My sister made a big decision a few years ago. "I’m not going to speed anymore," Stephanie declared. "God has put our lawmakers in place, so I need to obey them if I’m going to obey God."

"Wow," I said. "Congratulations. You do realize this means getting up even earlier for church on Sundays, don’t you?"

Undaunted, she drove around not speeding with great determination…for about a month. One evening, as we were driving to a friend's house via the Lincoln Alexander Parkway in Hamilton, I noticed our speedometer wavering around the 130 km/hr mark. "What happened to your resolution?" I asked, with just a hint of a smirk.

"I can’t keeping driving like that," Steph said sheepishly. "It’s just too slow!"

I laughed then, but the busyness of society has become a completely valid reason for bending the rules-and not just in the car. The fast-paced rhythm of life means people bring cell phones and PDAs everywhere they go, don’t think twice about eating fast food and rarely manage to spend much time with their families and friends.

Our society says the "I’m late for work" reasoning that many drivers may use to justify pushing the limits on the roads is perfectly acceptable. Most of us are too rushed to slow down and smell the burning rubber.

It would be nearly impossible to find a Christian Canadian driver who has never broken the speed limit. A friend of mine, who happens to have been a driving instructor, recently expressed his excitement at borrowing his brother’s car: "It hasn’t broken 200…yet!" It’s not uncommon that, while journeying down the highway, we see a sedan with a Jesus fish on the bumper whizz past.

Stephanie explains her current, quicker driving habits by informing me, her ignorant non-driver of a sister, that the law has "a bit of give and take to it. You ARE supposed to keep with the flow of traffic, after all." This logic is offered by most of the drivers I have consulted.

There is another aspect to the issue: in some cases, driving below the speed limit would still be going too fast. If the weather and roads are in treacherous condition, driving at a normal speed is dangerous.

Nevertheless, after arriving at a destination, we often congratulate each other on "making good time," which essentially means we’ve gone faster than the posted limit and haven’t been pulled over. Of course, behaviour is not right or wrong based on whether we get punished or not.

Many drivers like to point out acceptable reasons for speeding. "What if I’m driving a pregnant woman to the hospital?" "What if I’m late for my wedding?" "What if my arm has been cut off?" These excuses seem to be the best way to get out of a speeding ticket, too.

So is it just a matter of situational ethics? Is the required driving speed for Christians subjected to the elements, meteorological or otherwise? After all, most of us would agree that many issues shouldn’t be treated with too legalistic an understanding of what is right and what is wrong. For instance, complete honesty can be detrimental to relationships. Ask any husband whose wife has asked the classic question, "Do I look fat in this?"

I hesitate to put speeding in the same category, however. The occasions when driving too slowly is a matter of life or death are extremely rare. After all, if your arm really has been cut off, you should probably call an ambulance.

There is a temptation to agree with Joseph Fletcher, the big name in situational ethics, who wrote, "Christian situation ethics has only one norm or principle or law, that is binding and unexceptionable, always good and right regardless of the circumstances. That is ‘Love.’" But as with most of life, loving God and loving each other is a bit more complicated than it sounds, especially when it comes to speeding.

The first conclusion I came to is that while speed limits are important, the more important issue is safety. I’m more worried about reckless driving, whether it does or does not involve speeding, than pushing the limits a little bit, here and there, in a levelheaded manner.

My best friend called me on that one. "Safety has to be balanced against other social and personal goods," he argued. "If safety were the ultimate standard, then driving itself would be forbidden." As a person who primarily uses a bicycle to get around, and therefore is constantly faced with vehicular danger, I found myself in full agreement with him.

According to Health Canada, close to 3,000 deaths per year in Canada are from car accidents. Yet people keep driving, often without thinking about the various factors that contribute to the safety of everyone on the road. Speeding is one of many things we can do to decrease our chances of "arriving alive."

If we are going to continue to drive, it seems that what is essential is to show respect for other drivers, as well as pedestrians and yes, even cyclists. So "going with the flow" may not be sinning. After all, most people would acknowledge that speed limits are often guidelines rather than laws that are observed and enforced to the letter. But speeding can also impress upon other drivers that you getting to your destination quickly is more important than their safety.

Perhaps, in the end, we need to come back to a simpler, yet much more challenging goal: to be Christ-like. So how would Jesus drive?

Well, the fact is, He didn’t. He walked.

Naomi Biesheuvel, editorial assistant for ChristianWeek, is currently in the process of obtaining her driving learner’s permit.