Last time I checked, the highway speed limit in California is still 65 miles per hour, so how come it seems everyone is going way faster than that these days?
During my weekly errand of taking the GT3 out to exercise its oily internals, I go on Interstate-280 to get to the mountain roads I frequent. Being not oblivious to the fact I’ve got car that stands outs amongst the drab sea of SUVs, I purposely try to not draw extra attention by driving on the slow right lane and following the posted limit. Last thing I want to do is reenforce the stereotype of the douchebag sports car owner flying by everyone and treating other cars on the highway as a slalom course to be navigated.
However, it seems going at a steady 65 on the right lane is considered slow nowadays, because cars on the outside lanes are simply zooming by me, and fellow drivers in the slow lane actually have to switch over to pass me! I’m old enough to remember a time when going at the speed limit in the right lane was considered fast. Now, I’m the slowest of the bunch. From my experience, the present de-facto highway speed limit - the rate at which most cars appear to settle at - is about 80 miles per hour.
That’s quite bit over the standard 65.
I think a large factor that contributes to this phenomenon is that moderns cars are just too good. The typical car have decent amounts of power, and the interiors cocoon the occupants from the outside world really well. Therefore, it’s super easy to cruise at way above the speed limit because the sense of speed is dulled inside, and it feels entirely normal and calm to drive at 80 miles per hour. My 911 is absolutely stable and comfortable into the triple-digits (thank you, German autobahn), which needless to say would be an impound-my-car type of offense.
And it looks like the constabulary of the highways isn’t keen to have 80 MPH as the new speed limit. Last Sunday, as I entered Interstate 280 at the usual onramp, I saw a CHP car cruising along with other motorists. A few miles down at the exit I take to the mountains, I saw that patrol car having pulled someone over for speeding. As luck would have it, moments later I rejoined the highway because I decided on an alternate route, and that same exact CHP cruiser came right on my tail, though obviously I was doing my usual lawful speed on the right lane; nothing to see here.
Soon the CHP car passed me, and later on further down the road I saw it stopped again to the side, having pulled over yet another driver caught speeding. With this many cars going faster than the 65 MPH speed limit these days, it’s the proverbial shooting fish in a bucket for CHP officers.
As someone who at most stay under 10 miles per hour over the limit, it doesn’t concern me that CHP is out there actively enforcing the law on a leisurely Sunday. It won’t be me they’ll catch, because lots of people are going faster than I am, no matter how paradoxically it appears on the surface with my fancy German sports car. I believe that particular CHP cruiser was looking for an excuse to pull me over; sorry to disappoint, but I’m not the stereotypical driver.
Please ignore the fact I don’t have a front plate…
As Taylor Swift says, spelling is fun!