BellaOnline Forums Family Christian Living Do You Speed?

If you're trying to live a life that follows the rules, what if you speed? Is it OK to break rules sometimes, when you feel they really aren't that important? Is the law about speeding more of a guideline than an actual rule?

I believe a law is a law whether it seems logical or not. If everyone decided what laws were important and which ones weren't, there would be no laws.

That said, I do speed on occasion. I used to speed all the time but I realized that I was blatantly breaking a law and felt guilty.

So now I have become friendly with my cruise control. About the only time I used to speed was on the interstate.

I've discovered that driving the speed limit makes for a much more relaxing commute, although I'm sure the people driving behind don't feel the same way. What they don't realize is that at the end of the trip, speeding doesn't save much time.

I speed - but I also don't complain about the ticket or two I recieved for doing as much

I have to admit, I do go about 5 miles over most of the time.

Yes, I rationalize that there are other people going 10 - 15 miles faster than me, as well...

I agree with Lynne. If we pick and choose which laws to obey, we undermine our "rule of law" system. I don't think enough people realize how much our system depends on rule of law AND on respect for the law for what fairness it imparts. Rule of law sets our system apart from most of the rest of the world. Theoretically, we are all constitutionally equal under the law. Why would any one of us want to undermine things by placing ourselves above the law. No system is perfect. Even ours has its flaws, but if we participate in undermining it for frivolous reasons like driving as fast as we feel personally entitled to do, we chip away at what keeps our country off the path to dictatorship or multi-tiered classes of entitlement (or disentitlement).

It's one thing to break an inhumane law (like the segregation laws of years ago) with peaceful disobedience; but breaking the speed laws does not fall into the category of moral high ground.

Okay, I'm off my soapbox.

That's a tough question, especially in the area where I live. We have a lot of for me, unexplainable and irritating speed limit changes along the same stretch of road. One minute you have to go twenty five, then forty, then can go fifty, then suddenly its thirty five, then forty, then fifty again, then it's thirty five again. That's a lot of focus on your speed on any given moment, and for no apparent "reason" at least that I can see. I could reason it with the bends in the road, but on one bendy stretch the speed limit is fifty. This is a fairly rural area where there is not a whole lot going on. You kind of feel like you are jumping through hoops just on the off chance that there is a state cop lurking somewhere just to catch you off guard. You find yourself in a constant state of tension, and for what reason?

Shay

I suppose we have to hope that whoever is assigning speed limits to roads is doing it with meaning - that there really is a much greater risk of harm if we go X + 10 miles an hour instead of just X miles an hour. So do we trust them and stay within that limit? Or do we assume we know better than they do and go above it?

I'm lucky in that I work from home, so I don't have to drive a lot. When I do, I don't mind going the limit. Although I admit I really wonder who chose 65 for the limit on highways when they are long and straight, and if I'm really late for something I will go above that. Why did they choose 65? Is it really *that* much safer than 70? Or is it a gas-saving thing? Enforced conservation?