Is speeding a sin?

[LighthouseRon]

Is it a sin to drive faster than the speed limit? I try to obey all traffic laws but there are times – such as on a freeway – when driving the speed limit seems to put me “in the way” and it is better to adjust my speed to the majority of the traffic even though it is faster than the posted speed limit. While I’m sure it would not be a mortal sin, would it be venial or anything at all?

 

[Michelle_Arnold]

Actually, speeding can indeed be grave matter if it endangers the safety of you or anyone else. When done with full knowledge and full and free consent of the will, a grave matter becomes a mortal sin. The Catechism of the Catholic Church says:

The virtue of temperance disposes us to avoid every kind of excess: the abuse of food, alcohol, tobacco, or medicine. Those incur grave guilt who, by drunkenness or a love of speed, endanger their own and others’ safety on the road, at sea, or in the air
(CCC 2290, emphasis in original).

Although matching the speed of everyone else may seem like a solution to the problem of speeding, in fact it can compound the problem. Basically, it works as peer pressure to up the “standard” speed until everyone is exceeding the limit and causing a road hazard. Perhaps a better solution might be to move into one of the “slow lanes” and obey the speed limit.