Correct, 70mph is the national speed limit, although the police will generally turn a blind eye to anything up to 80. Get caught doing over 100 and it is an automatic short-term ban (instead of having penalty points added to your licence).
I thought it was automatic court appearance - i.e. you can plead a special case, for example, if there was a medical emergency?
In any case, get into the fast lane of a British motorway, and somewhere around 90mph is normal, and my 1.4 litre Fiesta happily keeps up with that. However, due to clear and fixed lane discipline, you don’t have to concern yourself with such speeds if you don’t want to, and are welcome to keep left with the lorries doing 60.
As for the OP - 160mph is not normal in Germany, it’s the exception. Anyway, a big proportion of the Autobahns are no longer unrestricted.
That is exactly how I remembered it. In the part of Germany I was in there were mostly speed limits. Seemed like when things started to get congested they would put up speed limits. And you are right about the lane discipline. For some reason it is impossible for Americans to keep to the right or to keep from passing on the right. One of the first things we had to pound into new soldiers coming into Germany was that if you pass people on the right in Germany you would eventually be going home in a box. Stay in the left and they will get out of your way.
When I got on the autobahn, and first got up to 100mph, I though “this is really cool”; all senses on high alert, absolutely focused. But I started to get used to it. I was still paying very close attention to everything, but it didn’t seem dangerous or insane. Every 10mph above that, and it got a little more intense, but I didn’t hold those speeds for very long. Makes me wonder if I would have gotten used to that as well.
I used to live in the Northern Territory of Australia where, at the time, there were no speed limits on the main highway and some of the secondary roads as well. Interestingly we found that we didn’t get overtaken much traveling at 130kph. Every now and then someone would wizz pass at an insane speed, but for the most part people chugged along at a speed they were comfortable with.
Here’s a page giving most European speed limits; it’s in kph, but in miles per hour, the highest limits posted are just over 80mph… (although it does say that’s only a recommedation in Germany)
Obviously people often drive faster, but 160mph is double the top limits!
Somehow I doubt European reaction times are that much better than American reaction times.
This calculator shows the difference between 55 mph and 160 mph to be a 746% increase in kinetic energy, resulting in total stopping distance (perception/reaction plus braking distance) increasing from 265 feet to 1573 feet, almost six times as far.
That’s not counting cell phone usage. 
Of course they have not found a way around physics in Europe. There are some factors that make driving there different and driving at a high rate of speed safer (note almost all of my European driving has been in Germany).
- Roads and tires are designed with speed in mind.
- Drivers will stay to the right and only pass on the left.
- Drivers in the left frequently check to see if anyone is coming up fast from behind and move over.
- Flashing your lights at someone is not looked at as an invitation to an ass-whoopin’. It is a reminder to let faster traffic get by.
- Very strict laws cut down on DWIs.
- All of the above counts only on highways. They still drive like idiots in the city.
Your point about stopping distance is correct. I remember frequently seeing stories of multi-car pileups in sudden fog. It happens in America on occassion but it seems to be more frequent and worse in Europe.
I’ve never been to Europe but I have driven more than most in US and South America. My top speed ever was 130mph (210kph), and quite frankly, no one needs to go that fast, not even in an emergency. There is no car design that will save you from an accident at that speed, and at those velocities, any glitch will propel you into an uncontrollable situation. A car even moves differently once you pass the 200km/h mark.
Another thing people forget constantly is, the common denominator. I may be quite capable of driving at those speeds, but the average driver (all ages), isn’t and shouldn’t. So any speed limit needs to be set at the height of capacity of the lowest common denominator on the road. That having been said, in many cases 75mph is too high.
Another issue that no one has addressed is traffic density. The higher the speed limit, the more road you need to provide for the same amount of cars. This makes providing higher limits geographically impossible in many areas of the US.
I have no beef with the posted limit. Most people have no concept of how to drive properly (too distracted). Most don’t handle well an emergency situation. Most don’t have a car that would fair too well in a high speed accident.
I am personally unimpressed by a lack of speed limit in Europe or whatever. People need limits, guidelines, etc. If everyone knew what is best and what is right (hence no one needing limits laws or guidelines), our world wouldn’t be the way it is. It is clear good judgement and common sense aren’t a standard.
This is just such a transparent falsehood I can’t believe anyone would even type it. If drivers in Germany did 160mph on a regular basis the country would start to become depopulated.
When I was in Germany in the early 90’s the autobahn had 2 lanes. The righmost one was for little East German shitboxes that could not possibly reach 70mph. In the leftmost one the average speed was around 100mph, with the occasional moron doing 130+ until he lost control and smeared himself across the scenery.
Agreed, although I wondered if the OP was misapplying a conversion.
What percentage of vehicles in the US can even top 120mph? 20%? Less?
I agree with **Chase Ransom **- cars just handle differently at high speeds. The fastest I’ve ever gone was 121 (deserted country road), and the car just floated. If I even breathed on the steering wheel, the car was on the other side of the road, immediately. I’m absolutely not a performance driver - I’m strictly average - and I certainly backed the speed down quickly after that.
Joe Average’s reaction time (whether he’s in the States or in Europe) just isn’t good enough to work that that kind of handling for a long distance. So he goes the speed he’s comfortable with.
from our local paper this morning:
I once drove from Grand Junction, CO to Denver with my speed above 100 mph the entire time (not sure what it was my spedo pegged at 100) it was a lot of fun but I can’t imagine driving in traffic at that speed. I can see 100 mph as a standard but much more then that is ridiculous.
Not to mention that even when Top Gear is reviewing a hot BMW, they’re likely to mention that it will top out at about 155mph. That kind of number seems to come up a lot. Then there are all the little Fords, Opels, Citroens…
What a terrible article. It mentions all the things that would happen to a motorcyclist who had an accident at that speed, but none of them actually did.
I’m a safe and conservative driver (in spite of, and maybe because of, my experience on the autobahn). Anyone driving that fast on a public street is an idiot. I just think a journalist should focus on what happened more than what might have happened.
That’s certainly not my experience. I won’t speak about tourists, but soldiers are told about German driving well before they ever even go there, and when you do get there, before your car ever arrives you attend a driving class and they pound into you German laws, signs, and especially driving styles.
If you encounter an American who “can’t keep right” it’s probably a newbie who does keep right, but who hasn’t learned yet just how fast someone can come up behind you. In the states, you check your mirror, see a car a a mile back, and know you’ve got plenty of time to pass. In Germany, that car a mile back can be on your ass flashing its lights in seconds. They know to keep right, they just have to get used to gauging how much time they’ve got.
I think Americans in general judge whether they have room to pass, rather than time to pass.
Yeah . .
When I was 18, I got a brand new Subaru WRX. I drove it from Indy to Louisville to get some of the break in miles completed. On the return trip I went through a speed trap with the spedometer pegg’d at 140. The car was aerodynamically limited at 142 . . .
I would never do that again. . . I did take my R6 to 165 on a stretch of highway though . . .frightening. I can’t imagine driving 160 for a sustained amount of time.
Lane dicipline is non existent here in the US. Since I never took any lessons here (British) and my kids are too young, I have no idea whether or not it is taught in driver’s ed. Nobody even attempts to stay right pass left.
This is exacerbated however by exit ramps from the fast lane on interstates which makes no sense if you’re not from the USA. All this does is move everyone exiting into the fast lane.