There’s an almost universal disregard for speed limits on American freeways. I was thinking about this recently while driving a thirty-mile commute to work. Every road seems to have a certain “natural” speed, and nearly everyone driving along that road gravitates towards that speed regardless of the speed limits that are posted. If a police car appears on the scene, people typically slow down just long enough to pass out of sight and then speed up again.

My speculation is that this has a lot to do with the state of “flow” that people reach while driving at high speeds. It requires so much mental engagement to handle a car correctly while driving at 80 mph along a freeway that people necessarily achieve a tremendously satisfying complete focus. Csikszentmihalyi, the psychologist who originated this flow theory, actually mentions driving as one of the most common day-to-day activities that induces flow.

Now, it seems to me that if you look at the way people behave while in the midst of potentially dangerous activities, it turns out that people are LESS afraid of death or injury while their attention is completely monopolized. When you need to apply your whole consciousness in order to avoid crashing a piece of heavy machinery into a slab of concrete, it somehow, paradoxically, nullifies your anxiety.

Looked at in this light, the speed limit thing makes complete sense to me. The time you spend behind the wheel of a car becomes more satisfying and less nerve-wracking in proportion to how much of your attention is needed to keep the car on the road. So people naturally gravitate towards the speed where they achieve complete focus without overwhelming themselves completely.