I normally drive over the speed limit by anywhere from 5–15 mph, and in most parts of the country that’s just over “keeping-up-with-traffic” speed. Once a year I make an 1150 mile trip to Wisconsin for Thanksgiving; in two of the last three years I’ve been stopped, but not ticketed, for speeding. (One Wisconsin trooper told me that the minimum fine in that state for speeding is now $200. The Indiana trooper who stopped me year before last – after I had driven through a hellacious wind and rainstorm and was now in clear weather on a “just wet” roadway – told me that I was driving “too fast for conditions” – which at the time were way better than the conditions I had just driven through. In both cases I received written warnings and admonitions to “be good”.)
Part of the reason I escaped those tickets, I think – aside from my age and gray hair and being white and all – is that when they asked me “Do you know why I’m stopping you?” I give them a big smile and answer cheerfully, “No, but I have a pretty good idea.” Being sober and wide awake helps, too, I think.
I once had to drive 90+ mph for about 5 miles on I-5 in California as some weird stalkerish guy was pacing the car I was driving with my (blond and very pretty) wife. I’d pass him doing 65, then he’d pass us and slow, etc. So I blew him off and decided that if the cops stopped us I’d have a reason (and a pretty wife in the passenger seat). But that was in a sports car built for such speed, in clear weather at midday on straight, dry pavement.
I don’t hit 90 too much any more, but… it’s no great shakes when you do, if you have control of the car – and clear roads, good view, excellent pavement, etc.