The Highway Forums General Discussion Open Forum New Vehicles ... Old Speed Limits :: EUROPE vs USA

HI EVERYBODY
i have been living here in the S for quite few years and i had the opportunity to Travel a Lot and i am impressed with what the Speed Limits are around here...

I mean... the Vehicles that are made now a days are incredibly stable even at higher speeds and are much safer of the ones that were in the market back when most of the Speed Limits were imposed.

Sometimes i end up having to drive for 10-15 hours at 70mph and i feel like i can go to sleep any time because in the car i have this "NON Moving" sensation that get's really frustrating.

ANY Modern Vehicle is easily capable of traveling at speeds like 80-90mph and they can easily go over that, but off course we don't want to go Crazy because after all not everybody are Pilots.

But i wanted to make a quick confrontation with the Speed Limits in Europe which, with the exception of Germany that doesn't have speed limits during the day and has a symbolic limit of 150mph (250kph) at night, the Speed limits are more reasonable that what there is in the majority of the United States:


HIGHWAY SPEED LIMITS IN EUROPE



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TRANSLATION INTO MPH:

100kph = 62mph

110kph = 69mph

120kph = 74mph

130kph = 80mph

140kph = 87mph

150kph = 93mph

160kph = 99mph


OK, let's do a couple of specifications: the limit of the 100mph (160kph) is present in total on 3 Roads all over Europe and the are brief stretch of purely straight Highway where the speed limit varies upon weather conditions, meaning that at Night the limit goes down to 80mph.

The same is valid for the Limit of the 90mph (150kph) that is valid only during the day and on roads that have a minimum of 3 lanes per direction PLUS Emergency lane.


IN CASE OF RAIN
The Speed Limit goes down to 100kph (just about 65mph) in every Highway and in case of Fog the limit goes down to 40mph.


NOW LET'S GO BACK TO THE US

the United States are much bigger than Europe, and the Roads in the United States are also quite larger than the european ones, traveling for 300 miles is a pretty common thing in the US, why do we have to take such long times when out modern Vehicles allow us to save quite a bit of time?

We live in the third millennium, we are rushing more every day, we need to do things quicker, America has always been a super dynamic country, why aren't the speed limits adapting to the new needs of population and mostly to the capabilities of new Vehicles?

I am not saying that we should change tomorrow to a 90mph speed limit, for sure not, but we should start seeing more often a 80mph limit especially in some highways that drive for several miles in the middle of nowhere and where, even in case something happens, you just end up on an open field and nothing more.
BEST REGARDS

Well,
it looks that even the United States are moving in the right direction... meaning that who ever has the power, is realizing that modern Vehicles can travel faster in total Safety, although in the eastern side of the US it seems that they are remaining behind on the run for modern life rush:

"

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Even in England, where they were sticking to the 70mph, they are now raising the Speed Limits to 80Mph during the day... we are in 2012, cars are not anymore the ones made in 1960 and people has to move more frequently, further away and faster to keep up with the modern life rush.

I find it strange that one of the most developed country of the world is still left behind on this such simple matter... but as i said before: i finally see some signs of improvement in the good direction
REGARDS

Until Nixon's National 55 Oregon's primary speed law was the Basic Rule. As interpreted, there was no set upper limit, the driver was responsible to maintain control . That law is still in effect but since the 55 posted limits have been given priority status. For you east coasties, its probably hard to imagine a modern 4 lane freeway stretching more than 100 miles in areas with less than 50,000 total population.
I ve never driven east of the Rockies but the fastest traffic I've seen was in Arizona. Ninety mph was right lane speed.

Hello Hitch,
personally, i believe that Speed Limits of 80 to 90mph would be perfectly appropriate for almost all of the US Highways.

Any modern Car, and when i say Modern, i mean any Year 2000 and up Car, even the super small Smart ForTwo, can reach and maintain safely a speed of 90mph.

