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[InterstateNG]

Don't you know? Anything above 65 is reckless driving.

Dude, this is Texas we're talking about.  Anything below 65 is. . . just not Texan.

Except at night, where some drivers usually do 10 under the speed limit based on my experiences.

[Duke87]

A lot of Americans seem to believe the speed limit is the speed you're supposed to go—if it says "Speed Limit 70" they get outraged if you're not going 70.

There is at least one case where this is actual taught practice, not just common belief: in Connecticut, they teach you in driver's ed that you should stay within the window between the speed limit and 5 under. Why do they teach you this? If you dip more than 5 under the limit without having a particular reason to on your road test, they will take a point off for it. They want to make sure people are comfortable driving up to the limit rather than just crawling around being overly cautious.

[Bickendan]

Indeed. The only time I'm not driving the limit (or slightly above), not accounting for conditions, is when someone is merging ahead of me and I'm slowing up to reestablish a safe following distance. Usually, this means simply letting up the gas until my 4-5 second window is regained.

[1995hoo]

....  And at least in New York, it's almost impossible to go below the speed limit and not obstruct traffic.  And why should traffic ahead of you be allowed to force you to drive below the speed limit?  That's what you do when you drive below the limit: you force everyone to drive slower than they want to!

....

On the other hand, though, if you follow that argument to its conclusion, then the signs that a number of states and provinces use posting minimum speed limits (e.g., "Speed Limit 70/Minimum 40" or Quebec's oft-used "Maximum 100/60 Minimum") would be irrelevant or inaccurate because people "shouldn't be allowed" to go slower than the posted maximum.

I'm not arguing that being stuck behind someone going below the speed limit isn't damn annoying in many cases, especially on a rural two-lane road with no passing zones for miles at a time. I just don't agree that the mere fact that the sign says the speed limit is 70 mph means you automatically have a right to go 70 mph. The signs on the Garden State Parkway that say "Speed Limit 65/Conditions Permitting" underscore the principle pretty well—most people would agree that in bad weather you might have an obligation to slow down, for example, but "conditions" can also include things like sun glare or traffic.

Or, put differently, when I was learning to drive my father said, "Sometimes you get stuck in a situation where the speed limit is 65 but the traffic in the right lane is doing 60 due to a slow truck and the traffic in the left lane is doing 75. In that case you either slow down and get in the right lane or you speed up and get in the left lane, but you do not tailgate just because you think the people in the right lane are 'too slow' and you do not block the left lane just because you think those people are 'too fast.' You adjust your speed to one lane or the other."

(I feel VERY strongly about lane discipline and keeping out of the passing lane except to pass, to the point where it sometimes drives my wife crazy because I'm always moving back to the right. But I HATE it when someone is blocking the left lane unless there's a compelling reason for it like debris in the other lane. BTW, I say "keeping out of the passing lane" to account for countries where you drive on the left and the far right lane is the passing lane.)

[vdeane]

Yes, driving is much less frustrating when you don't have a strict adherence to speed limits (and everything else) stuck in your head.  I always get frustrated when in a situation where it's impossible to not do something wrong, and since I like going fast and am impatient, driving below the speed limit when conditions don't require it is very frustrating.  It does not help that many of the roads I drive have enough traffic (at least during the school year - US 11 is a much nicer drive when the colleges aren't in session) to make being behind a slow poke the entire drive inevitable.  An extreme example was being stuck behind a farm vehicle (normally these drive in the shoulder as much as possible to facilitate passing; this one wasn't) doing 15 in a 55 on NY 68 with a long line of cars refusing to pass despite many opportunities (only a fraction of drivers seem willing to pass on two lane roads, especially for less extreme speed differentials).

[agentsteel53]

I tend to go about 77, and if I am passing, and there is someone in the left lane coming up behind me 85 I will happily speed up to 85 to accommodate them.

if they're coming up behind me doing 110, I'll happily speed up to 85.

[1995hoo]

I tend to go about 77, and if I am passing, and there is someone in the left lane coming up behind me 85 I will happily speed up to 85 to accommodate them.

if they're coming up behind me doing 110, I'll happily speed up to 85.

For me it depends on the situation. I can think of times when I've been passing someone but saw someone else approaching from behind me a lot faster than I was going and I've slowed down, pulled right, then moved back left to finish passing. But for me to do that it has to be a situation where I can see there's only one car coming from behind me and he's going a LOT faster than I am. I'm not going to slow down and pull to the right if it means I'm going to get trapped there.

