comment: >
  
  Look up "strawman fallacy."  I never once have advocated, here or elsewhere, to drive in the passing lane while not passing.  
  All I'm saying is the speed limit isn't slow, and when there are two cars, one doing the speed limit and another going faster and who needs to make an adjustment as they approach, it is on them for not doing the speed limit.  They are the cause of the traffic.  If somebody is in front doing the speed limit in the right lane and a line of cars is behind them and they're upset because they want to go faster and have to wait their turn to pass, it is also on them for causing the traffic.  They should drop back a few seconds, adjust their speed to the legal speed limit and continue to drive.  I'll even take them going ahead to pass illegally faster but not being upset about it and just owning the fact that they're the aggressor in this situation.  Hopefully they don't wind up killing somebody with their impatience.
context: I don't understand why I80 through most of Nebraska can't be an American Autobahn. The limits are pretty high anyway, and the road almost never bends. >
  
  so glad someone brought up nebraska lol >
  
  Drove that route for the first time in 2021. Just so boring with a relatively low speed limit.  I thought I'd never get through Nebraska and Iowa. >
  
  yep. and cops are always there. not always, but just as you get comfy there’s a cop. >
  
  Don’t you guys use waze? In Romania, at least, people always report the radars, so it’s quite hard for them to catch anyone speeding >
  
  I know what waze is, but never used it. Sounds kind of dangerous though. You report cop cars while you’re driving? >
  
  I mean, there are 3 buttons to press and if you’re not alone in the car the passenger can do it easily. It works with car play too! And to answer your question, yes, you do it while driving, cause the marker is being placed in the place where you reported the cops >
  
  Alright I went to school for civil engineering and I’ve done road design, let me just break it down for you:
  There are multiple types of “speed” when it comes to designing roads.  You have operating speed and design speed to name the two major ones.  The operating speed is the expected speed drivers will travel at, and the design speed is the speed the road is designed for (design speed affects road curvature, the higher the design speed, the larger the radius of a curve on a road). So if there’s a road with a 25mph speed limit and people generally travel 35 mph on the road, the design speed is 25 and the operating speed is 35.
  What this means is engineers factor in a speed higher than the posted speed limit to the design of the road, so they’re actually not meant to be traveled right at the speed limit.  The problem with this is design philosophies have changed a lot over the years.  So there are some local arterial roads and others based on an older design system that does not factor in operating speed. If you’ve ever been on a very wide laned road with clear sight lines and only a posted 25mph speed limit, it’s either a school zone/high pedestrian traffic area or it was designed many years ago and hasn’t been “updated” to the modern era.  Roads with low speed limits should be narrow and restrictive, forcing drivers to slow down to the speed limit.  But that’s not the case, many of our low speed limit roads are very wide and encourage speeding, so it’s not the fault of the driver necessarily for naturally picking up speed.  If you’ve ever heard of a road where cops sit to give out speeding tickets or ever asked yourself “man why is the speed limit on this road only 25” it’s because the road was built to encourage faster speeds indirectly based on older design principles. >
  
  Thank you for your insight.  The fact that engineers must mentally wrestle with what's actually physically safe versus the mindset of us human beings is what brings me here, the human side of this.  I believe there are vastly too many aggressive drivers and I'd love to see something done about it.  That would take place for decades in schools and therapy rooms more so than on your drafting table.  Thank you for what you do. >
  
  There are people that will shoot at your car if you cut them off. Idk what you can even do to stop aggressive drivers other than adding public transit >
  
  For my whole life I've believed it's essential and worthwhile to spend what it takes to solve mental health problems on a societal level.  Overly aggressive driving is a symptom.  The real discussion is how do we better create and sustain human minds as a whole?  I don't believe a laissez-faire attitude is the way to go. >
  
  Can you explain what you consider “overly aggressive”? >
  
  Driving 57 in a 55 zone? >
  
  Honestly, that's how I'm seeing OP through many of their replies. They literally look like the person doing 51 in a 55 with 10 cars right on their butt. Probably doesn't realize anyone "speeding past them aggressively" are just trying to get away from the obvious hazard on the road with a sense of entitlement. ... THEM. >
  
  It’s garbage that people don’t do the speed limit at least >
  
  This is definitely unpopular since almost everyone has likely drove past the speed limit before. >
  
  Not only that, but they think it's their right to almost always do so (culturally, not legally of course).  I'm the villain for stating the obvious. >
  
  It’s not safer lol. Studies showed slow drivers cause more accidents or something like that >
  
