I thought of that, but it seems like we Americans have become overly litigious only over the last few decades. I would imagine speed limits on interstates have been around for longer our “blame it on anyone except me” attitude, which seems to be a fairly recent phenomena.
As far as the cultural differences, how can they do it but we can’t?
They being the Germans. 
Heck, I saw a dead deer alongside I-285 on the north end of Atlanta yesterday. That’s pretty much the center of a major metropolitan area. Don’t know how it got there. (I-285 west somewhere between I-75 and Paces Ferry, for you ATL Dopers who are curious.)
What part of the east coast? I have certainly seen deer on 95 in NC and SC. I have not spent a ton of time on either of these roads but I know that I have seen them when driving close to dusk.
Contrary to some of the posts above, the German Autobahn is a very different thing from the US highway system.
The Autobahn is paved deeper and smoother than the highway system. It is wider, and the curves have much greater radii. In addition, there are a lot more of them. Straightaways on the Autobahn are a rarity.
A tremendous amount of money is spent maintaining the roads. Potholes can be lethal.
Not all of the Autobahn is a free-for-all. There are many places where speed limits are imposed. The only places where there are no speed limits are low-traffic areas between cities.
The driving culture of Germany is very different from the US. Obtaining a driver’s license there requires a great deal of work and a lot of money. American drivers switch lanes all the time. When driving on the Autobahn, one never switches lanes unless there’s an emergency or you need to exit.
I had always heard that speed limits in the US were for fuel economy. I have no idea how much fuel is/is not saved each year by having a limit on top speed. Safety is likely the kicker. Most people in the US do not know how to drive defensively or well.
Not only will everyone sue the government for ‘letting my child die’ and for ‘letting me drink and drive at 120 mph instead of 65 mph’ (you think a drunk wouldn’t sue? think again! only in america can we blame ANYTHING upon the responsibility of others and not ourselves),
but also the lawyers for roadside businesses will cry ‘foul’ because everyone’s driving by too fast and not stopping to buy.
So basically we are stuck with our current system, and there is no way to phase in a new one?
Don’t they have dui problems in Germany? They must handle them differently then over here.
vertigo, the 55 MPH speed limit was imposed in the '70s to conserve gasoine. This program has ended, and speed limits are back up to 65 MPH most places.
Friedo, I’ve driven the autobahn only once, while traveling from Amsterdam to Hamburg. It was a two-lane highway, under repair, with the right lane so narrow that my little rental barely fit in it. It was choked with traffic much of the time, despite being a “low traffic road between cities.” Where it wasn’t jammed, drivers changed lanes constantly to let people pass.
I will say, though, that German drivers seem far more competent than the American average.
umm… if everybody’s driving so fast, their fuel economy drops, and they have to stop to buy gas more often, so they’ll be stopping MORE, rather than less…
What about trucks on the autobahn? Freight is the main purpose of our interstates. I know most of the traffic I see on those stretches of highway between cities are semi’s. Interstates in metropolitan areas are a completely different animal. I don’t feel safe with most of the drivers merging all over the place and on ramps or exits every quarter mile. Speed limits are vital for safety on roads like that. Other than the heavy truck traffic, which has a separate speed limit anyways, I see no reason to limit people to under 75 (the speed most interstates are designed for).
There was a show recently on PBS, I think, about the Autobahn. Very interesting.
Some points they brought up.
Huge sections of the Autobahn now routinely have bumper to bumper barely crawling traffic, much like LA. The Autobahn of yesteryear is mostly gone.
Most of the Autobahn now has speed limits, at least part of the time.
a) There are electronic speed limit signs. These allow the people monitering the traffic to change the speed limits as the situation demands.
b) A lot of the autobahn is monitered through cameras. With tickets being issued based on them.
The legal driving age in Germany is 18.
a) It costs about $1,500 to get a license.
Traffic fines are much higher there.
a) They are based on your income.
b) They gave the example of one man who was fined $20,000 for tailgating
The Autobahn is substantually smaller than the US interstate system. We have, IIRC, some 55,000 miles compared to Germany’s around 6,000.
Btw are there any other countries with a system similar to the Autobahn?
Changing the current interstate highway system would cost untold billions of dollars, possibly trillions of dollars. Every alteration of a route involves either purchase of property - expensive and difficult in the crowded northeast and near all metro areas - or eminent domain condemnation - costly and drawn-out. Each additional foot of road width adds hugely to the total cost of the system - and don’t forget maintenance and repair costs. New routes are next to impossible because that much free land is no longer available. All the best and most traveled routes already have Interstate highways and they are already crowded with cars. Highways are already subsidized by gas taxes: try to get an additional few trillion dollars by that route.
Your dream of flying down the open highway at 130mph is a delusion. It exists under the most narrow circumstances in parts of Germany and perhaps de facto in open areas of the American west, but it can not happen between New York and Boston.
I also believe that American cars and drivers cannot and should not drive at those speeds, but that is a side argument. There are just too many other cars going where you want to go, when you want to go, to make that an issue.
This is an excellent point that I was about to bring up independently. The roads here in Ohio are always in terrible shape. At this time of year, as the winter ends, and the ground freezes and thaws frequently, potholes appear everywhere. Even the posted 60MPH speed limit can be too fast in some places, just because the road itself is a menace.
If there’s a candidate for high-speed roads in the US, it would be the toll-supported turnpikes, I suspect, which are usually in better condition.
Well, I guess we’ll just have to buy Moller skycars, then.
Sandyhook, Germany is much smaller than the U.S. - it occupies maybe 5% as much land area. Given that, the Autobahn is far more extensive than the interstate sytem.
Most Autobahn travel is below 130 kph - that’s what, about 80 mph? I do that all the time, as do many drivers in my area (when we can). A few people do 150 kph, or even 180 - people do the same thing in the U.S. (if they can get away with it), and the police have the discretion to ticket you for doing it in Germany.
The Autobahn is not what you think it is: it’s just a freakin’ freeway, only a little faster at times and with Germans on it.
Mainly Florida, and the far southeast. I guess NC/SC would be an exception because of the heavy woods around there? Also the deer here in Florida are pretty small so the fences would be more effective. I’m sure most deer can easily get over a 4-foot fence. Were the deer you mentioned dead on the road, or alive and walking on the road? That would be pretty scary to be driving 75mph and have a deer on the road at dusk.
It seems that highspeed ground travel in general is a pipedream in the US. Look no further then Acela. That was the best they could come up with? It looks like almost all of these answers apply to why we couldn’t do it today, but what about when the interstates were first built? I guess what I’m asking is vague, but hopefully you get the gist of it. What are the factors that shaped the highway system into what it is today. Was it human intervention? Or did it just sort of evolve into the present? Sorry for all the questions, I find it interesting that a system may work well for one country but not another.