This morning I was driving slower than the speed limit and it was intentional—I was taking my wife to the subway stop, the speed limit was 45, but I knew the traffic always slows to a crawl just after you go over this one particular hill (and sure enough, it did). I was going 35 and saw no point in speeding up to come to a stop, especially when speeding up meant I'd need to upshift.

....  An extreme example was being stuck behind a farm vehicle (normally these drive in the shoulder as much as possible to facilitate passing; this one wasn't) doing 15 in a 55 on NY 68 with a long line of cars refusing to pass despite many opportunities (only a fraction of drivers seem willing to pass on two lane roads, especially for less extreme speed differentials).

I've noticed more and more people don't pass on two-lane roads and I've wondered why. My general thought is that as we become more and more urbanized, a lot of people have less experience with two-lane roads and therefore just aren't comfortable with it; I think they also don't have a good understanding of HOW to do it (such as the need to follow relatively closely when you're getting ready to pull out and pass). I've sometimes wondered if the proliferation of automatic-transmission vehicles might factor in as well, as snapping off a downshift and gunning it past the slowpoke is often an important part of passing. People who drive automatics simply seem to accelerate differently.

But with slow-moving farm equipment....heck, most people I know will just pass them over the double yellow line if the road is clear and there's no cop around. I've certainly done that often enough.

[NE2]

But with slow-moving farm equipment....heck, most people I know will just pass them over the double yellow line if the road is clear and there's no cop around. I've certainly done that often enough.

This is explicitly legal in some states and implicitly legal in some others (since 'obstruction' is not well-defined).

[1995hoo]

But with slow-moving farm equipment....heck, most people I know will just pass them over the double yellow line if the road is clear and there's no cop around. I've certainly done that often enough.

This is explicitly legal in some states and implicitly legal in some others (since 'obstruction' is not well-defined).

I don't know what the law is in Virginia, but my point was more in the nature of saying I just do it anyway and don't care what the law is. I've sometimes passed slow-moving cars or minivans over double yellow lines in rural areas, mainly Southside Virginia. If I encounter someone doing 25 mph out there and the speed limit is 55 and it's pretty clear he's not turning off soon, I'm not going to sit there behind him.

[cpzilliacus]

I've noticed more and more people don't pass on two-lane roads and I've wondered why. My general thought is that as we become more and more urbanized, a lot of people have less experience with two-lane roads and therefore just aren't comfortable with it; I think they also don't have a good understanding of HOW to do it (such as the need to follow relatively closely when you're getting ready to pull out and pass).

In the U.S., so many two-lane arterial highways have been replaced by Interstates (which are supposed to have at least four lanes and be divided), or by multilane arterial roads.

Not the case in places with low populations and large land areas, including, in my own experience, Sweden and Finland, where a multilane divided highway is not warranted (though both are building four-lane motorways for traffic volumes that might be considered low by U.S. standards).   

At least in those nations, people do know how to safely pass another vehicle on a two lane highway.

[Mike D boy]

Bulgaria must have no energy shortage to consider the speed limit put at one-eighth of 100 mph! And European speed limits are said to be higher than in the US, notice their cars are built for higher speeds and stoppage time.

[english si]

notice their cars are built for higher ... stoppage time.

I take it you meant lower stopping time, and higher speed, rather than higher applying to both?

Bulgaria's motorways are mostly new or recently rebuilt, mostly straight, mostly have decent distances between exits so no weaving - averaging about 10km between exits.

[cpzilliacus]

notice their cars are built for higher ... stoppage time.

I take it you meant lower stopping time, and higher speed, rather than higher applying to both?

Bulgaria's motorways are mostly new or recently rebuilt, mostly straight, mostly have decent distances between exits so no weaving - averaging about 10km between exits.

Sounds somewhat like the New Jersey Turnpike.

[Brandon]

Bulgaria must have no energy shortage to consider the speed limit put at one-eighth of 100 mph! And European speed limits are said to be higher than in the US, notice their cars are built for higher speeds and stoppage time.

Energy shortage has nothing to do with it.  The lower speed limit here (55mph) saved maybe one-half of one percent of the total fuel used.  A mere drop in the bucket, and statistically insignificant.