LOL, you can't do 55 or faster in ATL highways from 7-9am and 3-7pm anyhow cause of all the damn accidents, but I see their point.
Shit, people ride bicycles faster than that here. The ATL is a haul ass - no joke town on the highways.. Lucky they didn't get rolled up on by someone blasting with a piece, like a Grandma or something with a magnum under her seat. 70 is the speed limit, and 80 is the norm at dusk, I have seen people get 'pushed' over for doing the speed limit, usually out of towners. (doh)
That's just how it is here.. To say you live in the ATL and 'don't drive like that' is to be part of a small minority, that is generally frowned on here worse than soccer moms and slow ass grandmas (That pack Magnums under their seats!) - case in point the freaking 'generic white work van' that passed them in the emergency lane, and clipped a car on the side of the road and kept rolling! Believe me that was about as 'usual' as it gets on the roads here. I didn't quite understand it either when I moved here in '97 but I'm pretty well adjusted now..
Best example I can think of to show how widespread the mentality is here: I saw a sign on an offramp exit from I85 here in the ATL (Same highway these folks did this on), I think Pleasantdale Dr exit, just outside the 'perimeter' as 85 crosses 285. There is a 'Keep Moving' sign to alert people merging right that they have their own lane, and don't need to stop, or slow down. Well Spraypainted under 'Keep Moving' is 'Asshole' in big bold black letters.. And it has been that way for over 4 YEARS, don't tell me DOT and cops haven't passed that at some point.. (hah!)