Speed limits... who needs em!

Socrtease said:
For a while Montana had a "due caution" speed limit. Which meant that at whatever speed you were driving, if you were the cause of the accident you were not using due caution. Here in NM we have stretches of divided highway that run for over one hundred miles before you get to a population center. We should NOT have speed limits. I drove for 3 years on the Autobahn, when I actually drove, and the Autobahn between Munich and Stutgardt has as many people on it at any time of the day as any other highway between say, San Diego and LA. Yet people drive in the far right hand lane and PASS ONLY in the left. If you don't you get a ticket. No reason we could not do that in this country. When you are in the major metropolitan areas of Germany, ie Munich, Frankfurt Berlin, there is a speed limit inside those areas, the speed limits only go away on the autobahn between cities on open road. The truth is government think that you are to stupid to drive within your limits. The other only real difference is that we let 16 year olds drive on the Highways and Germany does not. So I guess that difference would be a good enough one to justify speed limits.
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Like anyone is going to be terrifically better driving at 18 than 16. Yeah, blame 0.1% of the driving population for all of your problems. That'll work. In America, because our country was BUILT around the notion that everyone can drive, taking away someones ability to drive is basically like sentencing them to slow starvation, especially rural areas. In Germany, at least, you can walk to work.
 
uscitizen said:
There is also debate ongoing in Germany about the unlimited speed sections of the Autobahn....
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Yeah, the Socialist party is trying to put up a speed limit of 90 MPH. The public HATES the idea, and that's probably why the Socialists aren't in power anymore.

I'd love to have a 90 MPH speed limit.
 
Exactly.............!

gonzojournals said:
Speed limits are for public safety. First of all, the autobahn is much smaller than the US interstate system, and more people drive in the United States (population for sure, and I would guess per capita as well) than in Germany.

Secondly, the road regulations on the autobahn are much more strict than in the United States--- yes, there is no speed limit (at least in the fastest lanes, in the slower lanes there are limits), but the German police will swiftly come down on you if you are driving in the least bit unsafely or irresponsibly.
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I have driven the autobahn...it is really scarry...alot of nuts who think they can drive...I stayed in the slow lanes...albeit I have raced cars as a kid!
And for the record death rates of those idiots who think they are experts...are way higher at speeds that exceed their ability!
 
Didn't Montana have a "no limit" on the Interstates for a while? My memory on this is foggy at best, but I think that the Feds eventually imposed limits on those roads because they were federal property.

WM, it isn't simply "blaming" accidents on a small segment of the population; statistically young, single male drivers have the worst record of accidents, and especially of serious accidents, among all drivers. Add to that, regardless of age, the number of years' experience, as well as the number of years since having an accident, have enormous influence on accident frequency and severity. All these factors, and more, are important in determining how much someone in a defined group is statistically likely to be involved in an accident.

Like usc, I've been driving since my teens. I've never had either an accident or a ticket. Having worked in auto insurance for a few years definitely made me a better, more careful and more defensive driver!
 
Thorn said:
Didn't Montana have a "no limit" on the Interstates for a while? My memory on this is foggy at best, but I think that the Feds eventually imposed limits on those roads because they were federal property.

WM, it isn't simply "blaming" accidents on a small segment of the population; statistically young, single male drivers have the worst record of accidents, and especially of serious accidents, among all drivers. Add to that, regardless of age, the number of years' experience, as well as the number of years since having an accident, have enormous influence on accident frequency and severity. All these factors, and more, are important in determining how much someone in a defined group is statistically likely to be involved in an accident.

Like usc, I've been driving since my teens. I've never had either an accident or a ticket. Having worked in auto insurance for a few years definitely made me a better, more careful and more defensive driver!
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yep Thorn I am also ticket free.

well I got a parking ticket once for parking on my own lawn....
 
Thorn said:
Didn't Montana have a "no limit" on the Interstates for a while? My memory on this is foggy at best, but I think that the Feds eventually imposed limits on those roads because they were federal property.

WM, it isn't simply "blaming" accidents on a small segment of the population; statistically young, single male drivers have the worst record of accidents, and especially of serious accidents, among all drivers. Add to that, regardless of age, the number of years' experience, as well as the number of years since having an accident, have enormous influence on accident frequency and severity. All these factors, and more, are important in determining how much someone in a defined group is statistically likely to be involved in an accident.

