This popped up on a newsfeed on my phone and I thought it was a rather interesting perspective of why the U.S. doesn't have an autobahn-like highway with no general speed limit.

There's one thing he left out, though - insurance liability...

http://www.quora.com/Why-doesnt-the-...-Hoag/?share=1

Thoughts?

 

Well, of course, we didn't have uncle Adolph to order construction of these wonder roads -- and from what I have read, they are superbly built. Adolph did have military uses in mind for them ( what a surprise).

Staying out of the passing lane is important. As I understand it, it's YOUR fault if you get hit from behind!

There are also some other factors to think about. A German friend told me that Germany had (at that time) around 50 million folks in a country about the size of Minnesota. Thus, you have fewer miles of road per person, and you can probably afford to do a better take better care of them.

And there are vehicle inspections, which are (or at least were) rigid. Vehicle maintenance for the most part must be done in a certified garage (certified for the vehicle type). The same friend told me that it was illegal for a long time to even change your own oil.

Finally, I don't know how it goes these days, but in the 90's it was apparently fairly common to have your engine rebuilt well before 100K miles. Those speeds are tough on things, as you might guess.

Just my .02, and this is all just what I've heard or read.

hj

 

Montana used to have no general speed limit on some stretches of freeway. I think it has more to do with the fact that almost anybody can afford to drive here than anything the author stated.

 

Montana, like many states, for many years had "reasonable and prudent" laws versus an arbitrary mph limit.

The problem is "one size fits all" speed limits doesn't. 55 mph might be OK in some states, but the distances are vast out West, and traveling a hundred miles one way to do a little shopping isn't out of the ordinary. On a clear day, on good interstate highway, 55 mph limit is absurd and everybody knew it.

Except the government used the "carrot and stick" method, withholding federal dollars to states that didn't comply. Dirty pool, but that's not news.

So Montana complied by the 1970s by enforcing a $5 "wasting energy" ticket, payable on the spot. This worked well, apparently, but of course somebody decided for a time that removing speed limits altogether would be a good idea. Stupid!

Every nutcase six states over and around decided to take their car to the "Montanabahn" and try out their (and yours) luck. It wasn't uncommon to encounter the shredded remains of some idiot's car shortly after entering eastern Montana, I know that because I saw it. Don't know what the law is now, but it's probably screwed up.

 

Quality road construction and strict enforcement of lane usage would do the trick......Along with more strict driver training. The 'Recht Fahren' (sic?) is the most important driving rule in Germany. Here, a driver would only face penalty for cruising in the 'passing' lane(s) if they were going slower than the speed limit (impeding traffic).

Not too worried about vehicles which can't handle high (80+) speeds. Simple. They stay in the right-hand lanes. If you own a Corvette Z01......you in the lanes to the left (and in the passing lane) doing 100+.......

Speed limits on the open road tend to bunch-up vehicles..........Which is problematic by itself.......Even at 'normal' speeds (i.e. 55 or 65).

 

It's always amusing (sort of) when the usual suspects offer that "we need to be more like Europe"; they have no idea what they are talking about and would balk at really being more like Europe. For one thing, Germany is the size of say, Indiana. It's a whole lot easier to construct and maintain roads to a high standard. For another, driver training is a lot more involved and rigorous. It costs the equivalent of several thousand dollars to get a license. There are steep fines for running out of fuel and doing other stupid stuff, also they don't allow junk on the road, or at least it must pass a safety inspection. A buddy bought a trabby in the 90s and got it to pass, somehow.

 

The speed limit on I20 in western Texas is 75 up to 80mph. Great, except for the trucks limited to 65 or 70. There are also hundreds of miles of 75mph two lane roads that are absolute death traps for the same reason.
The Autobahn in non-restricted areas is also typically much wider than the standard American highway; three or four lanes rather than two. This gives more separation for the flat out high speed and low speed vehicles.
People also seem to generally equate "Autobahn" with the lack of any sort of speed limit, which simply isn't the case. Much of the Autobahn is limited, and there are limits for trucks, buses, vehicles pulling trailers and other categories through the whole system.

 

2-lane interstates (actually 4, I guess) should be abolished...

