Speeding - Willful Disobedience ?

[Sudsy]

To be honest, it depends on my impatience to get somewhere. Being older I don't put value into how long it takes me to go from point A to point B as I once did. Now I just put on cruise control at or under the speed limit.

For the sake of those of us who do care how long it takes to get there, please, please do not set your cruise under the speed limit unless you're the only one on the road, or on a multilane road with very light traffic. At the limit, yes, but not intentionally below. Please.

We like to take Sunday afternoon drives through the country. For the better part of our trips I drive below the speed limit. I do pull over and allow any traffic build up behind me to pass. Unless there are minimum speed limits posted, imo, I should have the right to enjoy a leisure ride observing the countryside. There was a term once called 'Sunday drivers' for us who enjoy those leisure rides and sometimes folk are pretty impatient with us. I try to keep my eye open to not slow them down.

[ken_sylvania]

In Ontario most heavy trucks hauling goods are required to have speed limiters.

A speed limiter is an electronic device that is installed in heavy trucks, and caps the speed at a maximum of 105 km/h. Most large trucks driven in Ontario are required to use speed limiters.

So, even though a major highway (i.e. 401) has a posted speed limit of 100 km/h, these speed limiters can be set at 105 km/h. Why ? I don't understand. But that doesn't mean these trucks stay lined up single file in the right hand lane. With varying hp and weight of load, some will pass others.

What I also don't understand is why there are no speed limiters put on how fast any vehicle can go except a law enforcement and ambulances. Why are vehicles allowed to be built with hp that could take them to well over double speed limits ? Why do speedometers even show numbers beyond (i.e. 80 mph or 130 kmh) ? If we don't want people to speed for safety reasons, then restrict the speed a vehicle can go. Seems too simple, I guess or I'm missing something in my logic, which is very possible.

It's less dangerous to travel at 100 MPH on some interstate highways than to travel at 45 MPH in NYC. So are you going to set the speed limiter at 100 MPH or 45 MPH?

[Josh]

Obeying traffic laws seems to be a problem for a lot of Anabaptists. Speeding, not wearing seatbelts or not having children in carseasts, doing rollings stops. I can understand why someone who isn't Anabaptist or Christian would try to stretch the limits of traffic laws but what's our excuse? Nearly 6 million vehicle accidents occur in the U.S. each year. Why wouldn't we want to drive as safely as possible?
I do understand that sometimes going above the speed limit so as not to impede the flow of traffic is the safest thing to do. Why speed at other times though?

It’s a problem for horse and buggy Anabaptists too. It’s quite embarrassing to hear from law enforcement the stuff they encounter. (I used to have a boss who was a deputy sheriff in Wayne County.)

[ohio jones]

So, even though a major highway (i.e. 401) has a posted speed limit of 100 km/h, these speed limiters can be set at 105 km/h. Why ? I don't understand. But that doesn't mean these trucks stay lined up single file in the right hand lane. With varying hp and weight of load, some will pass others.

That's exactly why. Since truckers are often under serious time pressure, you would have some of them trying to pass the truck in front of them going 99, which would take 19 km and 10 minutes if they are limited to 100. If they can go 105 when passing, they will be in the left lane for 3 km and 2 minutes, thereby inconveniencing Appleman (and the cop chasing him) that much less.

[Sudsy]

In Ontario most heavy trucks hauling goods are required to have speed limiters.

A speed limiter is an electronic device that is installed in heavy trucks, and caps the speed at a maximum of 105 km/h. Most large trucks driven in Ontario are required to use speed limiters.

So, even though a major highway (i.e. 401) has a posted speed limit of 100 km/h, these speed limiters can be set at 105 km/h. Why ? I don't understand. But that doesn't mean these trucks stay lined up single file in the right hand lane. With varying hp and weight of load, some will pass others.

What I also don't understand is why there are no speed limiters put on how fast any vehicle can go except a law enforcement and ambulances. Why are vehicles allowed to be built with hp that could take them to well over double speed limits ? Why do speedometers even show numbers beyond (i.e. 80 mph or 130 kmh) ? If we don't want people to speed for safety reasons, then restrict the speed a vehicle can go. Seems too simple, I guess or I'm missing something in my logic, which is very possible.

It's less dangerous to travel at 100 MPH on some interstate highways than to travel at 45 MPH in NYC. So are you going to set the speed limiter at 100 MPH or 45 MPH?

80 MPH . The benefits are to increase safety where you can and that has been proven through stats that the safest for the least amount of injury is to restrict maximum speeds.

Actually, Ontario is currently doing some testing on increasing the speed limit on certain major highways.

I haven't gone to Florida for some years but remember when folks would say to be careful after you go through Michigan and reach Ohio. Your chances of getting a ticket are much greater in Ohio. I don't know how this plays out today.

[Sudsy]

So, even though a major highway (i.e. 401) has a posted speed limit of 100 km/h, these speed limiters can be set at 105 km/h. Why ? I don't understand. But that doesn't mean these trucks stay lined up single file in the right hand lane. With varying hp and weight of load, some will pass others.

