Comments on: Limits on Speed, Limits on Freedom

By: David Louis Edelman

David Louis Edelman — Fri, 04 Apr 2008 01:30:50 +0000

A libertarian solution to speed limits — I love it! Interesting idea, though I’m not sure it would work. You’re basically creating a bottleneck around the lowest common denominator, meaning that the 87-year-old man driving 20 mph on the highway suddenly pulls me down to a max of 35 mph.

Also, I’m not sure that the power of selfishness would work to our advantage on the highway. The interesting thing to me is that if everyone would slow down instead of speeding up and obey the drive-right-pass-left rule, we’d all get where we’re going a lot faster.

By: Andre

Andre — Thu, 03 Apr 2008 03:39:04 +0000

How about letting any car drive as fast as they ever want to on the interstates, but when they get closer than 100 yards to another car, they would have slow down and drive no more than 15mph faster than the other car(s) they are passing. Basically, it would mean that a solo car on an interstate in the middle of nowhere would be a hands off — no touch by cops. The solitude drivers chance of upgrading to a *no speed limit power*, and ticket immunity, would virtually eliminate the interstate accidents, when everybody would try to maximize their distance the other cars, instead of bickering and tailgating.

By: Mikhail Alexandrov

Mikhail Alexandrov — Mon, 10 Sep 2007 23:41:47 +0000

Dave,

Thanks for the interesting point of view
Frank,

Why do you call this lawyer an idiot? Is it because his opinion differs from yours?

By: Frank J. Jakubecz

Frank J. Jakubecz — Thu, 31 Aug 2006 05:59:12 +0000

If you would check out my feed to my blog,one of the latest entries is a letter written by a crazed egomaniac ( and probably corporate) attorney. He happens to go by the name Lee Estes. This brain dead idiot actually has the idea that the speed limits on all the interstates should be eliminated altogether. How much idiotic can you get!?

By: David Louis Edelman

David Louis Edelman — Wed, 16 Aug 2006 04:21:46 +0000

Thanks for that, Jodi. I think the frustrating thing is that, with speed limits, we usually want to obey the law. Is there anywhere else that the government fines you because you simply can’t obey the law all the time?

By: Jodi Davis

Jodi Davis — Wed, 16 Aug 2006 04:07:32 +0000

Taking my kids to school takes me through this quagmire; 25-30-25-35-40-30-15 - on residential roads that all seem the same - so not knowing can get you a ticket easily - as evidenced by the cars I see DAILY pulled over.

I would love this.

My husband would love for me to have it as I’m a bit of a lead foot - I’ve gotten 5 speeding tickets in my life - all from interstate traveling and letting the speed build up slowly - you know, till it seems like you’re going slow - but in fact, you’re going 90.

By: David Louis Edelman

David Louis Edelman — Thu, 27 Jul 2006 05:06:34 +0000

Ouch! Damn, that is a horrible story. (Here’s a link to JJA’s blog for anyone who wants to read it…)

Actually, this was not inspired by a recent incident. I have to say I’ve never actually had a horrible speeding ticket incident. Oh, I’ve been pulled over, but I’ve never had the cop be a dick about it. In fact, once I was really cranky and started chewing out the cop about didn’t he have anything better to do at 2 a.m. — and the dude let me go. True story.

By: John Joseph Adams

John Joseph Adams — Thu, 27 Jul 2006 01:27:35 +0000

Dave –

Great post, but you dredged up a painful memory, and have forced me to blog about it. Was your post inspired by a recent brush with the speed patrol?