In the US it indeed is ok to be speeding, because it's a car focused state, and human lives have no value in that country. As long as you have money of course, so you can afford the tickets. So speeding is for the rich, and it's ok. But if you're poor, are speeding and caused an accident, that's also fine. Just another slave in prison. You see? Dystopia full circle.

That's why I fill my windshield wiper fluid reservoir with hexafluorosilicic acid.

It quite literally is.

If you don't keep up with traffic, people pass you, and that is much more dangerous than an extra 10mph

I don't think people care about it, but it seems to trigger some subconscious "I'm too close" and they drop back a bit.

I guess if someone is actually being an asshole aggressive tailgater then they won't care

Lol how wrong can you be, if you are fraction slower than the person behind you (type of vehicle doesn't matter) you get cussed out in America. I literally was going 20 mph up a hill with an ebike and some gobsmacked asshole has the nerve to tell me to yield to cars behind me because according to him I don't have a "real" ebike 🥱. This happens everywhere in my city, jokes on them I don't need to go 60 mph to get to my job in less than 10 min, sounds like poor planning on drivers end to live so far away and have the audacity to tell locals not to use our roads.

from the size of lanes

Wide lines! luxurious!

Then people should stop passing, and realise an ekstra 5 mph isn't going to get you to your destination any faster?

Rightly so. A machine should not be able to enforce the laws. You have the right to face your accuser in the US - can't often do so if humans are taken out of the enforcement loop.

You are right about American freeways. City roads tend to have a lower speed limit that is probably appropriate and it would be unsafe to go faster.

Rural America will have little roads with deer and intersections at blind curves and say 55 mph seems about right.

It's pretty much codified. 9 mph over means pretty much nothing. If you are a little over that? Everyone knows the courts will probably knock it down to 9 over just by asking.

As another comment points out, it's works for being selectively enforced. Almost every car on the road can be pulled over. Even if you are going the speed limit, you might get pulled over for impeding traffic.

Driving school and being pulled over has taught me that the silly numbers are not the maximum speed, theyre the minimum speed, and the actual maximum is 5-10 higher depending on what other people are doing. "Going with the speed of traffic and going fast enough to prevent lane changes" is the real answer.

Ive begun going the exact speed limit in the right lane and ive been pulled over 3 times now and experienced more roadrage than i thought possible. I never got pulled over going 90 in a 70, or 30 in a 25, or 45 in a 35.

People are in such a hurry to save 0-30 seconds on their 15 minute drive

Oof that's rough. I do pull over to the side & let cars pass when I ride in the 35mph road on the way to work (there is a sidewalk I can use, it's allowed but sometimes there are pedestrians using it or work trucks parked over the entire sidewalk -fuck those guys in particular, then I use the road) but once on a different 35 with no good sidewalk I had a Prius follow slowly and at a safe distance for so so far even though there was plenty of room to pass. Honestly I can get to 35 on the electric bike but don't want the cops to know, and it wouldn't help because as the whole point of this thread is - on the road to work it's smooth and easy so people do 45.

Yeah, technically I have the same right to be in the car road, there is no bike lane or path, but it's not something I'm willing to die for, I am slower traffic and keep right. There are lights so if I walk it across an intersection and wait I can get a very light traffic situation for a couple of blocks.

Wrote the city to complain about the road though, to ask them to convert it like they did some of the other similar sized ones, bike lanes, middle turn lane.

Good luck telling that to your average moron on the road

We don't live in fantasy land where common sense exists and we have to work around that

Depends on where. I’m going the speed limit through town or less where there are people. It saves lives.

But highways are built for fast driving and cars continue to get safer and more performant. Fuck the speed limit set for 1970’s death traps and hasn’t changed.

The real problem as always is local roads designed like highways. Stroads seem to be one of the underrated evils of modern society

I used to pile on to comments like this, because it was such a significant change for the worse. But fwiw my subjective opinion is people are finally recovering from pandemic. All those bad driving habits people seemed to have picked up …. This summer I’m really not seeing them as much anymore!

Right, this is one of those things where I seemed to have a very different experience than many Americans …. But we have older roads that are narrow and winding. The towns were all built out before cars and never really got to the “stroad” stage of dystopia. All those “design elements” come for free

Just to troll ….. when I used to cycle regularly, they did care. All the cars were too damn slow and wouldn’t get out of the way. I hated some sections of towns where I had to slow down

My closest call was an elderly woman who misjudged my speed. She passed me but then immediately slowed for a turn without realizing I was there and couldn’t brake as sharply. Worked out though: I was able to brake enough to turn inside her and avoid the accident, and my brakes shrieked like a banshee so she knew what she did

I haven't commented yet, but consider my situation as an example.

Middle aged, lifelong resident of midwest suburbia, USA. Car-centric infrastructure created long before I was born. Mass transit is a novelty that's only available when visiting the city. All of this to say: Owning a car and driving to every destination is a basic necessity.

I enjoy the sensory experience of driving and I have a small fun car.

But I also try to pay attention to the world around me and care about other people and other life on this planet. So even though I'm a bit of a "car guy" I can definitely say yeah, fuck cars.

And I use the term "cars" lightly. Where I live, if you drive a "car" like a 4-door sedan that seats 5 and weighs under 3,500lbs (1588 kg), you are already in the smallest 10% of vehicles on the road.

If someone’s willing to stay behind you that long, they’re not the car to worry about. They have patience and caution.

This might be me. We have a lot of narrow and winding roads where it’s really not safe for me to give the clearance you deserve. But waiting another 30 seconds really doesn’t impact me. Most drivers are more aggressive about passing cyclists

Sure, but just because they are morons, doesn't mean I have to drive faster than what I deem is safe.