  I consider this a part of the discussion, and thank you for the civility.  From my point of view, the speed limit is not slow!  The fact that speed limit drivers are often accused of being "the problem" while speeders get upset that they have to change lanes and sometimes have to slow down from their speed is what's so frustrating and why I am here in "unpopular opinions" with this take. >
  
  Yeah, I don’t have issues with someone driving the limit, I also don’t have issues with someone driving 10-15 above the limit. I do have issues with drivers driving below, imo they cause more accidents because it frustrates people behind them and forces them to switch lanes which leads to accidents. People who are racing on the highway can go to hell >
  
  I'll respectfully disagree on the 15-over part of your take but am cool with everything else.  There wouldn't be a problem in the first place if nobody did 15 over.  If they're on the way to the hospital with a real emergency, that's fine. >
  
  Driving at 15 over is just as dangerous as driving 15 under. Speed differential between vehicles is more likely to cause an accident than speed itself. Speed will just determine the severity of the crash, but going the speed limit is still enough to kill you. And honestly I’d rather die than be extremely disabled. >
  
  A car going 45 is not going to rear end a car going 60. A car going 60 may rear end a car going 45.
  If the speed limit is 45 and the flow of traffic is 60 and you rear end someone who was driving the speed limit, you're the one who is going to be fucked, not them.
  
  The person who rear ends is generally at fault.
  The person speeding is generally at fault.
  Try telling the cop everyone else around you was also speeding- its irrelevant. You're still fucked. >
  
  For an extended period of time, I agree. Sometimes it’s necessary when merging or going around someone, but then slow back down in a safe, predictable manner. >
  
  Good point. >
  
  Going the common speed is far safer than purposely going slow just to go the speed limit. If everyone did it then sure but you’re not being safer by becoming a hazard. >
  
  The safest and kindest thing you can do while driving is to be as predictable as possible. Drivers that have the right of way at a stop waving other people through are not being nice, they're disrupting the expected flow. You create risk by being unpredictable and causing others to be unpredictable
  Driving the speed of traffic is the most predictable and safest speed. Speed limits just keep the general flow of traffic within a target range >
  
  Thank you for pointing this out. I've had to explain this my SOs and friends when they're riding with me because it's really the only time I open my mouth about something when driving. Be predictable. Don't be nice or try to prove a point to any other drivers, just be predictable and everything will go smoothly. The "stop and wave through" happens the most at a roundabout near my house, it never ceases to amaze me just how many people don't understand how they work or what a hazard it is to stop in the middle of one. 
  There's also a highway near me where the speed limit is 55. In ten years driving on it I have never experienced the flow of traffic be slower than 70. Sometimes when I drive down it with visitors or friends they ask why I'm driving so fast down that highway. Well, I'm driving fast because everyone else is driving fast. If I was driving slow I would disrupt the flow of this traffic. >
  
  Well yes you're safer when predictable but op's post is about driving only as fast as the limit, if everyone did that it would be far safer than just knowing how fast people go on a certain highway even though it's not the speed limit.  It also makes far more sense to drive the limit than some random limit that you or the drivers on the road deemed okay >
  
  
  It also makes far more sense to drive the limit than some random limit that you or the drivers on the road deemed okay
  
  And therein lies my point: no it doesn't. It makes sense to travel at the speed traffic is traveling at because you no longer pose a hazard by being a slow moving vehicle in much faster traffic. I agree with your point that everyone should drive the limit, but no one does. Paradoxically, you are actually more dangerous if you're driving the limit in that situation. 
  I drive a 15 year old station wagon, so it's not like when I drive I'm zipping in and out of traffic or even speeding. I usually go the limit because sometimes I'm not sure if my car can take the road any faster. But like I said, sometimes the situation calls for you to make a change because it makes things slightly easier and safer for the drivers around you. >
  
  I hate it when people drive obnoxiously slow. Traffic on a freeway near me goes 85 90 in a 70, so when someone's going 60 in the middle lane it just holds everyone up >
  
  Just go with the flow of traffic and move over if someone is trying to pass you. That's actually the safest way to do things. People that drive slower than surrounding traffic in passing lanes are the actual cause of wrecks and delays >
  
  I have never advocated for driving in the passing lane unless actually passing.  I would like to add that it would be nice if we lived in a society where the speed in that left lane is the speed limit (and that speed limit is rational) and the people being passed, who are driving sensibly and not aggressively themselves, aren't the ones being vilified.
  I really believe going 10 over where the speed limit is rational should almost never happen if everybody is happy and well-rounded.  This topic owes itself to the fact we have a long way to go as a species and improvements to mental health as a whole will take a long, long time to pull off.  I also believe we should aim for it. >
  
