I've been fortunate enough to drive on the autobahn network in Germany and it is indeed a great place to drive. Despite the unrestricted sections it can still be tricky to hit high speeds in many areas because of traffic or road conditions. Regardless it's nice to be able to pass slower traffic at a speed one judges acceptable without always watching out for a patrol car waiting to pull one over.
Back before the 2000s Montana was a place of legend (along with Germany) because of their "reasonable and prudent" speed standard. Too bad that is gone. Interestingly going from "reasonable and prudent" to a specified speed limit may have made Montana roads less safe.
I know all about it. Speed does not kill (within reason). It is uneven speeds that cause accidents because of people dodging slow cars and constantly changing lanes. When the national 55 saves lives bull crap was finally done away with every state that raised their speed limit had their highway death toll go down. It was also proven that when Montana had it's reasonable and prudent law 98 percent of the cars were not over 80MPH. Very few people want to cruse faster than that because it becomes intense. So take down the signs, get rid of the radar, fund raising and the roads will become much safer with relaxed drivers who can focus on their driving not looking for traps. But then they can't pick our pockets which is why all speed limits are set artificially low.
Well said. Also:
I found this to be quite true. It's enjoyable to drive at 100 MPH or higher on the autobahns but certainly not relaxing.
With the technology's available today the government could easily force you to drive the limit but that's not what they do. They let you buy cars with top speeds that aren't even close to being legal anywhere in the US then tell you not to use them and ticket you if you do. When the national 55 limit was implemented under Nixon the PA turnpike that was 65MPH for years before the law was enacted had billboards everywhere saying 55 saves lives. Years after the national law was dropped the limit was raised back to 65MPH due to public pressure. Pennsylvania which is also broke like many other states began raising tolls every 6 months hammering commuters that use the road to go to work. The local news reported that the road began actually producing less revenue than when the tolls were lower because drivers started finding alternate routes out of necessity. Several months later the turnpike commission decided to raise the speed limit to 70MPH to lure people back to the highway although that was not the reason stated for the change. No more signs about 55 saves lives. Interstate 95 through Bucks County which is a much safer road is still posted 55MPH but has no tolls. Just a coincidence I guess.
Wow, pretty cynical of them.