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Why does everyone drive 10-15 miles above the speed limit?
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Why don’t we raise the speed limit if that’s how fast everyone wants to go?
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Why is traffic enforcement given to very expensive and ineffective police instead of cheaper and more automated traffic cameras?
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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?
where I grew up, we didn’t. I also grew up in a state that was always in the top 3 for speeding fines given.
Because, at least in theory, speed limits in the area should be set for safety, not desires. The US is generally really bad at safe road design (e.g. less wide and straight in residential and similar areas) which enables those speeding
fees based on things like net worth and/or salary would theoretically help. That will never happen though. Some places use cameras to offer civil penalties, but I’m not sure where camera enforcement is otherwise legal. I haven’t lived in the US in over a decade, though.
ah, yeah, I wrote my point 2 before this. The US is way too car-brained and me-centric for that in many areas.
That said, where I live in rural Japan, people customarily go 10-15 kph over the limit and pass like idiots even in 30kph residential areas. The police seem to mostly only give a shit during specific enforcement campaigns that happen a couple of times a year. I try to walk, cycle, motorbike, and drive in that order depending upon what I need to do and where. Even on my motorbike, it can be scary on our roads.