A Meditation on the Speed Limit

An interesting video link was forwarded to me by a friend, which could just as easily be labeled "Civil Obedience... What happens when people obey the law." Check out the five-minute video here.

The setup is basically this. A bunch of college kids are driving on Interstate 285 in Atlanta and show what happens to traffic if all of them actually drove the speed limit, 55. These kids lined up on all four lanes of traffic, holding everyone to the speed limit (aside from a few aggressive drivers who make fools of themselves in the videos).

I drive a fair amount of time and genuinely enjoy the experience. I'm probably described as a "plus-five guy," as I'll go about five miles per hour over the speed limit. I've often wondered how much more smoothly everything would go if we all drove the speed limit, and this offered an interesting perspective on it.

The video reminded me of one of my biggest annoyances while driving. I hate it when the signs warn you everything merges into one lane, yet there's some imbecile who waits until the last 25 feet to make the merge. I always merge early and tend to let people merge into my lane ahead of me, so long as they plan ahead a little.

I theorize that there would be no backup whatsoever if everyone drove like I did. The line always gets backed up from people having to slow down for the last-minute planners getting over at the very end.