BWare

It was very pleasant driving around Utah [1]. As you drive from CA to NV to AZ to UT, the speed limits keep increasing, kinda like this:

Mostly, it seems like the speed limits increasingly reflect reality as one drives north, like waking from the (very different) dream worlds of CA (cool sunshine) and NV (neon lights) and into the hard light of Utah (crazy AM talk radio and country-pop music). Increasing distances between NPR and LTE.

After you clear the I-15/215 merge above Rancho Cucamonga [2] into HST territory, traffic is largely going 80 anyway, and lots of times creeping to 90. Straight roads, visibility for miles, not a lot of traffic, especially after Vegas, why not?

The only danger is being a victim of revenue enhancement. The speeds don’t change, the highways don’t change, the cars don’t change, the drivers don’t change. The laws do, and inversely, the size of the ticket you’re going to get, which seems the only limiting factor. If the laws don’t reflect the way drivers vote with their feet, then everyone is a criminal.

People drive as fast as they feel safe, no matter the limit, and 80 from RC to SLC seems pretty safe. The Utah speed limit is just marking to market.

Coming home – devolution. The graphic in reverse. The speeds don’t change, but the anxiety level does.

[1] Except for that time I was driving a rental car and basically got pulled over have Jersey plates. No ticket though, so I guess – win? Cops are like doctors – the best you can hope for in any interaction is to come out the same as you went in.

[2] Best said in a Bugs Bunny voice.