Speeding - Willful Disobedience ?

[Sudsy]

Willful disobedience is the intentional disobedience by a free agent who knows what he is doing, although not necessarily acting with malice or evil intent.

Romans 13:1-5 speaks about obeying the laws of the land. God has given those law givers the power to punish us if we do not obey. Probably most of us, to some degree, willfully go over speed limits that are set for our's and other's protection. We may not agree with these maximum speed limitations and if you are like me, have attempted to justify our breaking them with arguments like 'it is safer to keep up with the traffic'. This is willful disobedience. James 4:17 says - 'So whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin.'

Being retired, most of my driving is local and I have no rush to get where I need to go. However, I find even at lower speed limits I get traffic backing up behind me and often pull off the roads and let them by. Yet when I get on a major highway, it becomes a calculation of how over the limit can I go and probably not get a ticket. I seldom set my cruise control feature on this maximum speed limit.

So, am I not living in willful disobedience when I don't repent and determine to not break the law on speed limits ?

[joshuabgood]

I got pulled over once, in NJ, for going to slow in the left lane. Never mind I was about 8 miles over the posted limit. I explained that to the patrolmen, to no avail. He explained that in NJ, if others are going faster in the left lane then you need to go faster also...I guess I was "holding people back" and causing a traffic hazard.

[Sudsy]

I got pulled over once, in NJ, for going to slow in the left lane. Never mind I was about 8 miles over the posted limit. I explained that to the patrolmen, to no avail. He explained that in NJ, if others are going faster in the left lane then you need to go faster also...I guess I was "holding people back" and causing a traffic hazard.

Interesting, haven't heard of that before. I occasionally see speed signs that do show a minimum speed allowed but not by lane.

We have one stretch of highway I try to avoid as it is only 2 lanes and often has a solid yellow line meaning no passing. If I drive the speed limit, it doesn't take long for a long line to form behind me and it tempts someone to ignore the solid no passing line and try to pass everyone to get ahead of me. Very dangerous. If this occurs, I sometimes try to pull off the road and let the lineup go but sometimes there isn't a convenient place to pull off.

Generally, except in perhaps hospital zones, I think speed limits are treated by enforcers more like secondary rules to follow whereas keeping up with the traffic has priority. The word 'Maximum' is very mis-leading if taken literally.

However, since the law is posted as a maximum is it right to ignore it because others do and/or we probably can get away with not complying ? Like 'jaywalking'. Do we override the actual law because we likely can get away with it ? What does this say about our Christian practise ?

[ABC 123]

What does it say of our Christian practice? It *can* make us look like goody two shoes who stick to the letter of the law. Then a blow up like the Jeriah thing happens and the world thinks we are petty and ridiculous for impeding the traffic flow to stay true to our conscience in obeying traffic laws while we turn a blind eye to child rapists.

The world lumps us all together whether we like it or not. Not saying we should be speeding around, but I would hesitate making too big of deal about how good I am with my driving skills if I am going to remain silent about child abuse. (Not directed at anyone in particular.)

[ohio jones]

The word 'Maximum' is very mis-leading if taken literally.

Not nearly as capable of multiple interpretations as the U.S. signs that say "Speed Limit".

[ken_sylvania]

I got pulled over once, in NJ, for going to slow in the left lane. Never mind I was about 8 miles over the posted limit. I explained that to the patrolmen, to no avail. He explained that in NJ, if others are going faster in the left lane then you need to go faster also...I guess I was "holding people back" and causing a traffic hazard.

The general rule is to keep to the right except to pass. NJ actually has a law requiring slower traffic to keep right. So he could have written you two tickets - one for speeding and the other for obstructing traffic!

[silentreader]

Willful disobedience is the intentional disobedience by a free agent who knows what he is doing, although not necessarily acting with malice or evil intent.

Romans 13:1-5 speaks about obeying the laws of the land. God has given those law givers the power to punish us if we do not obey. Probably most of us, to some degree, willfully go over speed limits that are set for our's and other's protection. We may not agree with these maximum speed limitations and if you are like me, have attempted to justify our breaking them with arguments like 'it is safer to keep up with the traffic'. This is willful disobedience. James 4:17 says - 'So whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin.'

Being retired, most of my driving is local and I have no rush to get where I need to go. However, I find even at lower speed limits I get traffic backing up behind me and often pull off the roads and let them by. Yet when I get on a major highway, it becomes a calculation of how over the limit can I go and probably not get a ticket. I seldom set my cruise control feature on this maximum speed limit.

So, am I not living in willful disobedience when I don't repent and determine to not break the law on speed limits ?

What would you consider to be the goal of traffic laws?

[Neto]

We have one stretch of highway I try to avoid as it is only 2 lanes and often has a solid yellow line meaning no passing. If I drive the speed limit, it doesn't take long for a long line to form behind me....

I always say that if you want to be a 'leader' here in Holmes County, all you have to do is drive the speed limit.

I used to push the speed limit, but now I try hard now to. (I go over the speed limit when passing, especially on two lane roads, for safety, and because that's the way I was taught in drivers ed back in HS.
I haven't been stopped by a policeman since around 79 or 80, but I'm still leery of policemen, because I was profiled and hassled several times when I was younger, sometimes for no reason at all, and then sometimes I was falsely accused of all sorts of other stuff after having been stopped for some minor infraction.

A couple of years ago here in Berlin, I thought sure I was going to get pulled over. I had come up to a traffic light where a policeman was directing traffic. He looked right at me, waved with his arm, then turned away just as I pulled into the intersection. Then I slowed to a near stop, because it seemed strange that he turned his back after waving me through. The he started yelling at me about trying to slip through behind him. I replied that he had waved me through, and he said he did not. I answered once more, saying "Yes sir, you did." Then he waved me on through, but I figured I was had, because I have never gotten a warning in my life - they have always hit me with everything they can.

[Joy]

I got pulled over once, in NJ, for going to slow in the left lane. Never mind I was about 8 miles over the posted limit. I explained that to the patrolmen, to no avail. He explained that in NJ, if others are going faster in the left lane then you need to go faster also...I guess I was "holding people back" and causing a traffic hazard.

I got pulled over for the same thing--11:00 at night, and maybe one other car on the road. I respectfully explained why I was in that lane: the street is near deer city, and I wanted to be away from the edge. He gave me a warning; I think a judge would have laughed at him if he had given me a ticket, considering the conditions. Anyway, he was nice about it. Probably had a quota to fill.

[Sudsy]

What would you consider to be the goal of traffic laws?

My guess is that all of us would agree that one goal of traffic laws is for the safety of everyone on the road.

Are there areas where we can be willfully disobedient to God such as continual, unrepentant breaking of traffic laws and these areas do not require us to repent (turn from breaking them again) ? We just do them and hope we don't get caught and penalized by God through His law enforcers. Romans 13:4b-5 -

They are God’s servants to punish those who do wrong. So you must obey the government, not just because you might be punished, but because you know it is the right thing to do.