MICKEY KAUS on politicians who drive 100 miles per hour: “Isn’t this a pretty basic violation of social equality?”

Er, yes. Lots of people drive fast — I was going to visit my brother a while back, zipping along in the left lane at what I thought was the highest prudent speed for the road in my Mazda RX-8, only to find an endless array of minivan-driving soccermoms coming up on my rear bumper and signalling me to move over. Everybody drives awfully fast nowadays — but the rest of us face tickets if we do it. As Kaus points out, Bill Richardson wouldn’t even pull over when a cop tried to ticket him.

UPDATE: Reader Joe O’Rourke emails:

Though not environmentally responsible or safety conscious, most cars nowadays are more than capable of holding speeds in excess of 80mph comfortably. This is noted by your minivan experience.

20-30 years ago, cars would shake a lot while doing 75mph, or they would feel “floaty”. Chassis and suspension engineering and good quality tires have eliminated these sensations, and superior engine technology means the car doesn’t strain to hold the speed.

I think it’s time for our longer highway systems, at the least to begin raising speed limits. When a supermajority of the populace does not obey the law, is that not a mandate for increasing the limit of the law?

The problem with that is that highways would need to be maintained to a level consistent with high speeds…and, at least in the northeast, no state ever maintains their roads to a level of safety consistent with modern day speed limits…

True on all counts.