Mxsmanic wrote:
BucFan writes:

Site the statute please.

You can look this up in about eight seconds on Google, but the statute
in California is the California Vehicle Code, Division 11, Chapter 7,
Article 1, Section 22350, Basic Speed Law.

You are, of course, wrong.

Section 22350 says that "No person shall drive a vehicle upon
a highway at a speed greater than is reasonable or prudent having
due regard for weather, visibility, the traffic on, and the surface
and width of, the highway, and in no event at a speed which
endangers the safety of persons or property."

OK, so that establishes that it's illegal to drive faster than a speed
which is reasonable and prudent. It does NOT establish that it
is LEGAL to drive at any reasonable and prudent speed, if your
reasonable and prudent speed exceeds the speed established
by other law.

In particular, it doesn't override section 22349, which says
"Except as provided in Section 22356, no person may drive
a vehicle upon a highway at a speed greater than 65 miles
per hour. ... Notwithstanding any other provision of law, no
person may drive a vehicle upon a two-lane, undivided
highway at a speed greater than 55 miles per hour unless
that highway, or portion thereof, has been posted for a
higher speed by the Department of Transportation or
appropriate local agency upon the basis of an engineering
and traffic survey."

Nor does it override section 22356, which says (paraphrased)
that the department of transportation may, after conducting
an engineering traffic study, raise the speed limit to 70
mph on designated sections of freeways, but that no person
shall drive faster than 70 MPH on any highway under
any conditions.

Some of California's speed limits are prima facie,
meaning that you may be able to get away with
exceeding them if you can convince the judge that
your speed was reasonable and prudent. But the
55, 65, and 70 mph limits quoted above are
absolute.

The law you cited never gives you the right to
exceed an absolute speed limit, regardless of
how safe the conditions were. In fact, that
law means that you may be charged with
speeding in California even while travelling well
UNDER the posted speed limit, if conditions are such
that the posted speed limit would be unreasonable
or imprudent.

All the California vehicle code is available online
at http://www.dmv.ca.gov/pubs/vctop/vc/vctoc.htm