In Europe they have all super small cars, and they drive just perfectly at 150Kmh which is just about 90mph; i have drove over there at that speed with vehicles that in the US would be considered "tiny cars" and i felt perfectly safe because the Car was not shaking out of control, actually all the opposite: it was so smooth that i was having a normal conversation while driving at 90mph.

So, considering the US Highways are much less curvier than European Highways, i do not understand why in the United States of America, one of the most developed country of the World, there are still Speed Limits instated in the 80's... something really doesn't click.

And considering i am a frequent driver (for work i drive with my Car about 1000 miles a week) i wish i could travel a little bit faster so that i could get to clients earlier, but mainly, i can go back home earlier... PLUS, i often find myself having to go over the Speed Limit to keep myself awake because otherwise, driving at 65-70mph, i get distracted and i tend to fall asleep even during the day.

I think this is quite ridiculous, especially for a country where almost all of the circulating Vehicles are less than 10 years old.
Who ever has the power to review the Speed Limits, should do it after testing some of the modern Cars at these speeds
REGARDS

Agreed . I only with that was the worst of Dickie's legacy

The problem isn't with the ability of newer vehicles to travel at 90 mph (150 km/h) but rather the problem are those who would be driving them. Speaking from the prospective as a former nationally licensed motorcycle safety instructor, I can tell you that the vast majority of individuals on the road today are woefully incompetent to be behind the wheel of an automobile, never mind a motorcycle.

For example, verifiable statistics show that 85% of all sport bikes sold return crashed. So, what? The point is that the modern sport bike motorcycle, especially 600cc and above are capable of speeds of over 140 mph and up to 190+ mph. They are designed for such speeds. But the problem is that the riders are NOT trained and many just do not even have the potential to operate a vehicle of any type at those type of speeds. The accident rate among automobile drivers is staggering due to bad judgment, aka: they were not focusing upon their driving but something (anything) else. Most have a poor reaction time as well... and the list could go on.

In short, allowing US drivers to propel their automobiles along at 90 mph would be like putting a loaded gun in the hands of a 4 year old child.

Sooooo, anyone who wants to drive at high speeds should buy a plane ticket and fly to Germany or one of the other European countries that have such speed limits.

That's my

Hello Pilgrim,
i totally Agree with you: in the United States, getting a Drivers License is a joke, basically they teach you some rules, but they do not teach you how to drive, and once you are Licensed, you can sit on a 400+hp Car like anything.

I am originally from Italy... getting a Drivers License there is a process that takes months, and once you get the Drivers License, you are not even allowed to Drive Vehicles that have more than 100Hp.

YES I SAY IT AGAIN:
YOU CAN ONLY DRIVE CARS WITH 100HP OR LESS

To get a Car with more Power, you need to have 3 years of experience OR you can take an Advanced Driving School where they teach you how to proper Drive a Car.

{personally, i have done this Driving School 3 Months after i got my Italian Drivers Licnense so that i could Drive Powerful Cars in Italy}


~~~
Such Driving School, is a School where they make you Drive Cars with NO ABS or STABILITY CONTROL and in which they simulate common situations that happen when normally driving on a Road such as:


- Avoiding an Obstacle at 45mph on Wet Asphalt
(this happened many times to every driver in the world: someone pulls out from a Driveway right in front of you...)

SCHOOL VIDEO: " "
(this guy Failed the test)


- Avoiding an Obstacle during a Curve at 70mph
SCHOOL VIDEO: " "
(this guy passed the test)


- Emergency Braking with the 2 Right Tires on a Slippery Pad (it's a Rubber Pad Wet with Water that simulates Wet Grass on the side of the Road... commonly when you Brake you tend to get with your tires on the Grass and the Car Slips Sideways)
[sorry no video]


- Taking a Curve with the 2 Inside Tires on the Slippery Pad
(again a Wet Rubber Pad that simulates the Grass that you clip During a Curve while mistakenly tightening too much the Turn)
[sorry no video]


- Hydroplaning Control
(they make you drive on a 3inch deep pond while driving straight at 60mph or on a curve at 30mph)

SCHOOL VIDEO: " "
(this girl passed the test)


- Counter Steering
(in this Test they mount a Cart with Dolly Wheels under the Rear Tires, this simulates the very common situation in which the Car slips during a Turn almost like if you were on Ice... the instinct makes you want to use the Brake, but the only thing that can actually save you is giving some Throttle and Counter Steer)

SCHOOL VIDEO: " "
(the driver is a School Instructor)
[i have personally failed this Test 3 times before i was able to pass it... the hard part was that after 2 fails, you have to wait 30 days to retry the test...]


