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I kinda go along with the last posted sentiments, when conditions clearly allow. When I drive at what would be considered excessive speed (say 30+ over the posted speed limit), I am constantly thinking of two things:
(1) If something surprises me at speed, is there room to move out of the way? An extra lane to move into (with no other vehicles to contend with)? The ability to safely "move out of the way" dwindles quickly the faster I'm traveling. Obvious to all, no doubt, but it's still something I'm actively thinking about. The wild card here, of course, is animals, a deer, or a dog. Those can be really tough to handle at speed because they are also moving and, more importantly, they're notoriously unpredictable.
(2) If anything bad happens here, it will be assessed to be TOTALLY my fault, regardless of whether it actually was. Example: If there's a side road that intersects with the one I'm on, someone stops, then pulls out in front of me, and I smack into them, odds are extremely good I'm going to be the one "liable" in all senses of the term. This is true even if the third party who pulled out should reasonably have yielded to oncoming traffic. ("Failure to yield" probably ain't gonna help you if you were doing 90 in a 60.) Problem is, they are not even thinking about the fact that some approaching vehicle might be going that much faster than the posted limit. You have to assume that they will probably be thinking that you're traveling no faster than the posted speed. Soooo, the existence of ANY side roads is a red flag for me and I'm almost certainly gonna slow down when I see one. (This is where familiarity with the road you're on is helpful.)
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