# Speed Limit **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [July 20, 2001, 9:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/speed-limit/73251 "2001-07-20T21:58:38Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Swish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b19c9b/32.png) [@Swish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Swish)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2001, 9:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/speed-limit/73251/1 "2001-07-20T21:58:38Z")
This question has been boggling my mind for months. I’d love if i could get some answers. Okay, if theres a speed limit on all highways and roadways (except the autobaughn), why the hell do they make cars go so fast?!?! If car makers just made cars that only go 65 miles an hour, wouldn’t that stop the speeders on the road. I think car makers are just letting these people speed and take lives. Its ridiculous. Thanks for the answers. Peace -Swish ---
**Author:** ![Sultan\_Kinkari](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/7bcc69/32.png) [@Sultan\_Kinkari](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sultan_Kinkari)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2001, 10:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/speed-limit/73251/2 "2001-07-20T22:48:22Z")
Swish, Most military transport vehicles and some rental cars/trucks(U-Haul, in particular) are equipped with a “governor” that restricts a drivers preset speed, usually 60 or 65mph. In the military, it simply reduces the number of cases where a truck would be pulled over by a state trooper. The military does not require it’s drivers to be insured and they are exempt from the law that requires drivers to have insurance. Military drivers are still able to drive over the speed limit when it is set to 30mph but the amout of paperwork that would otherwise be involved is greatly reduced. I am not sure exactly why rental companies install governors, but I would assume that it is to prevent renters from driving at reckless speeds and endangering their vehicles. As for the general public, the governors are relatively easy for a mechanic(or anybody) to adjust or disable and there would be hoardes of glass-packed mufflers rumbling through the streets anyway. Plus, I don’t think that NASCAR and INDY races would be as exciting if everyone were driving 55mph. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Ringo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/779978/32.png) [@Ringo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ringo)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2001, 11:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/speed-limit/73251/3 "2001-07-20T23:47:29Z")
> [@](#): > > Plus, I don’t think that NASCAR and INDY races would be as exciting if everyone were driving 55mph. Less exciting, true, but they’d last longer. ---
**Author:** ![Mythos45](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/848f3c/32.png) [@Mythos45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mythos45)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2001, 1:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/speed-limit/73251/4 "2001-07-21T01:03:05Z")
The beauty of the auto is that you don’t have to be licensed to drive one. If I had a Porsche 911 Turbo, I’d be free to drive at 180MPH all over my estate. So, why restrict the speed? ---
**Author:** ![K3v1n](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/b19c9b/32.png) [@K3v1n](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/K3v1n)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2001, 1:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/speed-limit/73251/5 "2001-07-21T01:42:06Z")
So driving on a street or a highway is just a suggested use for a car? 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![kniz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/c37758/32.png) [@kniz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kniz)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2001, 6:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/speed-limit/73251/6 "2001-07-21T06:03:30Z")
How about the guy that rented a car in Conn. and drove it to North Carolina or Virginia. The rental car place had installed a location device (MPS?). Anyway they got him for speeding on three occasions and charged him $150 for each. He is going to court for invasion of privacy. ---
**Author:** ![starfish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/87869e/32.png) [@starfish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/starfish)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2001, 6:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/speed-limit/73251/7 "2001-07-21T06:19:40Z")
Swishy, do a search. This came up before. If a car can go faster then 25 mph it can violate the speed limits. No one is willing to restrict cars to 25 mph. We use the cops to enforce the speed limits. In the US there are many legal uses for cars than go faster than the legal minimum speed. There are also legal uses for cars that go faster than the maximum legal speed on public roads. Since the legal and illegal uses overlap, you can’t prohibit it. You can make the penalties for violations very severe. Most US states base the penalty on the amount that you go over the legal speed. If you have a legal reason, and place, to go fast it’s OK. If not you will pay big. ---
