Subject: Re: Reasonable Speed Limit

From: [email-masked] (Holysin)
Date: Sun, 20 Aug 1995 07:28:35 GMT

I feel <and hopefully the Nat. Highways Systems act will pass and 
make it so,  or close to it>  that a good speed limit <face it, there will 
always be a speed limit, and prolb. it will never be high enough for a LOT of 
people>  would be 80mph on highway/freeways....   

who knows... maybe next year we'll actually see the Act passing and the limits 
going up....

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From: Jud Main <[email-masked]>
Date: 18 Aug 1995 21:13:31 GMT

I've always figured that nature will tell you when you're going too fast.
Either by scaring the living bejeezus out of you, or by doing the Darwin
dance.

WARNING!  Lecture ahead.  Read at your own risk!

In fact, being an old philosophy major, I can't help but point out a
"reasonable speed limit" is almost an oxymoron.

Reason is that aptitude that determines in the Now what, according the
all of the input you're receiving, and then balancing them carefully, 
what is the best course of action.

Naturally since the input changes constantly (i.e. road conditions, 
weather, traffic, visibility, and etc.) what is reasonable is in a constant 
state of flux from moment to moment.

Thus, to impose a speed limit that is inflexible, i.e. does NOT adjust to 
conditions whatsoever, but is static, is not and never can be reasonable,
only LOGICAL.  There's quite a difference.  You can end up anywhere you
want with logic; the initial conditions might be true, but from there you
can end up way off base in a really short time.

STRONGLY suggest that we are all capable of rational , reasonable 
behavior, are self-correcting and ultimately responsible for our own
actions, and what do you get?

To pass an extremely excessive number of laws to inhibit/control human
behavior is to STRONGLY suggest that we are all robotic, non-thinking,
non-feeling idiots.  Bathe our children in that attitude and what do you
get in the next generation?

No wonder things are going completely to hell.

OK, OK, that's my lecture for today.  Feel free to flame...

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From: [email-masked] (Dean Barker)
Date: 18 Aug 95 14:07:30 CDT

David Childs <[email-masked]> writes:

>I was wondering what would be considered a reasonable
>max speed limit by most readers here.  What do you
>think?  On what roads?

>I just drove a round-trip to California from Colorado,
>and a reasonable speed limit would have been 90 mph.
>I probably would not have exceeded the limit in that
>case.

The whole idea of repealing the NMSL is to have speed
limits set by engineers, by statistics, by some hard data.
If we went by what people think, by what "feels good" we
will be right back where we started ... double nickel, 
everywhere.

-Dean

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From: Ivan Sever <[email-masked]>
Date: 18 Aug 1995 15:42:13 GMT

>max speed limit by most readers here.  What do you

Reasonable maximum speed is the speed that 85% of the cars traveling on
that road at that time do not exceed. 
Ivan

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From: [email-masked] (Kevin Rohlender)
Date: Fri, 18 Aug 1995 04:13:04 -0400

>max speed limit by most readers here.  What do you

Whatever is the maximum speed you feel safe at, on any road. If you are
unable to determine a safe speed, you should not be driving at all.

There are 30 and 40mph residential roads which you would be crazy to drive
faster than 20 or even 10 mph on. (cars on the side of the road, narrow
roads, kids playing, poorly maintained roads, curves).

65mph roads are usually safe at over 80, although certainly not always.
Conditions (and car!) permitting there are a great many that would be safe
at well over 100.

The problem we would have right now, however, if people in the US started
driving over 100 in large numbers on the major highways is that most people
don't even seem to be aware of how to drive safely on a highway - they are a
danger at any speed. The type of people that don't signal lane changes and
don't keep right when driving slowly.

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From: Paul Lu <[email-masked]>
Date: 18 Aug 1995 03:02:49 GMT

:-)

Allow me to dream:

It should depend on the conditions:

If there is nobody else, why not use the minimum of the following thre:

Limit of the car
Limit of the Road
Limit of the driver.

If there are other cars, add the ability of other drivers. Sorry this may
bring it down to very slow.

Above all that, unfortunately, add the lawmakers and the law enforcement.

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From: David Childs <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 16 Aug 1995 14:25:08 -0600

David