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Le conducteur a déclaré qu'il avait respecté la vitesse.

Le conducteur a déclaré qu'il avait respecté la vitesse.
The driver declared that he had respected the speed.
From Lesson 182:Reported speech: past to pluperfect·French

Questions & Answers about Le conducteur a déclaré qu'il avait respecté la vitesse.

Why is avait respecté in the plus-que-parfait tense here?
Because this is reported speech introduced by a past tense verb (a déclaré). If the driver originally said J'ai respecté la vitesse (passé composé), reporting it in the past shifts the verb one step further back into the past, turning it into the plus-que-parfait (avait respecté).
How do we form the plus-que-parfait for avait respecté?
It is built using the imperfect tense (imparfait) of the helping verb avoir or être, followed by the past participle. Since respecter takes avoir, we use avait (the imperfect of avoir for il) and the past participle respecté.
Does la vitesse mean 'the speed' or 'the speed limit' here?
Literally, la vitesse just means 'the speed'. However, in driving contexts, respecter la vitesse is commonly used as a natural shortcut for respecter les limitations de vitesse (to obey the speed limit).
Why is it qu'il instead of que il?
The word que must drop its 'e' and become qu' whenever the next word starts with a vowel or a silent 'h'. This prevents two vowel sounds from crashing into each other, which French avoids for better flow.

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