I’ve always been kind of fascinated by people who turn their cars into rolling platforms to proclaim one specific pet belief of theirs. It’s such an all-encompassing commitment; wherever you go, you’re broadcasting this one belief of yours, and cars are such extensions of our own self-image and personalities, it’s easy for everyone to assume that whatever it is your car is shouting about must be the biggest thing in your life. At least, that’s the impression I get when I see cars like these. And I’m definitely getting the impression that whoever drives the car in that picture up there won’t ever shut up about how important they think speed limits are.
I remember when I was a kid in the ’80s seeing this black Ford Escort GT absolutely slathered with stickers and a custom license plate, all of them crusading against the idea of anal intercourse. I wrote about that years ago at the Old Site, even. This car is giving me very similar vibes, a related sort of wild-eyed single-mindedness to a cause, only this time it’s the much more socially acceptable subject of speeding, even though, as the stickers tell me, one mile per hour over the limit.
Where does one even get so many bumper stickers that crusade against speeding? Are they custom made? Or is this a sub-genre of automotive scold culture I haven’t been so aware of, one large enough to support an ecosystem of bumper sticker options? Maybe? Anyway, I saw this first in this tweet, so, here, you may as well see for yourself:
I wonder how this person feels about speed limits. pic.twitter.com/0nVztc8Cu3
— CEO of Antifa (@CrazyWeeMonkey) May 8, 2025
I have so many questions. How did this person get like this? I mean, there absolutely could be a tragic backstory, where someone they love could have been hurt or killed by a speeding driver, and if that’s the case, then I suppose I’ll feel terrible. Because on some level, they’re not wrong; there is a reason we have speed limits, and, generally, we should probably abide by them.
That said, calling out one mile over? That’s ridiculous. Most speedometers aren’t even really accurate to a single mile anyway. Within five or so is fine. And there absolutely are times when someone going slower than the overall flow of traffic can cause plenty of dangerous situations; speed isn’t always the bad guy, here. Like anything on Earth, you can’t really expect everything to be so clear-cut.
And isn’t having a car covered in smallish text something of a hazard unto itself? This level of bumperstickery begs people to read it, and if they’re reading it, they’re getting close and not paying as much attention to the road, all of which feels a lot more dangerous than going, say, 41 in a 35 or something.
Also, let’s talk about the choice of car, a Chevy Bolt EUV. Most EVs are inherently pretty quick, and the Bolt is no exception. It’ll go from parked to 60 mph in 6.8 seconds, and its top speed is electronically limited to 93 mph, enough to get nailed for speeding anywhere in America. Why isn’t this person driving something with a lot less power? That Bolt makes about 200 hp; my daily driver makes 52 hp, and there’s plenty of places I simply can’t speed, though it sure is fun to try.
Do they use cruise control all the time, just to be certain? Like, are they setting the cruise at 35, then resetting it to 25 the second they see the school zone signs, then back to 35 and up to 45 or whatever, in a constant flow of setting and resetting? Or do they just have an incredibly well-trained foot and an eagle eye on that speedo?
Then there’s all of the non-driving related associations this display evokes. Does anyone think whoever drives this car is someone they want to spend any time with? And I don’t just mean you asked them to drive you to the airport and you’re running a little late sort of time – I mean, does anyone get the impression that this person might be a tad unbearable to be around?
That could be wildly unfair of me, but I’m thinking it, and I swore a solemn oath on a freshly-made corned beef reuben to share my thoughts with all of you. And I want to know what you think – does this besticker’d car make any of you sort of uncomfortable, too? Is it just me?
Let’s discuss.
These people should try driving on i88 outside Chicago with that mind set and see then if they will go over the speed limit. I always joke that i88 is called that because if you are not going 88mph you will get ran over.
Also I agree with others this is one of those left lane loafers that just putt putts around in the left lane causing there to be even more traffic.
There are two kinds of drivers, people who keep up with traffic and road going nuisances. Bumper stickers warning against tailgating are always a dead giveaway that a person is the later. Being so frequently tailgated that you feel the need to post a sign about it is a you problem, not an everybody else problem.
A speed limit is as much a state of mind as anything. When we were in Ireland last spring, two things I almost immediately noticed were that outside the motorways, the speed limits were high – sometimes ridiculously so – and that virtually no one sped. When I asked about it, I was told in no uncertain terms that the speed limit was that, the limit on how fast you were allowed to drive on that given road, not a goal.
So I did that. To keep from getting cross with the speed camera system they use, when I was on the motorways I set the cruise control on the rental to whatever the speed limit was, as indicated on the GPS. On the other roads, I kept it below the posted limit, which was pretty easy given the common lack of sight lines.
It was so nice. Other than when leaving Dublin (and getting re-acclimated to driving on the left) and when returning the rental to the airport, driving was a low-stress exercise.
In my province, the law states “keep right except to pass”, and the Provincial Police have gone on record -repeatedly- to say it is not your job to police speeding, it’s your job to not impede the flow of traffic REGARDLESS OF SPEED.
