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The answer to the question of why people can't drive the speed limit when they are in a hurry is obvious. If a person is in a hurry to arrive at a specific destination; such as work, a job interview, or a dinner date, this suggests that he or she failed to depart early enough. Perhaps the alarm didn't go off and the person overslept. Maybe he or she was held up in backed-up traffic from an accident or unanticipated road construction. Inclement weather such as a snowstorm could be slowing everybody around you down to a crawl. The point? There are an infinite number of reasons one could be late to an obligation.

If you are running late, the object is to get to wherever you're going in as short a time as possible. Abiding by the posted speed limits will therefore hinder this effort. As others who have written to this topic have said, there is an adreneline rush we experience while hurried as well. Getting stuck behind some geriatric in a Buick Lesabre who has been retired since the Berlin Wall fell or a semi that will take 20 minutes to get up to speed doesn't help this situation. Our blood pressure is elevated, and these sorts of people are in our way.

In the opinion of this writer, as many as half of set speed limits are 10-15 mph too slow, anyway. For example, interstate highways were built for safe, high-speed driving, yet many states limit your speed to 65 mph. This is certainly better than the snail's pace of 55 mph that Americans had to endure from 1974-1986, but there is no reason that you shoudln't be able to go 75-80 on these types of roads. Indeed, if you go back 40 years or so, this is exactly what drivers were able to do. A considerable amount of time can be cut off of a cross-country road trip. A 650 mile journey will require 10 hours of driving time at 65 mph. Even at 75; just 10 mph more, this is reduced to 8 hours and 40 minutes. I distinctly remember a biased Driver's Education textbook I had in high school (right after Congress under President Nixon lowered the national speed limit to 55) that claimed no time is saved by driving faster! This is blatantly false unless we choose to alter the rules of mathematics.

On the other hand, most speed limits in residential areas are reasonable. Children and pets can run out into streets at any given time. Drivers must constantly be on the lookout for such events, and have a much better chance of stopping from 25-30 mph than they would if they were going 50.

To summarize, the most sensible approach to take is the avoidance of running late to begin with. Make sure that alarm clock is working properly. If a long trip is in the plans, leave earlier. While some delays are out of our control, our overall stress can be reduced by the simple utilization of time management.

Learn more about this author, Patrick Sills.
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