#I'm not saying you have to always obey every speed limit nor pretending I've never sped

[overclockedopossum]

Fucked up that these people live in a world where "the speed of traffic" is literally the highest speed any motherfucker on the road is driving.

Let me tell you something about stopping distances. You'd imagine stopping from 60 takes twice as long as stopping from 30, right? WRONG! The rate of deceleration might be constant* (ie 60->30 takes as many seconds as 30->0) but you're MOVING MUCH FASTER when going 60->30, so in the same time you cover much more ground.

*(minor coda to this: strictly speaking the rate of deceleration may be a little higher while you're at higher speeds due to air resistance, but since you're driving a car and not a parachute that's not something that meaningfully changes the calculations)

Based on sources like https://www.random-science-tools.com/physics/stopping-distance.htm the braking distance from 60mph is in fact nearly 4x that from 30mph. Doing 75 rather than 55, far from being marginal, would nearly DOUBLE your braking distance.

Also, let's be realistic - if you get rear-ended at a 20mph closing speed then while it's bad for the car you're not getting so much as scratched. Conversely, approaching a stationary obstacle at 75 is much more dangerous than at 55 for you in the car. On horrible usamerican stroads that might have people crossing, you're far more likely to become a killer by driving into a pedestrian. If there are signalled intersections, you're far more likely to hit someone who's running a light - a much worse accident for you than being rear-ended. At higher speeds you're more likely to lose control if there's an issue with the road surface. You'll also be using more fuel, which costs you more money. To say nothing of it giving the police an excuse to pull you over if they feel like it - a potentially dealy interaction, especially for black people in the USA!

So, I agree that your life is more important than the law, but let's not pretend speeding does your life any favours.

One thing I do want to say on the other side of this - pay attention to your mirrors and do try to make opportunities for people who want to drive faster to pass you. If they're gonna do something reckless that causes an accident, it's better for you to not be involved.

driving is so freaking fun guys dont you just love being in a big metal thing that can completely crush you if someone feels like doing stupid things on the road