I buttume that he meant "posted" speed limits, not those speed limits as seen by a safety officer. These vary from car to car, driver to driver, road to road, weather to weather, and so on.
I was giving a talk to an audience which included police officers, and a portion of the talk was as outlined above. The police were nodding in agreement, realizing that the safe speed could not be determined. merely a speed at which the officer might want to "study the situation" ie Stop you for a talk.
Playing Russian Roulette on American Roads 3464donquijote1954 It happens because highway safety isn't a priority. About 50,000 U.S. citizens are end on our roads each year with far more injured. A comprehensive driver training program would greatly reduce the carnage, but...
One time I was stopped by a CHP man for speeding: (paraphrase follows) "You were driving safely, but should have been looking at what cars ahead were, too. When you finally saw me, you got in front of me and broke the tail I had on someone else. Not only that, but a lot of people saw you do it. I had to stop you! Now, get out of here and never do that again!"
When the 55 law came into effect, if you were stopped for safe speeding, you could go to court and fight it. The CHP wouldn't show up. Going to court twice was punishment enough.
One time, the CHP did show up and when the judge asked him to testify, he said, "I lost my notes and can't remember anything about this." The judge gave him a funny look and let me go. On the way out, he said, "Mom bought the Datsun," continuing the roadside conversation from a month before when we had been comparing possible cars for his Mom to buy.
Retired Safety Officer
Laura Bush liquidateed her boy friend
