A Meditation On The Speed Limit
Interesting experiment…
Check out this video of some college students who show how driving at the speed limit can be dangerous. They line their cars up on the freeway and drive 55 miles per hour. The result - they clog the freeway, causing many angry drivers, some of which do whatever they can to get around, including passing on the shoulder of the road. One van clips a disabled car on the roadside.
I remember having a discussion with Ashlee years ago about this very thing. We were trying to fulfill our call as Christians to obey our “rulers”/authorities, which meant driving the speed limit. She mentioned this topic to someone at her church (Kendall, was it?), who then brought up the point that driving the speed limit could actually cause more harm than good, in some situations. Though to the extreme, this experiment shows exactly that.
A Meditation On The Speed Limit (Google Video)
Higher quality video available here: CampusMovieFest.com
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Mar 3rd, 2006 at 02:48:50
Which shows what I’ve been saying for a while: there should be harsher punishments for excessive speeding…..such as jail time and getting your license revoked. It’s not the person’s fault that is obeying the speed limit when causing dangerous conditions. As Christians, we can’t say that just because everyone else is doing it, it’s ok. What if everyone else started doing drugs or commiting murders (I know that’s an extreme), but we still have to do what we know is right. There should be no place that we need to get to so fast that we need to speed. If I’m late for work, then so be it. I should have left earlier, and I except the full responsibilities of being late. I still think that there should be regulators on car motors that get the speed limit broadcast to them from signals in road signs, and the motor will cap off at 5 mph over the speedlimit.
Mar 3rd, 2006 at 09:30:25
It was Kendall. And one of the things he said was that there is a written law and an enforced law. And that the Bible says we are subject to the law. As a side note, there are cases in the Bible where breaking the law was the right thing to do (ie. Daniel). I sometimes think they set the posted speed limit knowing that people will go over it, but I’m not sure. Anyone know anything about this?
Mar 3rd, 2006 at 10:00:27
We had this discussion on Chris’s Blog a few years ago. Think it was in late 03, so it probably got lost when the site crashed a while back.
If that group did that experiment in KY or other states, they could have been ticketed. The left lane is the passing lane, and if they are all traveling at 55mph, then no one is passing anyone.
I speed and I admit it. Usually 20 over on the highway if the weather and traffic conditions permit it. You don’t like it or think it makes me a bad person? Fine, just stay in the right most lanes so I can get where I want to go. I’m comforable at 80ish mph. Will I drive that way when I have kids in the car or if I am driving a two+ ton vehicle? Doubtful. Do I speed on my motorcycle? No more than 5 or so mph over. Only in the Talon. http://www.Go2Fast.net.
I follow stop signs, traffic lights (yellow normally means stop to me), I use my blinker all the time, etc etc. But I speed. I have no traffic accidents or speeding tickets since the late 90s either.
As for jeremy’s suggestion for the ‘black box’ and speed governors, give me a break. Since you use an extreme example of murder, say you are on a hunting trip with the vice president and a friend of yours. The vice president shoots your buddy in the face and there is no time for an ambulance to get there and the Veep’s heli is out for a fill up…do you want to just drive 5mpg over the speed limit to get him to the hospital?
Mar 3rd, 2006 at 10:01:21
mph…not mpg in my last sentance.
Mar 3rd, 2006 at 12:25:14
Ashlee, as far as breaking the law being the right thing to do in some cases (as in Daniels case, or Shadrack, Meshack, and Abednego)….following the law in there case would have caused them to sin against God. I don’t think following the speed limit will cause you to break God’s laws. And Paul, I once had a best friend who drove fast. He followed all the other laws as well, with the exception of the speed limit. He had never had an accident or gotten a ticket, either. He ended up losing control of his vehicle, hitting a tree, and dying just because he was going too fast.
That is a good point about needing to get to the hospital. Also, you say you drive 20 mph over the speed limit? That’s pretty excesive. You may be a good driver, but the faster you go the less time you have to react to bad drivers or other surprises. A tire blowing out at 80 is going to be a lot worse than at 55 or 65.
Also, my brother is a State Trooper. He is out enforcing the law and putting his life on the line every day. When he has to pull someone over for speeding, he puts himself in serious danger. He has to get out of his car and approach another one while being very close to the highway/interstate.
I have many, many good reasons why I can’t stand speeding. I have yet to hear a good reason for it (with the exception of emergencies as Paul pointed out). I have friends who speed. If them getting a ticket or having there license revoked will slow them down, then I hope it happens to them. I wish my best friend had gotten his license revoked, maybe he would still be here today!
Mar 3rd, 2006 at 13:32:54
The video was awesome!
I thought too, what Paul said, that by KY law they could be ticketed for not using the passing lanes merely for passing. Maybe they could have been “trying” to pass the other car but then the other car was driving the speed limit so they couldn’t.
Mar 4th, 2006 at 03:19:45
There are speed limits?
Mar 4th, 2006 at 03:23:42
I drive over the limit myself actually. How fast over depends on traffic, weather, am I alone or is someone in the car, if someone is who is it? What are the road conditions. I don’t think there is ever a good reason to speed…even ambulances don’t speed (so I’ve heard anyway). I ahev paid attention to my driving and I noticed that tha faster I’m going to more attention I pay to what’s going on around me. Just my 2 cents. (bad grammer, spelling, and all)
Mar 5th, 2006 at 17:57:09
AHH to be young again. I remember when I wanted to get someplace in a hurry. The older I got the slower I got. It wasn’t thatI couldn’t drive at 80, it was just that life was going to fast. I am 80 now and although there is nothing to keep me from driving, I would much rather let Chris drive How about that Chris.
You youngsters be careful out there as each of you is precious to some one. Bless you