How fast do you typically drive on the highway? Where I live, highway speed limits are typically 65 mph, which is how fast I drive unless passing something. But I feel like I’m a slow-poke anymore, nobody seems to drive 65. How fast do you folks drive on the highway? Rocketman
0 to 7 MPH over the limit, depending on condition.
I agree with @NYBo as it seems pretty typical. Sometimes it gets a little greater when passing on a down slope and I’m trying to get by the vehicle quickly when others are behind us in the passing lane. In residential areas or near schools it’s exact or lower…much lower at times.
On most of the NJ turnpike, doing 65 is dangerously slow, due to people treating it like the autobahn. I go with traffic, regardless of the posted speed limit. Even without traffic, rarely more than 5-10 over the posted limit. Going much faster on flat highways just invites tickets, doesn’t get you there much faster, and really just isn’t that much fun either. Winding country roads are another story.
That said, I’m very confident in my driving skill, reaction time, suspension, tires, brakes, and am always aware of the road conditions. If you aren’t all of those, just be a ‘slow-poke’ and be safe. When I’m driving an unfamiliar car I’m always in the right lane doing the speed limit or less.
The highway speed limit is 65mph, and I drive no faster than 72mph
Fast enough to not be a nuisance, but slow enough to (hopefully) avoid a ticket
I follow the lead of the driver’s around me. It also depends the part of the country I’m in at the moment. I typically drive around 72-75mph in my area of the southeast because that’s the average speed on the interstate. When I’m off the interstate…I obey the speed limits in the area especially in small towns.
On the 70 limit freeway I’m going 70-75. On the 55 limit highways I’m going 60 unless on a long trip then I’ll try to push to 63 or 65 or so. (Now these are the same roads that were 65 limit when I was a kid.) Now this is rare for me but a few days ago I was coming back from the lumber yard and there were three pick up trucks in a row going about 50. I got an ok stretch and punched it and when I looked down I was going 90. I didn’t know the car would fly that fast that quick. In Minnesota you can go up to 10 over the limit while passing so guess I was only over about 20 from that. Just figured it was important to get around them as quick as possible with limited options. I guess I really like a V6 in a small car. Wasn’t even screaming, just got up and went with little effort.
I usually drive 10% over the posted speed limt. Not fast enough to get a ticket.
Tester
I try to drive at whatever speed prevailing traffic is going at regardless of what the posted speed limit happens to be.
I use to do that. Go with the flow.
But if cop decides that flow is too fast and turns on their siren, by law you have to pull over. And if you’re at the back of the pack, you pull over first. And you get the ticket.
That’s how it was explained to me by the cop that gave me the ticket.
Tester
“I try to drive at whatever speed prevailing traffic is going at regardless of what the posted speed limit happens to be.”
The problem with that is if you have out-of-state plates and you’re going with the flow of traffic
The highway patrol officer will always go out of his way to flag down the out-of-state guy, even if he’s in the middle of the pack
It happened to me a few times, years ago, before I had my commercial driver’s license
For short trips, often under the limit in the right lane of course; no hurry in order to enjoy the ride with less stress. For long trips, 5 to 9 over the limit to get there before I get tired and dangerous. Of course your speed must be controlled when traffic warrants it. Cops may not want to allow for that, after all the law is the law!
My last ticket 5 years ago was 95.00 - I drive the speed limit, I do not want another ticket.
Luckily I only travel out of state (with me driving) maybe once every 3 years or so. Around here there’s always someone who is driving 15+ over the prevailing traffic and that’s the one the cops tend to get, and it’s usually not the speeding that draws the attention, it’s the constant lane changing and tailgating.
You have a valid point
Yet, nevertheless, it has been my experience that if everybody is going 75 in a 65 zone, the highway patrol will go out of his way to snag that out-of-state guy in the middle of the pack
I’ve seen it happen, and it’s also happened to me
When you get pulled over, you can’t really say anything. After all, speeding is breaking the law, even if everybody else is also doing it.
Fast enough that I still get a ticket from time to time. It depends on the circumstance. Never faster than what I feel safe for the conditions and the car I’m driving.
On a road trip, say on the interstate through Eastern Washington, Idaho, Utah, or the Central Valley in CA, if the speed limit is 70 I’ll set the cruise at 85 or so. Speed limit on the freeways where I live is is 60. If traffic allows, 65 or 70. Other than that, whatever the prevailing flow of traffic is, I’ll be among the faster bunch of cars.
I usually go 7-10 over. The last speeding ticket I got with my car was probably almost 50 years ago. I was doing a little over 100 on a country road and the officer was kind enough to write me for 61 in a 50.
Most trucks I drove were not fast enough to get in serious trouble. The only speeding tickets I ever got with a truck were in Ohio during the double nickel. In a two year period I got 2 at 62 and 1 at 63, all on a 55 mph rural interstate. The troopers that took me to the JP to pay my fine were ignoring Ohio cars that were doing 80.
To this day I will not buy gas, eat, or get a hotel room in Ohio. And I watch the Buckeyes only to cheer for the other team. No matter who it is.
Many years ago I got pulled over for speeding on a Pennsylvania Interstate highway. The officer took my license and registration and said “follow me”. We drove to the next exit, and then along local back roads for about 5 miles, pulled down a side street and into a driveway of a residential home.
He walked me around the back to a porch on the rear of the house, where I saw a list of signs reading (iirc): “Justice of the Peace, Magistrate, Town Clerk, Finance Officer, etc”.
We walked in, and there was a guy sitting behind a big desk. He said to the guy: “Here’s another one. Caught him speeding 10 miles over.” The guy said to me: “OK, $15”. I coughed up $15, and the officer gave me my license and registration back. I was on my way.
In town the limit or less; out on the highway slightly over the limit.
When last traversing the Bonneville Salt Flats, I really poured it on since you could see a police car 10 miles away. A steady 90 mph got me it Wendover, Nevada just in time for the happy hour at the local casino. I averaged 13 mpg with a Buick Riviera. The car behaved nicely.
I usually go 5-15 over the posted limit unless traffic is going a lot faster. I typically get a ticket about every 3 years. Since they’ve raised the local limits to 70 MPH, I don’t exceed it as much as I used to. I don’t speed in residential areas.
Once in a while driving at night you get a “decoy”–someone that wants to speed like crazy. I typically follow them far enough back to see their tail lights. If I see their brake lights come on or a cop pull out, then I drop back 