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Why are we so weird about speed limits (US)? (sh.itjust.works)
submitted 3 hours ago by to c/asklemmy@lemmy.world
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  1. Why does everyone drive 10-15 miles above the speed limit?

  2. Why don't we raise the speed limit if that's how fast everyone wants to go?

  3. Why is traffic enforcement given to very expensive and ineffective police instead of cheaper and more automated traffic cameras?

  4. Why do we refuse to ever use ANY traffic calming measures? Yes, than you flashing digital sign for telling me I'm going 10 miles above the limit on this incredibly wide and straight and flat road with high curbs and perfect visibility.

It's a serious confusion I have about how society is supposed to operate because it seems like a complete and total breakdown of logic and sense.

And, yes, I know there's some thing people did long ago to set the speed limit at some percentile of what people were already traveling at, but that's obviously a stupid way to do it and we did it anyway. So why?

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[–] [S] 5 points 2 hours ago (4 children)

Police staffing levels are absolutely not set by emergency response needs.

Emergencies are handled by pulling peope that are off duty, firefighters (volunteer and professional), and first-responsders from the surrounding area.

Cutting the police budget is notoriously difficult for political reasons.

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  • [–] 1 point 1 hour ago*

    We're probably talking about slightly different aspects of the same thing.

    Emergencies are handled by pulling peope that are off duty

    There are different levels of emergencies, right? So there is likely Y number of officers that have to be on duty at all times, and an additional X officers that number officers need to be employed by the department yes to respond to the highest levels of emergency to be able to pull people in when they are off duty.

    firefighters (volunteer and professional), and first-responsders from the surrounding area.

    For this discussion, I was assuming we're only talking about police response needed. When I say "police needed to respond to emergencies" I'm only talking about the police component, not the other type of first responders. I don't see how its useful to expand the conversation to other first responders when we're only talking about employed police officers. If you have information about how the number of firefighters/EMTs can increase or decrease the number of police officers employed for policing, I'm open to consider that argument or something similar.

    Cutting the police budget is notoriously difficult for political reasons.

    I agree with this.

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