I've somehow never been pulled over. These days I only speed on highways though (in high school, I would speed in town as well, generally 5-10 over most limits, sometimes more, but never managed to get caught). Driving around city streets, I'm usually one of the slower people on the road to be honest. Eg. I'll be driving down a 35 MPH arterial at like 37, and most other people are going 40-45. With driveways, people turning in/out, pedestrians, etc. I'll respect most speed limits in town if they aren't ridiculous (in the Boise area they generally do a very good job at matching the limit to the conditions of the road. Some cities go for a more blanket approach which does not work as well). Doubly true in small towns, I try to strictly stick to limits there.
But on highways, throw the speed limits out the window, I go whatever I'm comfortable with. That usually means 70-75 on urban/suburban freeways (or 80 in places where that's the unofficial speed limit like SoCal and SLC), and 80-85 on rural freeways, though of course depending on the flow of traffic. On non-freeways, it's a bit more nuanced depending on the design of the road and the surrounding area. But 70 in a 55 on a rural highway in a place like Oregon where they over-post 55 is common for me if conditions allow.
I have some not-the-driver stories though. When I was a kid, my Dad was pulled over in on OR-99 in Junction City, right after the speed limit dropped from 45 to 30. He was clocked at 43. Just didn't slow down fast enough. He did get a ticket, that one's kinda BS IMO, as he was in process of slowing down.
Probably somewhere around here. I don't even see an advance warning of the slowdown.
My friend I was riding with was pulled over on US-20 in the middle of the desert between Burns and Bend, OR. He was going 70, but the speed limit was still a ridiculous 55 at the time.
I don't remember exactly the location, but basically picture this. I felt kinda guilty because I said "you can go 65", because I knew you wouldn't get pulled over at 65. But I think he interpreted that as "the speed limit is 65, I'll go 5 over". Didn't help he had Washington plates. Luckily, he only got a warning, turned out fine. And now the speed limit is 65 which is more reasonable. I generally go 70-75, and sometimes that still feels slow.
My wife got a ticket for 76 on I-84 somewhere between Boise and Meridian. Speed limit is 65, but it's a modern 8 lane freeway, and traffic wasn't heavy (early afternoon), so 76 is not really that fast. Kinda a weak ticket, even though legally speaking of course it's valid. I wasn't in the car, maybe there's more to the story. Luckily the ticket was only $90 and didn't affect our insurance rates or anything, so no big deal. I try to keep it to 74 now haha.