That's exactly why. Since truckers are often under serious time pressure, you would have some of them trying to pass the truck in front of them going 99, which would take 19 km and 10 minutes if they are limited to 100. If they can go 105 when passing, they will be in the left lane for 3 km and 2 minutes, thereby inconveniencing Appleman (and the cop chasing him) that much less.

Seems to me 'under serious time pressure' might be one of the main problems. Trying to do too much, too fast.

And how often is it that one or two slow downs or stops cancel all the time gained. We travel often on a two lane highway where anxious drivers get out and take risks to pass cars driving the speed limit or more, sometimes multiple cars at a time, and a few miles later they hit a stop light and we are right up to them. They gained nothing and put others and themselves at risk.

I think driving a car often can be quite a challenge for a Christian in how we react to what we believe is a foolish practise by another driver or the other driver thinking us to be the fool. It can be quite a test of patience, self-control, forgiveness, preferring others over ourselves, anger, resentment, etc. Sometimes I have got shouted at, given the finger, tail gated, etc and when you don't believe you did anything wrong, it is quite a test to turn the other cheek.

[appleman2006]

If the speed limit is 70 and everyone drives 80 then maybe the limit should be lowered to 60 so everyone will drive 70. By everyone, I mean most people.

PA did an experiment recently. They raised the speed limit on some roads from 65 to 70, doing a traffic study before hand and then six months later. They found that the median speed didn't change much, and that the speed limit increase reduced the number of ten-miles-over violations significantly.

I would be all for raising the speed limit to 120 KPH and then strictly enforcing it by radar. In Ireland as a rule the speed limit was 20 KPH higher in any given road than it is here but it seemed to be enforced. In fact there were roads where here at home the speed limit would of been 60 KPH but there they were 100.

BTW truck limiters here limit trucks to 110 KPH and as OJ stated the reason is to allow a faster moving truck to pass safely and quickly and not hold up traffic even more on our already over crowded roads. Also trucks are not allowed in the third lane.
I am convinced that the overcrowding of roads is also a contributor to fast driving as the minute people are free of a bottleneck they tend to try and make up for time. And here is another factor that traffic planners need to take into consideration. Take a heavily used road like the 401 with three lanes of traffic. Put three cars beside each other all driving 100 KPH. Within a very short time even if all traffic only drove the speed limit you would have traffic backed up for miles and only five miles back of the moving blockade you would have traffic literally stop and go which is the most dangerous of situations.
I realise some of you will find this hard to believe but due to slowing down and then speeding up times this is literally what happens and why police take a very dim view of someone hogging the left lane when he is not actually passing. BTW in Europe not getting over after you have passed is about the worse traffic offence you could commit. You literally will be honked off the road.

[ken_sylvania]

If the speed limit is 70 and everyone drives 80 then maybe the limit should be lowered to 60 so everyone will drive 70. By everyone, I mean most people.

PA did an experiment recently. They raised the speed limit on some roads from 65 to 70, doing a traffic study before hand and then six months later. They found that the median speed didn't change much, and that the speed limit increase reduced the number of ten-miles-over violations significantly.

I would be all for raising the speed limit to 120 KPH and then strictly enforcing it by radar. In Ireland as a rule the speed limit was 20 KPH higher in any given road than it is here but it seemed to be enforced. In fact there were roads where here at home the speed limit would of been 60 KPH but there they were 100.

BTW truck limiters here limit trucks to 110 KPH and as OJ stated the reason is to allow a faster moving truck to pass safely and quickly and not hold up traffic even more on our already over crowded roads. Also trucks are not allowed in the third lane.
I am convinced that the overcrowding of roads is also a contributor to fast driving as the minute people are free of a bottleneck they tend to try and make up for time. And here is another factor that traffic planners need to take into consideration. Take a heavily used road like the 401 with three lanes of traffic. Put three cars beside each other all driving 100 KPH. Within a very short time even if all traffic only drove the speed limit you would have traffic backed up for miles and only five miles back of the moving blockade you would have traffic literally stop and go which is the most dangerous of situations.
I realise some of you will find this hard to believe but due to slowing down and then speeding up times this is literally what happens and why police take a very dim view of someone hogging the left lane when he is not actually passing. BTW in Europe not getting over after you have passed is about the worse traffic offence you could commit. You literally will be honked off the road.

You are absolutely right!

[ohio jones]

I haven't gone to Florida for some years but remember when folks would say to be careful after you go through Michigan and reach Ohio. Your chances of getting a ticket are much greater in Ohio. I don't know how this plays out today.

Rule of thumb, when crossing into Michigan northbound from Ohio or Indiana, the flow of traffic speeds up by about 5 mph if the speed limit stays the same. How much of this is due to traffic enforcement (or lack thereof) vs. Pure air is a matter of debate. But I will say that the increased velocity makes it easier to float over the potholes, which seem to be larger and more numerous north of the border.

[Swiss Bro]

BTW in Europe not getting over after you have passed is about the worse traffic offence you could commit. You literally will be honked off the road.

Where in Europe