How are speed limits calculated?
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They’re not. Many laws require an arbitrary number. Speed limits are an example. Another example is the driving age of 16 in most North American jurisdictions. The legislators all know that there is nothing magical that happens when a person turns 16 that makes them capable of learning to drive. They know that plenty of 14-year-olds would make fine drivers, and plenty of 30-year-olds should never be driving. But the fact is that the line has to be drawn somewhere, and it has to be the same for everyone (in a democracy–in another type of state it can be different, e.g. in Saudi Arabia until very recently, men could drive at 16 and women could drive at no age), and 16 is what got picked.
In Canada the driving age had been challenged as unconstitutional because it is so arbitrary, and laws should not be arbitrary. The arbitrariness was upheld by the court as a reasonable and necessary limit on the right to be free from arbitrary restrictions. Why? See above. Basically, the line must be drawn somewhere.
The exact same applies to speed limits.
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