**Author:** ![casdave](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c6cbf5/32.png) [@casdave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/casdave)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2001, 1:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/speed-limit/73251/8 "2001-07-21T13:21:56Z")
Its about accelaration, if you build a car that is only capable of doing only 65mph it will take an age to get there since it takes far less power to maintain a speed than to get to that speed. You could govern it, the Suzuki GSX1300 Hayabusa motorcycle is capable of over 180 mph, or at least the first years manufacture was but since then they are limted to _only_ 176mph. This has been achieved by means of settings within the electronic engine management system. Limiting top speed to the highest national speed limit would do nothing to reduce the speed on the most dangerous roads which, by definition, have lower speed limits. There is a study being carried out by Leeds University, England about the vialbility of having variable speed limiters controlled by radio beacons on the roadside but it has already been condemned as taking control away from the driver and might cause as many problems as it solves. ---
**Author:** ![occ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/8c91f0/32.png) [@occ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/occ)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2001, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/speed-limit/73251/9 "2001-07-21T15:27:42Z")
Also, everyone speeds, and occasionally you get caught and pay a fine. It’s a silly game we all play, but it seems to work well enough that nobody feels like changing it. When was the last time you saw everyone on the highway driving 55? Never, right? ---
**Author:** ![scr4](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/59ef9b/32.png) [@scr4](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scr4)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2001, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/speed-limit/73251/10 "2001-07-21T15:50:12Z")
People simply want fast, powerful cars. Car makers make what people want, otherwise they lose sales to companies who do. It would take a law to force car makers to install speed limiters, but no politician is going to risk his/her career (or at least a lot of votes) by suggesting it. Japanese-made cars sold in Japan used to have speed warnings. Basically, it beeped when you drove over 100 km/h (I think). Everyone just ignored it. I don’t think they do it anymore. By the way, some rental companies monitor your speed and location using a GPS-based system. They don’t stop you from speeding, they just charge your credit card if you do. I don’t know much about the system, so I don’t know if they are smart enough to figure out the speed limit of the particular road the car is on, or just consider anythng over 55 (or 65) as speeding. ---
**Author:** ![Ms2001](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ms2001/32/18463_2.png) [@Ms2001](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ms2001)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2001, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/speed-limit/73251/11 "2001-07-21T18:59:20Z")
High speed doesn’t cause accidents; a difference in speed does. If your car is limited to 65 MPH and everyone else on the freeway is driving at 85 MPH, you’re at risk. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Lao](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/2bfe46/32.png) [@Dr.Lao](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Lao)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2001, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/speed-limit/73251/12 "2001-07-21T19:30:34Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Mr2001 \* > \*\*High speed doesn’t cause accidents; a difference in speed does. If your car is limited to 65 MPH and everyone else on the freeway is driving at 85 MPH, you’re at risk. \*\* However, high speed does increase the chances that a particular crash will be fatal. ---
**Author:** ![lucwarm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e19adc/32.png) [@lucwarm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lucwarm)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2001, 7:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/speed-limit/73251/13 "2001-07-21T19:59:10Z")
Slightly tangential, but when I was living in New Hampshire, many of the highways I drove on had only one lane in each direction. The way you passed somebody was to wait for a straightaway, make sure nobody was coming the other way, and then swing out into the oncoming lane and pass. In these situations, it was very nice to be able to accelerate to 80 or 85 mph so as to get around the person safely. Now, you may respond by saying that it’s safer not to pass at all. I can’t really disagree with that, but, I suggest you try driving on one of those highways for 25 miles behind a big car with out-of-state plates that’s going 40 mph in a 50 mph zone; that slows down near every antique store; whose driver doesn’t notice that you’ve politely flashed your headlights (and who doesn’t notice that his own turn signal has been on for the last 10 minutes). You might change your might about “speed governors.” ---