Like usc, I've been driving since my teens. I've never had either an accident or a ticket. Having worked in auto insurance for a few years definitely made me a better, more careful and more defensive driver!
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Yeah, that's the problem with letting the federal government build things for you. And if you refuse, they tax your citizens anyway. It gives the federal government a LOT of leeway.

A place like Montana, where there's a car every 10 miles, would be the place in the world that would least need speed limits. But, there's only cops every 300 miles, so little worry. Thankyou low taxes. :clink:
 
Socrtease said:
For a while Montana had a "due caution" speed limit. Which meant that at whatever speed you were driving, if you were the cause of the accident you were not using due caution. Here in NM we have stretches of divided highway that run for over one hundred miles before you get to a population center. We should NOT have speed limits. I drove for 3 years on the Autobahn, when I actually drove, and the Autobahn between Munich and Stutgardt has as many people on it at any time of the day as any other highway between say, San Diego and LA. Yet people drive in the far right hand lane and PASS ONLY in the left. If you don't you get a ticket. No reason we could not do that in this country. When you are in the major metropolitan areas of Germany, ie Munich, Frankfurt Berlin, there is a speed limit inside those areas, the speed limits only go away on the autobahn between cities on open road. The truth is government think that you are to stupid to drive within your limits. The other only real difference is that we let 16 year olds drive on the Highways and Germany does not. So I guess that difference would be a good enough one to justify speed limits.
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There is a large difference that all of you seem to be ignoring. Germany is much smaller than the United States-- yes, there are areas of traffic that have the same amount of people compared to ONE US city, but Germany as a whole does not have the same levels of traffic one would find across the entire United States.
 
gonzojournals said:
There is a large difference that all of you seem to be ignoring. Germany is much smaller than the United States-- yes, there are areas of traffic that have the same amount of people compared to ONE US city, but Germany as a whole does not have the same levels of traffic one would find across the entire United States.
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Germany has greater population density than any area of the United States besides, possibly, the New York metropolitarian area, and consequently, greater traffic density. Therefore, it would be more difficult to police the autobahn than the US.

And they do it.
 
Are you trying to say that because Germanies population is smaller they need less regulation, even though they have higher traffic density? So, if we gave each part of the interstate system back to the various state governments, we'd no longer need speed limits, but since it's all together, we do?

What have you been drinking?
 
Watermark said:
Are you trying to say that because Germanies population is smaller they need less regulation, even though they have higher traffic density? So, if we gave each part of the interstate system back to the various state governments, we'd no longer need speed limits, but since it's all together, we do?

What have you been drinking?
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I am trying to say that even their population density does not matter because of their size. Even if one takes their density into consideration, you are still only looking at the amount of traffic one would find in a singular US city of considerable size. It would be more of an even comparison if you compared New York City's rate of fatal accidents to the rate of accidents in Germany.
 
Abolishing speed limits would not do us any good in the Puget Sound area. The roads suck to begin with. I have hit 80 on I-5 a few times and just thought to myself, there is no way I am going any faster or maintaining this speed for much longer. Secondly, there is so much traffic congestion for much of the day that it wouldn't really matter. Of course, Puget Sound is basically endless urban and suburban landscape from Olympia on up to Everett.
 
Threedee said:
Abolishing speed limits would not do us any good in the Puget Sound area. The roads suck to begin with. I have hit 80 on I-5 a few times and just thought to myself, there is no way I am going any faster or maintaining this speed for much longer. Secondly, there is so much traffic congestion for much of the day that it wouldn't really matter. Of course, Puget Sound is basically endless urban and suburban landscape from Olympia on up to Everett.
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We don't need no stinkin speed limits! 300 MPH all the way!
 
Threedee said:
Abolishing speed limits would not do us any good in the Puget Sound area. The roads suck to begin with. I have hit 80 on I-5 a few times and just thought to myself, there is no way I am going any faster or maintaining this speed for much longer. Secondly, there is so much traffic congestion for much of the day that it wouldn't really matter. Of course, Puget Sound is basically endless urban and suburban landscape from Olympia on up to Everett.
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I5 and 405 through the sound are shit freeways. They're divoted to all hell, its like 4 wheeling all the time. That being said, its probably the best place to live on the mainland.
 
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