To me it's like this:
Not passing isn't necessarily safe, as traffic will bunch up, and people will become impatient. An impatient bunch isn't what you want.
Passing only at the speed limit is really safe at all. It would take forever to pass vehicles going 5 under the limit. It's impossible to pass vehicles going the speed limit, which leads back to the previous point.
Passing is the safest when you speed up and get out of the passing lane quickly. It's not hard to slow down once you get back into the right lane. Is 141 reasonable for the situation in the article? Perhaps not, but I'm not there. Downhill, in a pass, when as a driver, your first instinct is to get out of that lane as soon as possible - I'd probably end end going that fast.
The problem is the two lane highway, not the speeding. I'd say that speeding to pass is the safest option. It's easier to brake a bit to fit back into traffic in the correct lane than to have to speed up to fit back into that lane.
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