Clocked at 153mph... Gotta love the news...

[woodrrow]

S4L, your right about the speeding and killing article. If you stop and think about it, they have signs posted in a 55mph zone, which is highway/interstate that say "speed kills, obey the sign or pay the fine!" in big orange letters. So speeding over 55mph kills...

Another spot might be a 45mph speed limit with same sign, speed kills!

Another spot might have a 65mph speed limit with, again, speed kills!

So, speeding in a 45mph kills, so going 55mph is speeding. But going 55mph doesnt kill in other places. Same with 65mph and 75mph.

I realize that going 65 in a 45 residential or commercial area is dangerous, and for that reason the speed limit should be obeyed in these places. My biggest gripe is interstate and highways, where the surrounding circumstances don't really change, but the speed limits do. This is what most people call "speed traps" because it is just that. A trap.

Wiki national speed law

The National Maximum Speed Law in the United States was a provision of the 1974 Emergency Highway Energy Conservation Act that prohibited speed limits higher than 55 mph (90 km/h). This law was modified in 1987 to allow 65 mph (105 km/h) limits on certain roads.

The law was widely disregarded by motorists. Most states subversively opposed the law, ranging from proposing deals for exemption from it to minimizing speeding penalties.

This cap was intended to reduce gasoline consumption by 2.2% in response to the 1973 oil crisis. However, net fuel savings were calculated by the United States Department of Transportation at 1%, and independent studies found savings as low as half of one percent.

In 1995, the law was repealed, returning the power of setting speed limits to the states.


Based on money & oil, not safety..

Another point to make is if low speed limits are for the safety of the people, then why is it left up to state and local governments to decide how fast/slow is safe in their state? If you break it down to a much smaller scale it is men & women deciding how fast they think is safe for their taxpayers. Where is the constant?

I might be painting it a little black and white with no gray area, but I think you get the idea.

Again, I'm not a speed demon that pisses people off on the road. I've had a lot of people tell me, even when I've been going 15-20-30mph over the speed limit on highways and interstate, that they're glad I'm not one of those 'a-hole' riders getting on everyones ass and splitting lanes. When I come up on cars I slow it down a little and then hit it again when the coast is clear.

One more important thing to point out about zooming past slow pokers and grannies on the road:
Them reacting scared and accidentally jerking into you is not the only thing to look out for. What if they jerk the other way and hit a pole at at 55mph? Or off into a ditch? Or into another car? Or into a runner or cyclist on the side of the road that you didnt see? I know people my age, mid 20's to mid 30's, who always go 5-10 over, but still don't know how to react to motorcycles. When one flies past you at triple digit speeds and you're going 60 it can be scary to some people because they don't realize what's happened. A friend of mine had a group of bikes come up behind him on interstate and one of them got right on his ass where the bike was about 2 feet from his bumper. My friend didn't know what to do except start easing over into the emergency lane where there was a lot of trash from a previous wreck. The left lane was clear. He thought the bike was going to hit him. Point of story is that some people don't know how to react to fast bikes. So speed SAFELY !

 

[S4L]

S4L, your right about the speeding and killing article. If you stop and think about it, they have signs posted in a 55mph zone, which is highway/interstate that say "speed kills, obey the sign or pay the fine!" in big orange letters. So speeding over 55mph kills...

Another spot might be a 45mph speed limit with same sign, speed kills!

Another spot might have a 65mph speed limit with, again, speed kills!

So, speeding in a 45mph kills, so going 55mph is speeding. But going 55mph doesnt kill in other places. Same with 65mph and 75mph.

I realize that going 65 in a 45 residential or commercial area is dangerous, and for that reason the speed limit should be obeyed in these places. My biggest gripe is interstate and highways, where the surrounding circumstances don't really change, but the speed limits do. This is what most people call "speed traps" because it is just that. A trap.

Wiki national speed law

The National Maximum Speed Law in the United States was a provision of the 1974 Emergency Highway Energy Conservation Act that prohibited speed limits higher than 55 mph (90 km/h). This law was modified in 1987 to allow 65 mph (105 km/h) limits on certain roads.

The law was widely disregarded by motorists. Most states subversively opposed the law, ranging from proposing deals for exemption from it to minimizing speeding penalties.

This cap was intended to reduce gasoline consumption by 2.2% in response to the 1973 oil crisis. However, net fuel savings were calculated by the United States Department of Transportation at 1%, and independent studies found savings as low as half of one percent.

In 1995, the law was repealed, returning the power of setting speed limits to the states.


Based on money & oil, not safety..

Another point to make is if low speed limits are for the safety of the people, then why is it left up to state and local governments to decide how fast/slow is safe in their state? If you break it down to a much smaller scale it is men & women deciding how fast they think is safe for their taxpayers. Where is the constant?

I might be painting it a little black and white with no gray area, but I think you get the idea.

Again, I'm not a speed demon that pisses people off on the road. I've had a lot of people tell me, even when I've been going 15-20-30mph over the speed limit on highways and interstate, that they're glad I'm not one of those 'a-hole' riders getting on everyones ass and splitting lanes. When I come up on cars I slow it down a little and then hit it again when the coast is clear.

I absolutely agree with you. I kind of paint myself in a squidly picture, but I typically only due 5-10mph over the speed limit (with the exception of some highways, where I try and enjoy 80mph). To date I have had no accidents and actually feel SAFER speeding than I do running neck'n'neck with other cars. Have you ever noticed that on the highway cars seem to clump together and run in packs? Then you have to try and get infront of the group, find a stretch of open road again, just to come up to another clump??

Have I wheelied on a public road?? Yes (Only one wheelie to date in my short riding existence of approximately 5,000 two-wheeled miles ). Was another car around when I did it?? No!?

Have I hit triple digits on public roads??? Yes... Do I feel ashamed?? No... Heck, in DC traffic, the flow IS 90....

My gripe is this.... I can find a beautiful stretch of open highway, not a car insight behind me or infront of me, but I dare not speed too much because I know my luck, and a state trooper will be hiding in the bushes somewhere... I find that to be BS. The only thing that ticket will serve is to pad someone's coffers, not his , not mine. Hell, I'll even pay the ticket, but the insurance hikes... ugh.. Nevada and Montana were perfectly safe states when they had no speed limits.

What if on that open stretch of road I decide to hit that wheelie again...heck...why not? no one is around?? And there he sits....Mr. statetrooper....

 

[woodrrow]

I'm with ya about feeling safer passing people. Whether I'm in my car or bike, I feel safer passing just 5-10mph over. That way I'm always alert as to what the drivers in front of me, next to me, and who are coming up behind me who might be going faster than me are doing. My gf used to hound me about this until she totaled her nice altima by rearending someone else in 45mph traffic when she glanced away just for a second. Out of all of my friends who say "your trying to get a ticket! ( as I'm going 5-10mph over)" I'm the only one who hasnt had some type of minor accident or speeding ticket. Knock on wood

And I hate the groups of cars. That's where you see people texting, putting on makeup, swerving off the road or into the person in the lane traveling next to them. Brake checking with a waterfall effect, etc..