Many years ago, I used to weekly commute with my partner. We used a bit of motorway which was very new and always very empty. It was also dead straight.
On this particular day, it was even emptier than normal, hardly any other vehicles in sight at all, it was a fine clear day, no rain, everything fine, no joining traffic from junctions. So we were speeding.
Safe to speed? In our judgement, yes, completely.
Until a man walked, yes, walked across the motorway pushing a wheelbarrow.
We didn’t hit him. My partner slowed right down and luckily there was no one behind us. But if we’d been going fractionally faster, or he’d set off a second later, or stumbled…
My point is that the unexpected can always happen. Perhaps more likely to happen when the road is very empty because people’s perception of risk changes.
Neither of us has knowingly speeded since.