2

I've driven 80mph zones in Texas. You could easily bump them to 85. They are mostly long, straight, and largely desolate sections of interstate.

4/12/2011 1:07:28 PM

4/12/2011 1:13:21 PM

Quote :

"Opinion: Time to raise the speed limit, how does 150 MPH sound? by John McElroy (RSS feed) on Apr 11th 2011 at 5:00PM Ever since automobiles first appeared over 100 years ago, every automaker has tried to make them go faster. And they succeeded. Nearly every year, cars became more powerful with higher top-end speeds. But then, in the mid-1950s, we hit a plateau. The national speed limit was set at 70 miles per hour, and we've been stuck at that rate ever since. As a result, the automobile has made absolutely no progress as a transportation device in over half a century. Speed itself is not a safety hazard. It's the difference in speeds between cars that lead to accidents.Actually, in 1974, it got worse. The national speed limit was lowered to 55 mph, ostensibly to save fuel and lives (it did neither). Such an agonizingly slow rate of travel proved too much to take for most Americans. We demanded that the limit be raised, and we got it back to 70 mph. Now it's time to demand another raise. I'm not talking about some sort of modest increase to, say, 85 mph. We need to put a comprehensive plan in place to gradually move the limit up, over the next couple of decades, to 150 miles an hour. And we need to do that with no sacrifice in fuel economy or safety. We're literally on the verge of making it almost impossible for cars to crash into one another. People tell me it's impossible or crazy to design passenger cars to go 150 mph. But do you want to know why German luxury cars are so good? Because they're designed to go 150. In fact, most of them have speed limiters on them. Otherwise, they'd go faster. Speed itself is not a safety hazard. It's the difference in speeds between cars that lead to accidents. Somebody driving 50 mph while all the cars around them are flashing past at 70 mph or greater is creating a hazard. But if everyone is going the same speed, the situation is a lot safer – even at much higher speeds. Just like today's Autobahn, some sections of highway would have lower limits, while others would be set at the maximum. The speed limit could also vary depending on the time of day and traffic load. Before this decade is out we're going to see big strides in vehicle-to-vehicle communication, using radio frequencies and GPS. We've already got adaptive cruise control and radar-controlled braking. Put it all together and we're literally on the verge of making it almost impossible for cars to crash into one another, even if the driver fails to act. In the next decade, we're going to see the first commercialization of autonomous technology, where cars can literally drive themselves. That opens up the door to a 150-mph speed limit on national highways. A 150-mph speed limit would transform automotive transportation. I daresay no one would ever again take an airplane ride of 500 miles or less. This technology also creates the opportunity to use what the transportation experts call "platooning." Cars could travel in packs, or platoons, in a nose-to-tail file not unlike the NASCAR guys drafting each other. But in this case the cars would be electronically linked together. And that kind of drafting would produce significant gains in fuel economy. A 150-mph speed limit would transform automotive transportation. I daresay no one would ever again take an airplane ride of 500 miles or less. It would be so much faster and convenient to drive – no more pat downs from the friendly TSA agents! Setting this kind of stretch goal would unleash a frenzy of R&D activity, create new companies, grow new jobs, and produce an economic boom much like building the Intestate Highway System did. It's just a matter of getting our heads around the idea. Back in the 19th Century, Queen Victoria stipulated that any time she travel by train it was prohibited from going more than 40 miles an hour. The thinking was that going any faster than that was harmful to one's health. We laugh at that concept today, just as, later in this century, they'll laugh at us for thinking that driving 150 mph was dangerous."

http://www.autoblog.com/2011/04/11/opinion-time-to-raise-the-speed-limit-how-does-150-mph-sound/

4/12/2011 1:13:23 PM

wat

4/12/2011 1:22:00 PM

That is a whole lotta stupid

4/12/2011 1:25:59 PM

apparently the author of that article has never heard of traffic before.

4/12/2011 1:34:39 PM

Also, all automobile accidents involve other automobiles. They certainly have never involved stationary objects or unexpected moving objects that have entered the roadway.

[Edited on April 12, 2011 at 1:36 PM. Reason : .]

4/12/2011 1:36:04 PM

I-40 between raleigh and wilmington should easily be 90mph.

4/12/2011 1:39:03 PM

I would like to see a raise in the limit to ~100 in proper areas along with a very strict enforcement of lane discipline. If you are in the left lane and not rapidly passing anyone - here is your $texas ticket.

4/12/2011 1:43:22 PM

^agreed X1000

4/12/2011 1:44:17 PM

Holding all other things constant, does the rate of car accident fatalities go up at higher speeds?

4/12/2011 1:48:53 PM

The only problem with that is what you make the minimum in the right lane and where people go that want to be in between. I would think it is not extremely safe to have large speed discrepancies between the left and right lane.

4/12/2011 1:49:11 PM

^it would only work with 3 lane highways. To my knowledge there aren't any 2 lane (in one direction) sections of the autobahn.

^^^The driver fatality rate in Germany is lower than the US. However I'd say the major factors at play are superior driver skill and the fact that they don't hand out driver's licenses over there like they're freaking candy.

[Edited on April 12, 2011 at 1:57 PM. Reason : most ppl in the US are stuptified by 4 way stops in shopping malls. ]

[Edited on April 12, 2011 at 1:57 PM. Reason : k]

4/12/2011 1:54:18 PM

Quote :

"Train moving opposite direction extends distance traveled"

this may be my most favorite .gif evar!!!

Quote :

"If you are in the left lane and not rapidly passing anyone - here is your $texas ticket. "

even without raising the speed limit I think we could use a little of this. A lot of people get reckless trying to get around slow people in the left lane and slow people in the left lane disrupt flow so much.


A HUGE number of people are almost completely oblivious while driving, which makes me wonder if raising the speed limit is a good idea. I mean, some of these people don't really even deserve to be allowed to drive 65mph, much less 85mph.

[Edited on April 12, 2011 at 2:00 PM. Reason : ^]

4/12/2011 1:59:54 PM

Quote :

"I-40 between raleigh and wilmington should easily be 90mph."

disagree, its only two lanes and often has heavy traffic

4/12/2011 2:03:39 PM

Quote :

"A HUGE number of people are almost completely oblivious while driving, which makes me wonder if raising the speed limit is a good idea. I mean, some of these people don't really even deserve to be allowed to drive 65mph, much less 85mph."

For real. theDuke866 is talking about racing around in his Corvette, which I don't have a problem with, but I don't want a bunch of crazy ass soccer moms and old people driving 85-95 mph around me.

[Edited on April 12, 2011 at 2:04 PM. Reason : .]

4/12/2011 2:03:54 PM

Quote :

"crazy ass soccer moms "

really though, women in general amirite?












[Edited on April 12, 2011 at 2:07 PM. Reason : J/k ladies, Danica Patrick beat my ass once ]

4/12/2011 2:06:43 PM

Quote :

"disagree, its only two lanes and often has heavy traffic"

I take it you're not aware that the police can give you a ticket for driving too fast for conditions, even if you're below the speed limit? B/c that would come into play in your stated scenario.

4/12/2011 3:32:05 PM

Quote :

""disagree, its only two lanes and often has heavy traffic""

Maybe with a variable speed limit then. Sure, memorial day weekend, keep it at 70. but in the middle of february, bump that shit up to 90. I usually do 85 between raleigh and wilmington and i feel like im going too slow.

4/12/2011 6:03:08 PM