**Author:** ![Homer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/df788c/32.png) [@Homer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Homer)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2001, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/speed-limit/73251/14 "2001-07-21T20:23:21Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Swish \* > **This question has been boggling my mind for months. I’d love if i could get some answers. Okay, if theres a speed limit on all highways and roadways (except the autobaughn), why the hell do they make cars go so fast?!?! If car makers just made cars that only go 65 miles an hour, wouldn’t that stop the speeders on the road. I think car makers are just letting these people speed and take lives. Its ridiculous.** Now that everyone’s done it nicely, let’s take a moment to review the situation. > [@](#): > > I think car makers are just letting these people speed and take lives. Its ridiculous. That’s right. They’re letting people speed. That’s the _driver’s_ business. It has nothing to do with **you**. Why should **you** be able to tell someone not to speed? It’s their _choice_. It doesn’t affect **you**. It affects **you** only when they screw up. And how often _do_ speeders screw up? Oh, only about as often as **you**. Speeders aren’t significantly more dangerous than law-abiders. Speeders are significantly _less_ dangerous than people going _under_ the limit. So why should **you** have a say in it? What does it have to do with **you**? Why should **you** be able to decide what _someone else_ does? What gives **you** the right to arbitrarily set a speed limit? What makes **you** so perfect that you can control what _someone else_ does? Why should **you** have say? **You** have no more right to tell them not to speed than they have right to tell you _to_ speed. So, let’s work on making **you** perfect before **you** try to control someone else. And that goes for everybody, and everything. Everything. Why should **you** be able to tell someone not to do something? Take a _good_, long, **hard** look at _ **yourself** _ and fix any problem **you** see _there_ before **you** go around setting laws, limits, rules, and governors for other people. Think about it. “A person who would willingly give up a small bit of freedom for a small bit of safety deserves neither.” –Tim ---
**Author:** ![gtzaskar00](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e9c0ed/32.png) [@gtzaskar00](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gtzaskar00)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2001, 8:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/speed-limit/73251/15 "2001-07-21T20:33:30Z")
I was just curious, and I am hoping someone can answer this, but do the rental companies tell you when you are renting that the gps system is in place and it will be used to monitor speed? I have rented a few times in my life, and was never told this. ---
**Author:** ![BobT](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8e8cbc/32.png) [@BobT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobT)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2001, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/speed-limit/73251/16 "2001-07-21T20:40:16Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by beatle \* > \*\* > > > [@](#): > > > > Plus, I don’t think that NASCAR and INDY races would be as exciting if everyone were driving 55mph. > > Less exciting, true, but they’d last longer. \*\* I personally wouldn’t want to watch a 9-10 hour long Indy 500. (Depending upon which speed limit you chose) Isn’t the parade lap at Indy faster than 55? ---
**Author:** ![manhattan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/manhattan/32/7_2.png) [@manhattan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/manhattan)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2001, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/speed-limit/73251/17 "2001-07-21T20:42:42Z")
**Homer** , you’re still on thin ice with me. Keep that crap to Great Debates, or you’ll be keeping it on another message board, _capice_? ---
**Author:** ![gtzaskar00](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e9c0ed/32.png) [@gtzaskar00](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gtzaskar00)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2001, 10:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/speed-limit/73251/18 "2001-07-21T22:15:50Z")
Isn’t the parade lap at Indy faster than 55? \*\* [/QUOTE] Much faster actually… about double that speed. I have been to the Indy as well as a few Nascar races, and let me tell you, television does not do any justice to the speed and sound of those monsters flying around the track. Being there, if you just keep your eyes forward, instead of actually following a car as it comes into a turn, all you will see is a blur… Even if you try to follow a car with your eyes, the speed makes it very hard. The parade laps, as well as any yellow flagged laps are running at about 120 mph. That goes for the Indy and Cart cars, anyways. ---
**Author:** ![Cardinal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cardinal/32/4000_2.png) [@Cardinal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cardinal)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2001, 11:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/speed-limit/73251/19 "2001-07-21T23:22:30Z")
Also, Chevy, Pontiac, Porsche, Subaru, BMW, Ford, Ferrari, Lotus, even Nissan (even Saturn!) et al know that some of their owners are using barely-modified versions of their cars to race in showroom-stock classes. ---
**Author:** ![Homer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/df788c/32.png) [@Homer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Homer)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2001, 12:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/speed-limit/73251/20 "2001-07-22T00:13:36Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by manhattan \* > \*\ ***Homer** , you’re still on thin ice with me. Keep that crap to Great Debates, or you’ll be keeping it on another message board, _capice_? \*\* Yes, manny, you’re right. I do apologize for my tone, it was not called for. I was simply trying, albeit too hard, to impress upon the OP that perhaps a person needs to look into themselves and fix what’s wrong there before attempting to control the actions of someone else. I’m sorry that I phrased it wrong. –Tim [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/speed-limit/73251.md?page=2)