In the scenario I described above, congrats, you now stick out like a sore thumb as traffic flows around you, and you need to hope or pray that everyone coming up behind you is alert. Police can pull you for causing a hazard, and plus you just radiate “I have something to hide” energy. Simply driving slower isn’t some magic solution when no one else joins you.

Most drivers with experience can tell by how a road is constructed (materials, bank angles on curves, etc.) roughly how fast they can safely go, and there’s a subconscious mental tug to get up to that speed. Whether you personally are impacted by that or not, it’s a well-known phenomena.

When everyone on the road, most far less thoughtful than yourself, are experiencing that mental tug, traffic moves naturally faster than the posted speed. And then that gives probable cause for our racist police to pick and choose who to fuck up.

I have lived in places where the speed limit is very obviously around 10 mph too low for the road’s engineering and surrounding environment, consistently. Consequently, there is truly no one during busy times doing the speed limit.

This gives police the ability to pull over anyone, at their discretion, with direct legal cause (not even the “immune from consequences in practice” kind). Even driving the speed limit creates a hazard and merits intervention according to the law.

The place I’m describing was very racist, driving while black was absolutely unofficially illegal, and this lets cops pick and choose in all the worst ways.

Be deeply suspicious of any law that is routinely broken by everyone for years with no change - it is to allow arbitrary, bigoted enforcement.

Doesn’t help that the English adjective “stoic” is used to describe exactly that, usually with a very positive connotation, to boot.

Couldn’t agree more with you both though, in my experience Stoicism offers some of the most broadly-applicable pragmatic advice of all the thought traditions I’ve encountered (with shoutouts to a few others, Buddhism being one, parts of which add up to similar practical advice).

The misunderstanding of it is kind of a sad tragedy, given how many of us could benefit from the teachings. Plus it’s very secular (unless I misremember), which ought to make it more accessible. Bummer.