The reasoning for the implementation of speed limits, is completely erroneous and false. The average speed limits on roads today were implemented in the 1960's long before the invention of ABS brakes. The stopping distance of cars in the modern day has so vastly improved it is a complete joke to have the government, not only in America but in many countries still citing ridiculous data for stopping distances. If you try driving the 55 mph speed limit on any highway or interstate you can be rest assured to be passed by everyone on the road, as everyone basically treats the speed limit as the "slowest" you should drive on a road. I mean seriously try driving under the 25 mph speed limit on some back roads and see how slow it really is. Almost no one adheres to the speed limit, except for a very small number of people. So how can the Police hand out tickets to people when basically everyone on the road is breaking the law? Isn't that the very definition of selected enforcement? What about the Police themselves who constantly drive around like maniacs, way above the speed limit, tailgating the crap out of people with their lights not on and in no rush? Shouldn't the Police all be sitting under the speed limit by definition of the law if they are going to be driving around not in an emergency situation? Just let me know if you EVER see a Cop with his lights off driving under the speed limit, I have never seen it in my life. So the whole notion they can drive around like maniacs while handing out tickets for "speeding" when they do the same thing is nonsense. Should reckless driving be punished, yes, however not all speeding is "reckless", in fact often times speeding is just keeping up with the flow of traffic and therefore less "reckless" than driving under the speed limit. Just because the Government says you have to do something doesn't mean they are right.
One of my favorite shows that got canceled for being too Politically Correct lulz, was Top Gear UK and they did as always a fantastic segment on stopping distances. They were referencing UK distances, but as almost every US highway speed limit is based on 1960's data, this is applicable to the US also. I really have nothing else to add on to what they said so here is the clip from YouTube and this 100% makes my point, so I will let them say it and do more of my own Statism bashing in the following paragraphs:
As you can clearly see from the above short clip, that highway code stopping distances are complete rubbish.
Okay, so as we have already established, roughly about 99% of the drivers on the road, including 100% of the Police drive at speeds above the speed limit. So technically the incidents should represent this, we should see that speeding was involved in 99% of all traffic accidents. However it isn't. In fact according to the Insurance Institute for Highways Safety speeding is only a contributing factor in traffic accidents about 30% of the time from 2005-2014, and over those years has dropped on an annual basis. So as Cars become better at braking and at acceleration and top speed, speeding as a contributing factor in accidents drops. You would think, with every passing year as cars become quicker, that speeding would cause more accidents. But look at the data, it is the opposite. Also as 99% of everyone is speeding all the time, only 28% of the accidents in 2014 even had speeding as a contributing factor, not the "cause" mind you, just a contributing factor. This tells me that speeding is not a problem. Not only that, as time progresses it is improvements in technology that cut down on speeding related incidents and it has nothing to do with speed limits. Despite the FACT there are significantly more drivers in 2014 than in 2005, we can clearly see speeding was a related cause in significantly less incidents in 2014.
So the above graph shows us that now that speeding related incidents have dropped to such a low percentage of the crashes, maybe it's time to open up the speed limits and let people drive as fast as they want within reason. Obviously a Truck towing a trailer should not be driving so fast they can't handle maneuvers. Some form of common sense would still have to be employed. However to limit people with extremely expensive cars, built to handle speeds that far exceed 65 mph, to the same speed limit as a 18 wheel Tractor Trailer, is the definition of insanity. Why should someone with a say Alfa Romeo 4cS on a Sunny day be limited to the same speed as a dude in a Toyota Prius? The Alfa driver pays far more money in excise taxes, far more money in gas taxes which pays for the roads, so why shouldn't the Alfa driver be allowed to drive faster on the roads he pays far more for than some Prius driver who bought a car with no gas pedal and barely pays any excise or gas taxes by comparison?
So let's say we just abolished speed limits on Highways. If we did that we can take a look at the data from Germany, to see how speed limits either affect or do not affect traffic accidents. Naturally anyone can argue as you increase the speed, the likelihood for death is increased if an accident occurs. However how much more likely are you to get into an accident because you are on a road with no limit versus a road with a limit? Well according to this Guardian Article and the ETSC:
But do speed limits affect the number of deaths on motorways? A 2008 report by the European Transport Safety Council (ETSC) found that of the 645 road deaths in Germany in 2006, 67% occurred on on motorway sections without limits and 33% on stretches with a permanent limit. The fact that 33% of German motorways have a permanent limit and 67% have either a temporary limit or none means that these figures, at first glance, show that having a speed limit does not the lower the number of fatalities on motorways.
Though the Guardian Article attempts to debunk these initial statistics, it does a very poor job of it from my opinion. From my perspective looking at the data they have collected, speeding incidents drop per year regardless of posted speed limits which are universally ignored. The "voluntary compliance" they rely on to enforce speed limits is universally ignored and not adhered to, yet they continue to post speed limits as if anyone is going to actually drive under them. So by looking at Germany and the statistics from Europe as well as America, I conclude that speed limits are useless, especially on highways and interstates. Reckless driving should be punished but to punish people based on some arbitrary speed limit number is complete nonsense. It is just a waste of the tax payer's money, it is targeted against people with nicer vehicles who are the actual taxpayers already, and it doesn't save any lives according to the data.
In America the Speed Limits are basically set at the state level. The Feds have a "National Highway Limit" of 65 mph, but many states don't adhere to it since 1994. My state does unfortunately but Massachusetts is one of most most liberal regressive statist run states in the entire USA. It would take a massive effort to fight the State Government and the Police Unions to get rid of the speed limits in my state, but if MA can do it, any State can. So I will be looking into starting a State Petition to end speed limits, stay tuned to my blog for that. I would love to be able drive whatever speed I want without having to worry about the occupying army called the Police pulling me over to demand my "papers" as if this was Nazi Germany. The Police in my opinion by setting up speed traps and driving around with license plate scanners are violating the Fourth Amendment, but hey since when did the Law actually matter to Police?
The obvious solution to this is everyone should just ignore the speed limits and drive whatever speed they feel comfortable at. If we all stopped complying completely they would have no choice but to change the laws or change the limits. Anarchistic defiance is the solution to this ludicrous enforcement of speeding. If enough of us gather together and start petitions and just stop complying, they won't be able to give us all tickets, they won't be able to keep this bullshit going.
