Daily conversation: What is the worst possible answer?

[kphoger]

default

...

[hotdogPi]

I interpreted "default" as "this applies if there is no posted speed limit on this road".

[kphoger]

integers

...

[I-55]

28 AUG 2025:

What should the default speed limits be?  Criteria below:

1.  Must include the following five categories of road:
- a.  street in business area

35 mph while businesses are open, 20 mph after they close

- b.  street in residential area

25 mph, except after dark where the speed limit shall be high enough to flee high crime neighborhoods in reasonable time

- c.  rural road

55 mph or posted speed, whichever is higher

- d.  state highway

Last two digits of the state's founding year. If value is under 20 mph, multiply by an integer until higher than 20 mph.

- e.  Interstate or other access-controlled highway

whatever speed is required to reach the signed control city in under an hour from that point. Speed limits will gradually decrease as one gets closer to the control city to ensure they are still able to make it in under an hour.

EXCEPTION A: Beltways with no control cities must be able to complete one lap in 10 minutes less than the number of miles to complete the loop

EXCEPTION B: If there is no signed control city on a spur or mainline interstate, the speed limit should be no less than the speed required to return to the previous control city within 1 hour or no more than the required speed to reach the end of the interstate in under one hour.

2.  Answers for (a) and (b) must be less than answers for (c), (d), and (e).

3.  Only positive integers >15.

4.  Additional categories and/or special conditions allowed.

[PColumbus73]

28 AUG 2025:

What should the default speed limits be?  Criteria below:

1.  Must include the following five categories of road:
- a.  street in business area
- b.  street in residential area
- c.  rural road
- d.  state highway
- e.  Interstate or other access-controlled highway

2.  Answers for (a) and (b) must be less than answers for (c), (d), and (e).

3.  Only positive integers >15.

4.  Additional categories and/or special conditions allowed.

1a - 55, but businesses are allowed the biggest, brightest, most distracting advertisements to get your attention

1b - 35 (default), residential speed limits to be determined by nearest HOA or politician during an election year

1c - 60, cows and horses are positioned along the roads so you slow down to say 'cow / horse' with accompanying animal noise.

1d - 55, but police are allowed to treat speeding 1 MPH over as a high-speed pursuit

1e - No speed limit, but for ticketing and insurance, you will automatically be at fault in a crash

[kphoger]

- d.  state highway

Last two digits of the state's founding year. If value is under 20 mph, multiply by an integer until higher than 20 mph.

Because of course I had to...

20 mph - Maine
21 mph - Ohio (3x7)
21 mph - Missouri
21 mph - Oklahoma (7x3)
24 mph - Louisiana (12x2)
24 mph - New Mexico (12x2)
24 mph - Arizona (12x2)
32 mph - Indiana (16x2)
34 mph - Mississippi (17x2)
36 mph - Illinois (18x2)
36 mph - Arkansas
37 mph - Michigan
38 mph - Alabama (19x2)
45 mph - Florida
45 mph - Texas
46 mph - Iowa
48 mph - Wisconsin
50 mph - California
58 mph - Minnesota
59 mph - Oregon
59 mph - Alaska
59 mph - Hawaii
61 mph - Kansas
63 mph - West Virginia
64 mph - Nevada
67 mph - Nebraska
76 mph - Colorado
87 mph - Delaware
87 mph - Pennsylvania
87 mph - New Jersey
88 mph - Georgia
88 mph - Connecticut
88 mph - Massachusetts
88 mph - Maryland
88 mph - South Carolina
88 mph - New Hampshire
88 mph - Virginia
88 mph - New York
89 mph - North Carolina
89 mph - North Dakota
89 mph - South Dakota
89 mph - Montana
89 mph - Washington
90 mph - Rhode Island
90 mph - Idaho
90 mph - Wyoming
91 mph - Vermont
92 mph - Kentucky
96 mph - Tennessee
96 mph - Utah
undefined - District of Columbia

Crossing the NH/ME state line becomes quite the shock.  Also crossing the AZ/UT state line.

[kphoger]

36 mph - all roads between dusk and dawn (civil twilight)
37 mph - alley
37 mph - any unpaved road
38 mph - street in business area
38 mph - street in residential area
39 mph - rural road
39 mph - state highway
39 mph - Interstate or other access-controlled highway

28 AUG 2025:

What should the default speed limits be?  Criteria below:

1.  Must include the following five categories of road:
- a.  street in business area
- b.  street in residential area
- c.  rural road
- d.  state highway
- e.  Interstate or other access-controlled highway

2.  Answers for (a) and (b) must be less than answers for (c), (d), and (e).

3.  Only positive integers >15.

4.  Additional categories and/or special conditions allowed.

[1995hoo]

28 AUG 2025:

What should the default speed limits be?  Criteria below:

1.  Must include the following five categories of road:
- a.  street in business area 32 mph
- b.  street in residential area When I was in high school, a classmate of mine supposedly got busted for driving his mother's Jaguar 125 mph on Braeburn Drive in Annandale, Virginia. I doubt the truth of that story, but in his honor, I have to vote for 125 mph.
- c.  rural road 27 mph. When I was in law school, the residential James Street in Durham had a 27-mph speed limit. I can't use that for residential streets for the reason given above, but I wanted to honor it somewhere and I therefore used it for rural roads.
- d.  state highway 27 mph (in Virginia, most rural roads are also state highways, so I've made them the same)
- e.  Interstate or other access-controlled highway 35 mph so that you don't have to slow down to use most exit ramps

2.  Answers for (a) and (b) must be less than answers for (c), (d), and (e). I've elected to ignore this requirement for (b) for the special reason stated above.

3.  Only positive integers >15.

4.  Additional categories and/or special conditions allowed.

[kphoger]

- d.  state highway

Last two digits of the state's founding year. If value is under 20 mph, multiply by an integer until higher than 20 mph.

Crossing the NH/ME state line becomes quite the shock.  Also crossing the AZ/UT state line.

And US-421 is quite different from KY to IN.

[MikeTheActuary]

What should the default speed limits be?

5d20 (or 5d32 in metric), rolled at each intersection/interchange.

[Scott5114]

28 AUG 2025:

What should the default speed limits be?

It doesn't matter, because Metro isn't going to pull anyone over for speeding anyhow.