> I think the real problem with speed limits has nothing to do with where they are set.

I agree with you. I think that one of the biggest problems is with the drivers.

Last summer, I took driver ed. I'm lucky enough to live pretty close to an Interstate. This allowed us to get some driving experience in on the Interstate without having to give our parents any kind of heart attacks (just give it to the teacher instead). We decided to drive on the Interstate one day, and I was the one who had to drive on it. The speed limit on the Interstate is 65 mph. So the teacher told me to keep up with the speed of traffic. I was doing 80 mph and still getting passed by people (who had no problem passing me because they were going so fast). I was told to slow down and did so.

There were two different dangers in that situation. (1) If I was going 65 while everyone else was going 85 or more, I had a good chance of someone possible rear-ending me. (2) If I did go at the speed of traffic, I could have lost control from any little thing and possible injured everyone in the van if not killed them.

The thing I noticed with a lot of drivers (espeically teenagers like me) is that once they get their licence, they think they're invicible and the law doesn't apply to them. Some drivers even get cocky. They'll start to think "Oh, it doesn't matter if I'm speeding by 5-10 mph." Then eventually, it ends up being 20-25 mph or more. Drivers really end up having a lack of concern for all the other drivers out there and believe that all the other drivers will make up for their mistakes. They forget all about the safety for themselves and other drivers. I'll be one of the first people to admit that I'm not the best driver in the world. But when it comes to the speed limit, I don't even like going 31 in a 30. I know that for some reason that speed limit is the speed that it is (except for why in the parking lot at school, the one at one end says 5 and the other one at the other end says 15). I rather stop than get into an accident over who had the right of way.

I guess after all of my ranting and getting side tracked, all I am trying to say is that I believe that it's not totally the goverment's fault or totally the driver's fault. But the driver is at obligation to obey the law, even if it is a "bad law".