Miata Mailing List: October 1999, Message #169

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There are two problems with speed limits in the U.S.

1. They become the average speed, not a limit, with an allowed 5-10 mph 
cushion.  Speed limit signs should post both a recommended speed and a 
rational limit which would be enforced.  Both of these should be derived 
logically based on road conditions, traffic density, neighborhood, etc.

2.  Speed limits are arbitrarily enforced and arbitrarily ignored.  My wife 
recently got a speeding ticket for 38 in a 25 mph zone.  A few days later I 
was on the same road, at about 25-30 mph, when another car came up on my 
bumper.  He hit the gas and zipped around me and I saw it was a Sherif's 
Deputy doing about 40-45.

Jeff Parker