[PvK]

Originally posted by DavidG:
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Would you guys who seem to feel speed limits should be removed really feel safer out on the roads if there was no speed limit??

Well I have driven on for example the Autobahn with no speed limit and apparently good drivers, and I felt no danger. Bad driving is the main cause of danger, in my experience, and rarely is the bad driving I see simply a case of someone exceeding a certain speed.

Moreover, I see technical speeding violations all the time, which are not at all dangerous. Often times the general traffic, even cement mixers and city busses, exceeds the speed limit by a fair degree, without causing any actual hazard. If they were all rigidly adhering to the inappropriately low speed limit, I tend to agree it would be more dangerous. Many of the speed limits were set back in the 50's-60's. Have you guys driven the cars from back then? More often than not they were huge lumbering beasts with attrociously blocked vision and awful handling, that feel like piloting a coal barge or something. If the limits were considered safe for those things, or for busses, 18-wheelers and winnebagos, then how can it be right to have cops hiding behind corners with laser speed traps to catch modern performance cars going 10-15 mph over those limits on open roads with no hazardous conditions at all? It's just a way to get money for the local coffers, and for rule-oriented bozos to chide and abuse reasonable citizens.

I don't think that speed limits shouldn't exist where they make sense and are enforced intelligently. People probably shouldn't drive 140 where there is a chance of anyone trying to cross the road. Good drivers though know their limits and don't let their control limits exceed their vision, etc.

There should be laws and police should bust people who are causing a hazard, but the standard is often applied rigidly to limits in cases where they don't have much if anything to do with safety.

PvK