Rlyss

We're all in this together. The speed limits aren't just there to prevent me from speeding and running myself into a tree, they're supposed to be there to prevent someone who thinks he's a superior driver from driving along at 25 over the limit, and then swerving to avoid a kid, and then slamming into me. If he was doing the limit he might have been able to avoid the kid and come to a safe stop, OR he may have hit the kid at only 10mph, where it has a better chance of not getting hurt.

See what I'm getting at? The speed limits aren't there to limit your (not speaking to any one poster here) individual rights, they're more to protect everybody from everyboy else's crazy actions. Sure, sometimes you wonder if you're obeying the law because you agree with it, or because you don't want to get caught breaking it, but in the end does it matter? Whatever it takes for people to slow down and get rid of the 'I'm a superior driver and the government hands out licences like candy' mentality is a good thing.

Can't people see that if everybody chooses their own speed there'd be chaos? (Don't give me the autobahn example, please, lots of people have mentioned that's it's not that simple, that people really concentrate, AND that the autobahn is already established and has been for a long time, the users know how to do it, it appears.) Why do you think you have the right to choose when to speed and when not to? How can you justify speeding in some areas, but then say 'Think of the children!' when in a school zone? If everyone has their own opinion on when it is 'safe' to speed then you'd get lots who think it's safe to speed in a school zone, how do you react to that? My point is that personal opinion shouldn't matter that much when it comes to speed limits. Consistency is the key word here, and we need a higher authority to make sure everyone obeys the speed limits to keep us safe on the roads.