for exceeding the speed limit. It also indicates who are likely to go with the crowd (in their views too) rather than use a slower speed and avoid the crowd, a tactic used in defensive driving.

That is the funniest thing I have read in a long time. Thanks for the giggles. I will have to print this out and tape it to the middle of my windshield. To hide the crack.