[u801e]

> One can easily notice that most folks seem to treat the speed limit as a minimum speed rather than a maximum speed.

That's because the speed limit doesn't match actual traffic speeds. On highways/motorways, traffic typically will freely flow at speeds ranging from 75 to 85 mph (120 to 140 km/h). Posting a speed limit of 55 to 65 mph (90 to 110 km/h) will result in traffic treating those numbers as a minimum acceptable speed.

In fact, in the state of Virginia (in the USA), they have signs posted on their interstate highways that state that commercial vehicles may not use the left most lane if being operated below the posted speed limit (65 or 70 mph).

[dTal]

Surely this is tautological? People don't obey the speed limit because the speed limit doesn't match the speed they're going at?

[u801e]

No, it really isn't. The compliance rate increases when the speed limit is set to the upper limit of the pace speed/85th percentile speed. I noted some examples[1] in my other post

[1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16305560