Speed Zone
What exactly does it mean to drive the speed limit? I remember about three years ago when I took my very first driving lesson. Of course, one of the most fundamental lessons is how fast are you supposed to drive. My driving instructor directed to me that I am supposed to drive five over the speed limit on surface streets, and ten over on the highway and no matter what always stay with the flow of traffic. Easy enough. About five months later, following grueling driving practice and the nagging mother, it was time for my final driving lesson. As I began to cruise around the town, I followed my previous instructor’s teaching about going five over the speed limit on the surface street. My new instructor immediately criticized and corrected me saying, “Never go over the speed limit because a police officer will pull you over if you exceed the limit.” These two conflicting teachings has been a raging, intellectual cold war within the deepest leagues of my brain. The underlying question is what does it mean to drive the speed limit?Does driving the speed limit mean that I drive at the speed limit, faster than the speed limit, or slower than the speed limit? The phrase “speed limit” in itself is vague and can be misleading. What does it mean to drive the speed limit? If, for example, the speed limit is forty-five miles-per-hour, is the maximum speed to be driving forty-five or is it the minimum speed. Is driving exactly 45 mph breaking the speed limit? The speed limit is not actually a limit though. It is more of a zone, a grey area. You can be pulled over by a policed officer for going too slow and you can be even more easily be pulled over for going to fast. For example, there are several speeding cameras that will report you for speeding if you go eleven over the speed limit. So does this mean that a forty-five mph speed limit really is a fifty-six mph speed limit? Whether a police officer actually decides to pull you over is completely arbitrary. What exactly that zone is, is one of the road’s greatest mysteries. Should the speed limit actually be referred to as a speed zone?
This confusion and vagueness shrouding the speed limit is something that should be adjusted. Drivers need some concrete understanding of what it actually means to drive the speed limit. Perhaps this problem could be avoided if the term was changed to “Speed Max” or “Speed Min.” Overall, this vague use of speed limit will not only continue to be one of the most interesting paradox’s I have ever encountered, but will continue to haunt those who dare challenge the almighty limit.
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