So having spent a week now driving in Virginia in a rented PT Cruiser, I have a question. Whenever I drive on 66, where the speed limit seems to switch randomly between 55 and 60 mph, I notice that most if not every car drives at about 10-15 over the speed limit.

This isn't so strange, but the strange thing is that people do this even though there's Virginia police pulling people over visibly for miles. They'll slow down for about 5 seconds when passing a police car, but then it's business as usual - 65 to 70 mph.

So, why do Virginia drivers on 66 go so fast over the speed limit, even when they know the police are out and hunting??