I wish more police departments would publicly say things like that. When I drive out of state, I’m usually the guy holding up traffic going 5-10 over the limit in the right lane. Locals know the unofficial speed limits and if enforcement happens. Us out of towners have no clue.
I know two people who have been pulled over in Dallas for impeding traffic because they didn’t know the local unofficial speed limit for that section of road was 80, not the posted, much lower, speed limit.
I probably should have been pulled over on Route 2 in Massachusetts, somewhere around Concord for driving 50 in a 45 when the unofficial limit was apparently 80.
The state police in NY sent out a notice, probably 10 years back.
They said they were going to start cracking down on left lane hogs (which was already state law, but never enforced) because it was seen as a major cause of road rage. They reckoned they could reduce aggressive driving accidents (people weaving between lanes and whatnot) by policing it.
They haven’t done this, but they said they would!
Wow!, I bet those people stuck behind this person in the left lane have plenty of time to read all of the stickers.
Little do we know this is regularly the fastest car on Washington roads. The driver is actually a 76 years old 4ft 6inch blue hair.
Its limited to 93?
Hit the limiter in a 1st gen Explorer at 112. Faster cars were smoked in corners because the limiter was slower than the traffic.
93mph sounds like something straight out of 1979.
Yes it is. It’s a fun speed to bump up against on a regular basis, it gets there so fast. Never had a desire or need to go faster, so I’m fine with it.
Ford has a 93mph limit on some of the early 2000s Rangers.
That was an aggressive limit too. I had an ’05 when I was younger and the 4.0L V6 was still pulling pretty well when it hit 93.
I wouldn’t be surprised if that very specific limit wasn’t related to the Firestone issues.
The self-righteous anger on display makes me think of what Ned Flanders’s wife would drive if they got a divorce.
Which of Ned’s wives? Maude? Edna? Ginger? (Okay, absolutely not Ginger.)
I think this is more of a Helen Lovejoy situation, and absolutely one in which it would be okay for her to speed when she felt it appropriate, but not anyone else.
In the UK sticking to the speed limit is normal now. 30 years ago it wasn’t the case, but all the cameras, average speed zones and speed traps have made speeding more stressful. You have to be extremely vigilant to get away with it, and that takes the fun out of it.
The most common type of speeding in the UK now are the completely disengaged drivers who stick to 40, or whatever their lucky number is, regardless of what the limit actually is. You pass them in a 50/60/70 zone and halfway through the next village they’re tailgating you.
“ Do they use cruise control all the time, just to be certain? Like, are they setting the cruise at 35, then resetting it to 25 the second they see the school zone signs, then back to 35 and up to 45 or whatever, in a constant flow of setting and resetting? ”
My wife does this, it’s the fastest way to drive without ever getting a ticket.
There aren’t really any downsides to everyone sticking to the limit. It uses less fuel, reduces crash energy, doesn’t confuse the easily confused or distracted. It is significantly less exciting, but that’s about it.
Although I live in a tiny country where speed enforcement is automated and it’s small enough to get anywhere in a day at 70mph. When in the US I drove like everyone else so as to not stick out and cause a problem.
I tend to drive on the M5 a lot, and the average speed on that is usually over 70mph, closer to 80, but I fully agree about drivers who bimble along at 45mph without paying any attention to their surroundings.
Open A road with good visibility? 45.
Tiny village with narrow roads and a 30mph speed limit? still 45.
I’m a bit square about braking distance versus speed:
-If someone cuts close in front of me, and “steal” my braking distance, they get the horn and main beam, to help them be aware that I’m also there, which they clearly hadn’t noticed..
-If someone tailgates me on the freeway, I lower my speed to help them adjust the speed to the short braking distance. Works great 🙂
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/1/1a/Vehicle_Stopping_Distance.webp/1280px-Vehicle_Stopping_Distance.webp.png
If someone tailgates me on the highway, I get out of their way so they can get any cops’ attention ahead of me. I also don’t want them anywhere close to me, so best to let them go.
Yeah I am much more interested in being alive than irritating some random bad driver.
I find lowering my speed the easiest way to get rid of them. They usually overtake quite fast, and I can return to my regular speed and go on with my life.
All of this of course in the right lane 🙂
Ah, right lane is different. I take the same approach if someone is following close but refuses to pass. Some people seem to just use the car in front as a speed gauge and have no clue how fast they’re actually going.
As Superintendent Chalmers so aptly put it: “Good Lord! The rod up that man’s butt must have a rod up its butt!”
These two jokers can’t both be right because if you try to drive the speed limit in this country you’re going to get it INDABUT.
I used to have one of those
“670,616,629 mph isn’t just a good idea it’s the law!” bumper stickers on my car.
Then my physics* professor mentioned that it would only be 75% of that underwater, but I pointed out to him that submarines don’t have bumpers to put stickers on.
*Actually history of scientific thought because art major.
it’s very possibly a company leased vehicle that has a GPS tracker that snitches anytime you break the speed limit. I have one in my company work vehicle. it’s annoying people tailgating you on the 2 lane roads in the middle of nowhere and they refuse to pass you (or just don’t have the power to). I will pull over to let them pass eventually but usually there just is nowhere safe to do so for quite a while.
