Earlier quoted context omitted.
It was going 3mph over the speed limit, a perfectly reasonable speed that is still probably lower than almost everyone else on the road.
Serious question: how are speed limits enforced (or not) in the USA? From what I read on the internet, it seems like they are 90% unenforced, 10% arbitrarily enforced by cops who choose who they want to pull over from the masses who are routinely speeding. If they are mostly unenforced, how does the system work? Does everyone implicitly add 20% to the posted limit, or do they just go whatever speed feels right to the…
Part of the issue is that within large parts of the united states, speed limits are set at the 85%ile of the speed people drive [1] ... and in my experience, often are only enforced if the police suspect you of something else, or you are driving extremely aggressively (cutting people off, not safe stopping distance, etc.) because speeding is a far more cut-and-dry offense to prosecute, "reckless driving" may be easier to argue away in court due to the level of judgement required.
[1] https://usa.streetsblog.org/2012/11/16/one-for-the-dustbin-t...