  I don't know why but this comment is so creepy >
  
  heres my unpopular opinion most highway speed limits are too slow. and should be up to 85.
  however make getting a license hard to obtain as so many people on the road should NOT be behind the wheel of a car >
  
  That would fuck things up for people who A. Don't want to have to be doing 85mph just to "not seem like an asshole and anger others on the road" and B. Not everyone has the luxury of owning a car that accelerates so optimally that it would be realistic for them to safely merge onto a busy highway in an environment where everyone all of a sudden believes they should be doing 85. The latter point is especially important because in most parts of the  country you don't realistically have an option not to drive. Your proposal only serves to hurt the economically disadvantaged, in a culture where being able to drive to better opportunities is one of the best chances an economically disadvantaged person has to climb the socioeconomic ladder and in the worst cases straight up escape poverty. >
  
  That's what the slow/right lane is for. 
  The speed limit on i4 in FL is 70. Most people drive at least 75. 85 is normal. 90 is about 5% of the group.
  Where do most people drive? In the center and left lanes. >
  
  Not sure if i4 is the example we should use lol. Just on my way home tonight I saw 3 crashes on there >
  
  I4 is an extreme example, but it highlights the most common issues:
  People don't pay attention, think they exist in a bubble/vacuum, and cause all sorts of problems by simply not following convention. 
  Driving from Denver to Orlando and back repeatedly the past year, it takes until leaving KC heading west for anyone to really start paying attention to "keep right except to pass". Otherwise, people just couldn't give 2 shits  about anyone else on the road. >
  
  I think 5 over is a pretty good middle ground to never speeding at all. 
  It's the morons who go 20+ over the limit while weaving in and out of traffic that are the issue. I see it all the time now where people just fly by on residential roads without a single care in the world if they could hit a pedestrian walking by. Those are the idiots who need their license taken away permanently and jail time for putting everybody in danger. 
  Hell, people don't even obey red lights anymore. I used to only see one person run a red light once in a blue moon. Now it happens pretty much daily where they don't feel they need to wait since their time is more valuable than everyone else's. Stop signs might as well be yield signs now. 
  Ever since the pandemic peoples driving skills have gotten exponentially worse and the stats showing the increase in fatality rates prove this. 
  It's a "me me me me me" society, and there is no fixing that unfortunately. Best we can do is strip them of their privilege to drive and throw them in jail to hopefully teach them a lesson >
  
  Mm yes. Give them a criminal record and strip them of their ability to drive in a car-dependent society bc they annoy you. Sounds like ‘me me me me’ to me, js. 
  Slower drivers going out of phase w the rest of traffic are demonstrably more dangerous than speeders. Theres a reason people call them left lane losers. If the speed of 99% of traffic on a given road is 85 but the limit is 65, you are a moving speed bump if you follow said limit. 
  What needs to happen in this nation ideally is investment in public transit. Would reduce your exposure to annoyance, get cars off the road, and make absolutely everything more accessible bc of the reduced transit cost. 
  Given that this will not likely happen (at least not for a while), the least we can do is design roads around the human mind, using barriers, trees, and demarcations of the road to make us all feel a need to slow down. People speed up when they can see dead ahead for miles and the road is wide open, no matter the nation, no matter the system. Its the reason scandinavian nations use the aforementioned aspects of road design to make people slow their roll, and it works really really well. And if we are gonna keep the current structure and system, adjust speed limits up on major highways and enforce the left lane rule more heavily to adjust to how people actually use it at the absolute minimum. 
  Design of infrastructure and policy is tricky, but it cant be static - it has to adjust to end use. Cars have gotten much faster and people just arent gonna slow down unless we give them reason to. 
  Ruining their life or giving them a ticket so expensive theyre late on rent isnt gonna solve it. All that does is let everyone else get away with the same shit while one person suffers, yielding no actual change. You seem to place too much stock in individual responsibility’s role in improving the day-to-day. We have design codes for a reason. Bettering of these codes is what is needed. >
  
  Im talking about residential streets. Meaning not the highway. People should never be going 20 over in an area where people can be crossing the street or kids could be playing outside. Same with running red lights and stop signs as those are not located on a highway. If you have a problem with jailing people for risking other people's lives then you are in fact the problem. Im sick of seeing people fly down a 30mph street in my neighborhood going at least 60. There is no possible reason for them to be doing so. Jail time is a perfectly fine response to people endangering others lives for no good reason >
  
  “Why do people flash their high beams at me when they drive behind me in the left lane?” >
  
  Yeah this post has big “I’m a rolling road block” energy