Don’t those usually have a sticker that specifically states “this vehicle monitored by GPS”? There’s nothing remotely official looking here, just a random jumble of crazy
I’ve seen stickers on cars saying something like “I would drive faster if I could but this car has a black box”. For young drivers in the UK, getting a black box fitted is the only way to be able to afford insurance (which is mandatory here).
we have insurance companies that do that in the usa but its never mandatory to get insurance. they market it as an optional thing you can sign up for to reduce your rate for good driving however there are multiple sources saying that people who sign up for those programs actually pay more.
It’s in my state so here’s hoping I get to scare them by going 38 in a 35 zone, like a complete madman!
It’s possible I already have seen this person in a different car decades ago with similar stickers that I also mocked back then. As I recall, they were incredibly s l o w.
I cannot find a picture of the sing he used to have on his roof, but this dude got a ticket for speeding and then decided to turn himself into a rolling traffic block
https://danielrubinphl.wordpress.com/2019/05/25/sticking-to-the-letter-of-the-law-on-lincoln-drive-25-m-p-h/
How does this ripping dork reconcile a state raising the speed limit? Not that I want to know so badly that I would engage in a conversation with a guy like this (I know that’s an assumption of gender, but this has to be a guy). Picture the life he must lead as indicated by this car and imagine having to wake up everyday and be him. Sure, you could argue it’s a choice, but I would counter that this guy very likely has severe mental issues that make being any other way extraordinarily difficult, like he’s practically an automaton programmed and steered by dysfunction. I feel bad for him, but admittedly only because I haven’t encountered him.
As others have stated, just having that many stickers about anything is a warning akin to nature’s use of bright patterns on animals alerting predators that they may (or may not) contain venom, poison, stingers, etc., and this applies even to the bumper-sticker cars whose owners think they’re being funny.
It’s not just you, it’s the near clinical level of anxiety that is implied by someone making this much effort to broadcast zero tolerance of a what may be a very minor infraction… <shudder>
This is a good take.
They may also be an HOA president.
The older I get, and the more of my driving is in urbanized areas littered with speed cameras, the slower I’m driving. This has done nothing to shake my belief that anyone with stickers about getting tailgated is a terrible driver.
Also, given the overlap between sanctimonious anti-speeding people and sanctimonious anti-car people, they’ve probably bemoaned the whole 80% of the new car market being SUVs thing, conveniently forgetting what they drive.
Was here any more info on the Nondabut guy?
I’m intrigued
We’ve checked every crack and cranny, looking for someone with one brown eye, and didn’t turn up so much as a single barking spider.
To be clear… I’m in favor of butt stuff between consenting adults
I have been driving since 1978, averaging 15-20,000 miles per year. I have never been pulled over for speeding. Last week I drove from Detroit to Seattle in 60 hours and never exceeded the speed limit (which at times was 80) by more than 3.
Everyone has somewhere to be and their own pace. I stay out of the way and avoid interfering.
The lack of acknowledgement of degrees of badness has always irked me. Like… Drunk driving is bad, no question. However the signs like “buzzed driving IS DRUNK DRIVING” seem to indicate that even one drink puts you in the same category as someone driving blackout drunk. Therefore, if you have a glass of wine while out to dinner or whatever and intend, you’ve already committed the maximum offense… So why stop there? Why not have another, and another, and another? Any rational person can recognize the difference, but to that PSA you’re already fucking up the maximum amount, so it eliminates the additional shame of the worse offense. (Don’t drink and drive though. You might hurt your car!)
A glass of wine is not getting you buzzed, “buzzed” means not legally drunk, but still feeling some sort of effect
Depends! Some folks including myself will get enough of a buzz from one glass that it’s not a good idea to drive for an hour or two.
I think that is also meant for people who think a toke or two before driving is fine as well.
The only time I ever put a sticker on one of my cars was after lending my 92 Mustang GT convertible to a friend, and he had backed up to a parking block, lifted one of the exhaust pipes behind the rear skirt, and didn’t notice till it melted a hole. Pulled it back down, one of those oval OB stickers, it’s fine.
I found this guys natural habitat this week. I flew into Augusta, GA and had to drive to Athens and back (Go Dawgs!). 70ish miles of rural, cross-county, mostly 50-55mph back roads once off I-20. And EVERYBODY wanted to do the speed limit or less. Not nearly enough passing zones, and I was stuck with a Nissan Rogue.
Good roads and no cops – I don’t get it. Just no particular place to be, I guess.
Ugh, the WORST. I got lucky last week on SR19 between Palatka and Ocala driving the long way home from a Wilco concert in St. Augustine. Lovely 2-lane road through Ocala National Forest, just me and a Mustang GT ahead of me and both of us doing a healthy 75 or so. North Florida gets all the decent roads in the state.
No doubt about that – some great roads up there! And not nearly as many cryptkeepers cluttering them up. Where I am in SW FL, not-so-much.
I came through Atlanta -> Western NC route a few weeks ago, can confirm. I grew up in WNC and it’s much the same attitude; I think speeds above 50 tend to intimidate, or at the very least are not of interest, to many drivers there.