~~~ - ~~~
The key in most of these Test is to never let the Fear take control over you and touch the Brake Pedal... once you Touch the Brake, you lose Control of the Car, 90% of the times, the best way to avoid and obstacle is to keep pressing the Throttle a little bit and drive around it!
~~~ - ~~~

Off course the Driving School is not only Practical, even in Italy, like in the US, there is a lot of Theory to do, and when i mean a Lot... I MEAN A LOT: the test is a 90 questions (True or False) and you can miss only 4 of them, and those questions include also Dynamic Driving questions, like Weight Transfers in a Car with questions like:

- "When you Brake, the majority of the Weight of the Car transfers to the Front Wheels" [TRUE] [FALSE]
{true}

- "During a Turn the Inside Wheels lose about 15% of the Weight, but during a Chicane, on the Second Turn the Inside Wheels lose about 30% of the Weight" [TRUE] [FALSE]
{true}

- "If you Brake During a Turn, you are Transferring the Weight of the Car to the Front and to the Side Simultaneously, this will make the Rear Inside Tire lose almost all the Weight Load and so lose Grip making the Car Slide Sideways" [TRUE] [FALSE]
{true}



to me, knowing these notions are vital and they saved my life in quite few occasions, i really can't understand why in the US they don't teach this to People... i am pretty confident that over 80% of US Drivers, if they were sent to Italy to do some of those Driving Tests i showed you before, would fail.

~~~



YET I KNOW THAT:

by increasing the Speed Limits from 70 to 80mph nothing changes, first of all because modern Cars can go much faster than that and in good safety (i have a Honda Fit and i have personally Driven it at over 100mph and it felt just perfectly stable on the Road) BUT the main thing is that Vehicles are Crash Tested for Safety at 40mph... in Germany, where they recently started doing Crash Test at 50mph they found out that Cars that had 5 stars in 40mph Crashes, suddenly go down to 3 or even 2 stars for just 10mph increase... and if you think that 2 Vehicles that collide head on at 20mph already obtain a 40mph crash (when do Vehicles collide head on at 20mph???) then we get killed in the same way at 70mph as well as 80 or 90mph.

SADLY: Car manufactorers found the way to obtain just the 5 Starts by Engineering Vehicles perfectly to pass the Tests, but those Test really do not match what the Common Road Accidents are... i really hope that soon, both NHTSA and IIHS start increasing the Front Crash Tests Speed to at least 50mph because otherwise, they are almost pointless.

REGARDS

For myself (operating both auto and motorcycle) in Germany for almost 4 years I know that the German government regulates auto safety more than U.S. government. For instance, you can get fined if you do not have your winter tires on during the appropriate months. Also penalties for traffic violations are much much stricter than the U.S.. Also vehicle inspections in Germany are more thorough than the U.S. In my opinion Germany is over regulated in areas, but perhaps the U.S. may be under regulated in some areas. I have been impressed with the medical care in Germany and find it just a good as the U.S. Although German doctors do not begin making any money until mid June because of the taxes they pay.

Look at the countries you are comparing the US to. Aren't they all socialistic? The US is well on its way to socialism so just give us time and we may look like the others. Sorry, while I do believe in just laws, I fear the increasing size and control of the federal government.

Regarding winter tires: the state of Massachusetts does fine motorists for having winter tires on after April 30th. Up to $200 simply for having studded tires and it doesn't matter if you are from out of state.