this post was submitted on 11 May 2026
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Chapotraphouse
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Both time to react and impact absorbed by your brain and body are highly dependent on velocity. Cars should not be going faster than 70 mph. The only reason speed limits allow it is carbrain lobbying.
Driving less than 70 mph on a highway in the Atlanta metro will have people angrily tailgating you and aggressively passing in the right lane.
Yeah that's been true in every state I've driven in. Statesians are hopelessly carbrained.
There's no highways near me that allow speeds like that damn
The autobahn has no speed limit at all.
Highway limits get as high as 85 mph in some US states.
First time I drove on one of these it scared the shit out of me. Like now the ceiling is 85, so the people speeding are going faster than that and it’s terrifying. I’m not a bad driver either, done a lot of jobs that involve driving and I have a spotless record. Those speeds are just stupid
Worst is Texas where it has 85mph roads in areas where the roads are still going through towns.
You basically get up to 85 and then hit the next town so have to slow down again while those behind you are upset you aren't flooring it each time
Ok that settles it. Never going to Texas
You should go just so you can witnesses the Katy freeway
Even better is if it's during the few times they have winter weather or heavy rain cause in both cases the roads end up having 0 traction as they never add drainage.
So it becomes a question of will you get hit trying to stay at a reasonable speed for the conditions or hit by texans not being able to control their massive vehicles as they drive the same no matter the conditions
Poland is 87 mph on the highways (140 kph)
And the going "wisdom" is you're allowed to go 8-10 mph over the limit.
There are some very long stretches of highway in the US that see little to no traffic so it's not that big of an issue.
When I was moving cross country I had to drive through some empty states where I could drive for over an hour without seeing someone else.
I've driven tens of thousands of miles back and forth across the country, often through fields or desert with no cars visible for miles. Going over 70 is still pointless.
For a 1,000 mile trip, driving 85 instead of 70 can save 2.5 hours. That’s a pretty compelling reason to do it when the road is perfectly straight and flat for most of that journey.
The increased fuel consumption and reduced ability to avoid animals would be bigger concerns to me than personal safety
So it takes 12 hours instead of 14 hours?? That's not a compelling reason lol. And you have to use a 1,000 mile road trip as an example to make the time "saved" approach significance.
The comment thread is about “very long stretches of highway in the US that see little to no traffic” and 1,000 is a round number. It’s not that outlandish to drive that far in the US especially if you count round-trip distance.
Saving 2.5 hours of boredom evidently is compelling, that’s why people do it.
The comment thread started with me saying I've driven tens of thousands of miles back and forth across the country. Which is why I'm laughing at the claim that quadrupling the risk for a marginal time savings doesn't make sense.
Carbrained Statesians don't make rational decisions.
Also tend to be the ones with worst drivers and largest vehicles. cough texas