 

If you consider 100,000 square miles is close to the same size...

Germany is actually closer to the size of Montana or New Mexico as a point of reference.

Indiana would be closer in size to South Korea.

 

People are too stupid in this country now for that to ever work.
How many times have you come up on someone doing less than the speed limit
in the left lane while the right lane was completely open?
Way more often that I wish to count. Even if the law doesn't say it specifically
I was always taught the left lane is for passing and going fast.

 

Why doesn't the US have a Autobahn?................Because Americans are lousy drivers!

 

the road was started before uncle adolph,,,,,Brian's Guide to Getting Around Germany - The Autobahn

 

The only thing that bothers me about our "interstate system" is the lack of continuity between states. We don't need an autobahn but we do need a posted and enforced minimum / maximum speed limit.

Often times going from one state to another means a change in speed limit even though there may not be a change in terrain, population density, etc. That's BS and becomes nothing more than a speed trap for the unsuspecting motorist.

In case anyone wanted to know, this http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Speed_limits_in_Germany is how Germany monitors it's speeds limits.

 

I was just going to say that. Easily 98% don't really know what they are doing especially when someone throws them a left. Now if everyone had taken Bondurant's high performance course things might be different.

 

Interesting thread.

Wow I'm mostly agreeing with a cop.

IDK about "driver training" I'm cautious of government limitations on something as vital to practical freedom as a drivers license. However if we had a better driving culture so to speak I think it would do a lot of good, along with a much more practical enforcement and road design. Examples;

Keeping right IMO this used to be much more common, people knew to keep right, those that didn't were treated badly(tailgated and flashed) and learned. However LE and government has made this no longer true. LE doesn't enforce the rule, highway engineers have made left lane exits and entrances, and tailgating and/or flashing the light will get you a HUGE ticket now.

Strict enforcement of arbitrary and low speed limits. As you said they create traffic bundles, these are very dangerous, MUCH more dangerous then going 5 over. A study I read a while back found that those who on average drove 15% over the speed limit were on average the safest drivers. Why it didn't say but I could postulate, they didn't get stuck in those bunches, paid more attention, and didn't stay in the same spot relative to other vehicles(blind spot, right behind following lights) Add in different speed limits for trucks and your really messing things up. Why would anyone stay right when they'd have to change lanes every minute to pass a truck that has a lower speed limit. Of course lower truck limits are dumb to begin with very few drivers on the road are better drivers then professional truck drivers, it's the others that cause accidents as they go around and cut off the trucks that are forced to drive slow.

"a driver would only face penalty for cruising in the 'passing' lane(s) if they were going slower than the speed limit (impeding traffic)." This bothers me, and points out one of the contradictions and hypocrisy in the law and it's enforcement. EVERYONE by law must go slower then the speed limit, but somehow doing it in the left lane is illegal? So your choices in the left lane are speed and get a speeding ticket, or don't and get in impeding ticket?


I don't know what you mean here?

Excuse me WHAT, you're claiming that a highway through downtown LA, a highway through central Nevada, and a windy 2 lane country highway should have the same speed limit? That's just total BS, There are sections of wide open highway in this country where even during the day you may not see another vehicle for hours, and the highway is flat, open, and level where going 80 is perfectly safe. Others where it winds through hills, has blind curves, a lot of traffic, and cross streets where going 55 is downright dangerous. You're saying we should drive the same speed on both?



Let me put out what I would like to see.

A campaign of highway behavior spearheaded by LE, keeping right, not cutting into following distances, merging, etc. It should be a crime to cut off a commercial truck. If we/you enforced laws that actually directly effected driver courtesy and safety instead of arbitrary speed and seatbelt laws then we'd have a safer happier highway.

The elimination of a lower limit for trucks.

The elimination of left lane entrances and exits.

Variable lane differing speed limits. 60 in the right lane, 70 in the second, 80 in the third, etc.

EDIT, ohh yeah on the staying right thing, you may notice that on highways with 3 lanes or more(same direction) few trucks do, many will use the middle lane. This is cause people can't merge. The combination of on ramps and stupid drivers makes the right lane dangerous for trucks.