Pursuasive Speed Limit Change
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How many of you have ever been in a long car trip cross country? Or how many of you have been on a street that you have to slow your self down just to do the speed limit. I know this has happened to me on countless occasions. I would like to express my opinion to you on how I feel on speed limits around the United States and how I feel that these should be changed.
I, like many of you, consider myself a good driver. With only one minor accident and no traffic tickets I feel that I can easily say that I am above average at driving, however driving here in the United States troubles me some. While I realize that speed limits are put in place to supposedly help people and save lives, I feel that these speed limits contradict common human nature. As I drive around I attempt to figure out how we determine speed limits in America. Some of these speed limits are reasonable and understandable, but others just boggle the mind. For example a two lane road that runs along the outer boarders of two neighborhoods has a speed limit of 40 mph and further down the road next to less developed neighborhoods that have less houses built increases speed to 45 mph. This I feel is reasonable due to the fact that it does boarder neighborhoods and there could be people walking or doing outdoor activities. However, you take a look at a 3 lane highway and you are forced to go the same speed limit as you did when driving through a neighborhood. This is a situation where I feel that the speed limit of the road should be increased. When driving it seems that people have two types of speed that they drive. One of these speeds is lawful speed where the driver is making a conscious effort to obey the traffic rules of the road and wont drive faster than the speed limit. The other type of speed is natural speed. This is a speed more based on feeling where the driver isnt paying much attention to how fast he/she is going and tends to drive a little faster than the speed limit or the same speed as traffic around them. These speeds are constantly in a struggle with each on certain roads. To refer back to the examples I had earlier the speed limit on the smaller two lane road is very close to the natural speed of a person. Its a small road so most people seem to understand that there isnt a need to go very fast on that road. On the other hand when expanding to a three lane highway the speed limit is 45 mph where as the natural speed of that road seems to be more along the lines of 55 mph. Its a shame that people are punished for doing something that comes and flows so naturally for them.
While highway driving may be in need of a little reworking freeway driving is the one that needs the biggest changes. Imagine driving on a long trip longer than 5 hours and having small children in the back and they are quickly running out of things to keep them entertained. They soon begin to start nagging, fighting, getting hungry, and need to