by SJX

Created on: March 26, 2009

The speed limit is intended to be the maximum safe speed for any given roadway. On two-lane roads, there are often signs posted where road conditions change, such as a bridge or sharp turn, that indicate a different safe maximum speed for that area of road. These speeds often range from 25 to 50 mph. If 25 is safe for a sharp turn, and 50 is safe for a straight stretch of two-lane highway, why would 55 mph- only five mph higher than a backroad- be reasonable for a highway, which was built to move traffic quickly from one location to another?

Some people may argue that slower speeds mean less gas is used. This is true, If you were to go half the speed you normally drive, you would burn about half as less gas per minute than you normally would. However, you would also take twice as long to reach to your destination, and would therefore burn the same amount of gas, effectively changing ntohing except the amount of time wasted driving.

Many people seem to think that a slower speed is a safer speed. It is a fact that a slow-speed collision is preferable to high-speed one. However, have you ever noticed that student drivers usually favor slower speeds? Oftentimes, those who are less confident about their driving ability will drive at slower speeds, such as student drivers or the elderly. Therefore, while not all drivers that prefer higher speeds are great drivers per se, a large percentage of them could be described as such. Therefore, the only major risk that increases at higher speeds for these drivers, would be in the case of an obstacle in the road, or a malfunction, such as a tire blow-out.

In fact, most of my encounters with bad drivers are at slower speeds. I had a tail light broken once by someone who thought he could pass me in a single turn lane, even though moving traffic was clearly preventing either of us from going anywhere. He misjudged the width of the turn lane (it must be hard for some people to believe that a single lane is built for a SINGLE car, and not two), cracked my tail light, and immediately took off thinking that I would not catch up with him to get his license plate (I did). I have seen the front end of cars taken off because people think they can wait to turn on to a main road with the front half of their car sitting out in traffic, as if it won't be hit. There are people who put only their front tires into the center turn lane when waiting to turn, and leave the rear half of the car out in traffic, or those who leave their turn signal

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