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American Drivers Think Speeding Is Okay Because Everyone Else Is Doing It
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this post was submitted on 27 Aug 2026
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I mean, going the speed of traffic is safer than not. So yeah, it's okay when everyone else is doing it.
Also if the law enforcement in the area lets it happen, what message is that supposed to send to your average single-loop thinker?
Laws that aren’t enforced are Laws that can be enforced selectively.
Right you are. It's part of the perennial conservative system of control: There's an in-group the law protects but doesn't bind, and an out-group the law binds but doesn't protect.
Right. Traffic enforcement that's "random" is fundamentally unjust. But conservatives like it because they can bully the out-groups, and some assholes like it because it brings money in via fines.
Let’s it happen? I regularly see the police where I live do the kinds of things they pull people over for; speeding, rolling stops, distracted driving, failure to signal etc.
Tough to maintain credibility when those charged with enforcement don’t follow the rules either.
You might even get an impeeding traffic ticket if you drive the speed limit
That's true where I live too, but the asshole drivers not in cop cars far outnumber the entire police force of my town. Every day I see someone run a red light, change lanes in front of someone without signaling, or do 35 in a 25 school zone. And they think that's okay not because they saw a cop do it too, but because they see all the people around them getting away with it. The cops either don't care or are too busy blowing their budget on nice gear to hire enough people to do the job.
Bullshit. It's the same mentality as people had during COVID. "The others aren't wearing a mask, so neither should I"
If wearing a mask while others did not caused you to be a danger to yourself and others, this analogy would make sense.
Bullshit. With covid if I wear a mask and you don't there's still been a significant decrease in risk of transference and both of us are safer. With not going the speed of traffic, if I strictly follow the speed limit and you don't there exists a differential that increases our risk equally.
Speed limits are one of very few, if not the only, legal limits that is set by observation of actual human behavior. Look into how the 85th percentile rule is used (in the US). If a speed limit is set too high or too low compared to nominal human behavior the state creates a difference in perceived safe speed and strict adherents. It is that difference that causes problems.
There are parts of Atlanta where the speed limit is dynamically set (sometimes down to 40mph) and the flow of traffic is maintained at 20-30 miles faster; there are also parts of Florida where the speed limit is 70mph and the flow of traffic is 80-85mph. In each case, a strict adherence to the posted limit is dangerous as you now become an obstacle everyone else needs to evade.
The inverse is also true. If there are adverse conditions on the road that warrant the flow of traffic to 30mph under then going the posted limit you also put yourself and those around you in significantly higher risk.
If you're traveling at the posted speed limit and there's a broken down car stopped in front of you, do you strictly adhere to the posted limits straight into an accident or do you adjust your speed to that of the flow of traffic in accordance with the conditions of the road?
Traveling with the flow of traffic makes you more predictable and puts you inline with the actual realized conditions of the road, and being predictable on the road is the safest thing you can do while driving.
Wearing a mask makes everyone safer. Speeding along side a multitude of other speeders makes all of you safer.
Your example of the broken vehicle is not very good but everything else is very good. Are you saying that having to speed up with traffic to go around an accident is what should be done rather than get stuck in your lane behind an accident? You should move over and also slow down.
You should do what the cars around you are doing to pass that block. You shouldn't blindly follow the speed limit as a strict unnuanced law regardless of what is happening around or in front of you.