HD, with respect, you are teaching grandmother to suck eggs!
As a society we have got so used to so many stupid petty rules and regulations that when you question one it's almost like denying the holocaust.
And yes I think there is a case for having a root and branch review of modern speed limits but my hallucination is that the UK stasi want us to go slowly so they can keep tabs on us - a journey I often make in the early hours from my local city to home usually means having to stop at every traffic light which is at red for no rhyme nor reason as there is no other traffic on the side roads! We have lots of modern technology to maintain surveillance on all and sundry but cannot keep traffic flowing even when it isn't busy - Orwell must be looking down at us laughing or maybe crying.