swajames

A discussion like that is "born" only because some idiot chooses to drink too much then chooses to drive and to drive too fast... I can assure you that this phenomenon is not limited to North Americans, and I can assure you that it happens regardless of posted speed limits...

tex_phil

There is a 85 in west texas, and maybe even perhaps a 90

tonymac

85 definitely. Never seen 90 though.

Ricracing

There's not many BMW fans from Utah?

porsche911targa

In the USA the speed limit is defined by how deep your pockets are. The more money you have, the bigger the fine you can pay and therefore the higher the speed limit for you. Just make sure you don't get three tickets in one year or you'll lose your license.

pukka

70mph on the GA interstates, with up to an additional 10mph allowed before the cops start pulling you over. Get caught going 85mph or faster on the interstate or 75mph or faster on any other road and the "super-speeder" law kicks in (adds at least another $400 in fines). Any speeding ticket 30mph over the limit is grounds for license revocation and a trip to jail.

If I remember correctly, Montana dropped it "reasonably safe speed" limit during daylight hours a few years back.

juris335

No 80 mph in Colorado.

crypto

I didn't know Texas actually had 85 MPH. I thought they were looking at doing it. They had the previous record of 80 MPH before that. Most places don't really have anything higher than 70 MPH. I had to actually go look just now after writing this to check and found the Wikipedia write-up is actually pretty good:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Speed_l..._United_States

v_therussian

National Maximum Speed Law is what basically messed it up for us in the States. Before 1974, when it was enacted supposedly to curb fuel consumption, some States had as high as 80mph speed limits. NMSL was calculated to save 1% in fuel, but effectively more probable is that the numbers were manipulated to justify enacting this useless bureaucratic legislation, and the net effect of this law was either negative or none. In either case, it was repealed in 1995 and the speed limit regulations were returned to the States. But the damage has been done.

Pre-1974 speed limits of as high as 80mph are actually rather appropriate for most cars of that era. Whereas our current speed limits, relative to modern cars - both, in terms of safety and engine technology, and fuel consumption - are severely disproportionate. Even though I don't speed and really hate it when I have to share the road with drivers who do - I used to do it many years ago, when I was young and stupid, and I've definitely learned my lessons the hard way. Still, I must say that I would welcome a limit of 100mph on highways, especially on parkways outside of urban areas, where trucks are not allowed. Of course, local roads, cities and populated areas' speed limits would have to be decided on a case by case basis, depending on traffic and road/weather conditions.

Higher speed limits would definitely speed up the commutes though, force the roads to be kept in better conditions, provide more efficiency, while taking better advantage of the current technology. Fines can be then raised to reflect higher costs of maintaining the roads and more taxes can be justified by improved road conditions - even though, I firmly believe that, at least especially in New York City, a very significant part of public money, collected for road repairs is lost to corruption on all levels - from officials to workers collecting unnecessary overtime, and everyone in between. Still, raising the speed limit will have a huge benefit in many direct and tacit reverberations.

Of course, mine is probably a rather controversial opinion on this. Even though most motorists in the U.S. would agree to raise the speed limit, only about one out of, oh let's say 10,000 (if that many!) would be willing to vote for higher taxes and more expensive fines. Unfortunately, that is essentially the issue with the whole society today - we all want everything, but don't want to give up anything to have it. Well, life isn't so simple, so enjoy those 50mph speed limits, NYC...

pukka

It's not just the cars you have to consider, the highway infrastructure and driver training are just as important. Although it was originally built for benevolant reasons, the German A-bahn is a prime example of how efficient a well-engineered highway system can be. It's complemented by driver education (it takes weeks to get a German drivers license compared to a few hours here in the states) and strict laws governing vehicle inspections and modifications. Trucks are allowed on all A-bahn's but are pretty much restricted to the right lane and cannot exceed 80kph. (I'm pretty sure they have governors installed because waiting for one to pass around another when both are driving at speed and taking up both lanes is P-A-I-N-F-U-L)

In addition to increased taxes, drivers would lose many "freedoms" in order to maintain government sanctioned safety requirements. You can drive as fast as you can, but your car better be bone-stock. DIY mods aren't an option, you have to pay an exorbitant amount of $$$ to an authorized facility to install the mods and provide the inspection documents. Can't put on used or refurbished parts neither, everything has to be brand new. BMW always "recommends" new rotors when performing brake service in the states, but its mandatory in Germany and illegal to resurface them. Hell, you can't even swap summer/winter wheels in your driveway - just about everything has to be done by an authorized facility.

I would absolutely love to see increased speed limits in the U.S. But I highly doubt we would agree to paying more money and getting less freedom to do what we want do to our cars. Its been proven time and time again that us Americans HATE losing any type of freedom....