Why are U.S speed limits so low?

Question

On the Highways. I drive on a highway with around 5 lanes where you can go at most 120mph without a problem on the corners. Instead of 65mph the speed limit should be 90. There's proof that the faster the better in Germany.

Answer 1

The Autobahn may not have a lot of accidents, but when they do, someone dies - guaranteed.

Answer 2

we have lower speed limits for safety reasons and for fuel economy,and besides that most people cant drive safe at the speed limit we have now,we sure don't need them doing 100 an hour on a busy freeway,it would probably work here too if speeds were faster ,but its a proven fact we have more older drivers on the roads,so it would become a little unsafe,good luck.

Answer 3

Because most people in America aren't skilled enough to drive at 120 (or even 70) so the government made silly laws to keep everyone, competant or not, at a low speed.

Answer 4

our government is fast to impose laws and slow to change outdated ones.

Answer 5

For every 10 miles an hour faster you are traveling the likelyhood that you will die if you are involved in an accident increase 20%.  Speed has been proven time after time to be the major cause of most if not all accidents.  At 90 miles an hour you have almost no reaction time, what happens if a car blows a tire out in front of you.  You will not have the time to stop and at that speed steering around the car will be very difficult.  How many people have died on the Autobahn this year?

Answer 6

First of slow down. I very sure you do not have the proper training to drive that fast. As you yourself prove nobody in this country that has gotten a normal drivers license with the lousy training you get here is qualified to drive much over 30 let alone 120. It takes a lot longer and considerably a lot more money to get a license in Germany. They really teach people how to drive over there, not like here.

Answer 7

americans drive slow and they have less accidents than other countries.

i know speeding is fun, but better slow & safe

Answer 8

Believe me, yr Insurance would go through the roof.

It would also encourage many peanut brains to prove their manhood by driving  dangerously.

It would not matter so much if only the loonies get hurt or killed but many innocents including their own dependents would suffer.

Answer 9

Because they want the revenues that speeding tickets bring. It has nothing to do with safety.

Answer 10

Several reasons for the lower speed limits.  Germany has, without question, a superior road system in the autobahn.  It also requires more driving skill to get a German driver's license than it does a US license.  In fairness, while Germans have fewer traffic accidents than in the US, when they have one on the autobahn, it is a big one.

Answer 11

There are a number of reasons.  For a long time, Montanna allowed drivers to operate their vehicles in unincorporated areas at speeds they considered "reasonable and prudent."  Texas recently upped the limit on some stretches of I-10 and I-20 to 80 mph.

Many times, our freeways and interstates have been constructed around geographical obstructions in the shortest possible distance, opposed to the Autobahn, which was built with speed in mind.  Another contributing factor is the minimum requirements for proof of an automobile's roadworthiness and the driver's ability to handle the full capability of their car's performance capability.

I'm not interested in seeing teenagers driving cars with six times the horsepower of their IQ.  Add in the fact that we give licenses to people that can't read, or don't speak english.  Do you really want someone who can't read in his native langauge, and had to take a verbal test instead of a written one, doing 120mph in a 1980's pickup, on an interstate winding through the mountains?

Where driving, driving habits, and driver training in addition to automobile maintenance, fast is fine.  When I'm in a place where I can get drunk, total my car, and beat a DUI charge because police can't actually prove I was driving at the time of the wreck, (or even intoxicated at the time of the wreck,) and worried that I could die because a drunk ran out of gas in front of me and someone else plowed into the back of me, and where my octegonarian friend can talk her way out of a citation for doing 90 in a 60 mph zone, I'll vote for speed limits.

Even our cars don't handle as well at higher speeds than german cars do.  Suburbans, Exeditions, Explorers, TrailBlazers and Explorer Sports weren't designed to go much faster than 90.  Even the Japanese SUV's become a little like wakeboarding at speeds over 90. Think of taking a canoe into a monsoon.

I'm not averse to 80.  I wouldn't be averse to better driver training and better requirements for vehicle maintenance and insurance programs.  That isn't going to happen as long as the insurance lobbyists are dictating our laws, so lower speed limits suit me fine.

Answer 12

If you look into why the speed limit is set the way it is, then you must consider the laws of physics and the impact of higher speeds on the average car's gas mileage.  I'm not sure if you're aware of the energy crisis that occurred in the 1970s, but back then gas prices were so high and limited that the U.S. had a limit set to 55mph. Part of the reason for the limit is to optimize on fuel efficiency, since it was considered the "sweet spot" for most cars at around 55mph (and in many cases, this holds true today).  

Essentially, it is a tradeoff between time and fuel efficiency, if you think about it.  Instead of getting there faster, one might choose to drive slower to save on gas.  Of course, if you're the impatient type of person, the cost of speed will definitely catch up to you at the pump.

You may find this Q&A helpful for a bit more details:

http://www.grist.org/advice/ask/2005/09/...

Answer 13

US driver licensing and training isn't very strict compared to many countries.  

Also, our highways aren't NEARLY as robustly built as German ones, they aren't as well maintained, and enforcement of not just speed, but other aspects...signalling, passing lane use and such...is nowhere near as strict.  

Oh, and most US states have little to no safety inspection on the cars they register.  In AZ, at least, it's only when you title a used car that came from out of state.  

Basically, US drivers, cars, and roads aren't as sure to be up to it.  Sure, some ROADS are, but law makers and law enforcement cannot be assured that every car and every driver is, even on the road sections that could handle high speed driving.  

That said, there are a lot of places where speed limits could be raised above what it is, there are some where they could be raised a LOT (I like Montana's approach a few years ago...the speed limit is whatever is safe for conditions) and there are lots of little bullshit speed trap towns that could stand to be disincorporated or annexed by their neighbors.  

US speed limits aren't perfect, but Germany's way of doing things wouldn't work here.

Answer 14

I like Ian F's answer.  I just want to add my suggestion that we apply different speed limits to each lane and have minimums - for example, right lane 40 min./55 max., middle lane 55 min./65 max, left lane 65 min./75 max.  We also need to make drivers in the middle and left lanes pass the cars to their right, and if they are afraid to go faster, they need to move to the right and let others pass.  If they don't do that they should be ticketed.  This is more dangerous than speeding, because it causes the maniacs to tailgate and cut people off.  The maniacs need to be especially punished, they really deserve a month in jail to shape them up before they kill someone.

I understand in Germany that slower driver understand that they need to keep right to let the fast drivers pass and they don't have this problem.