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In America driving at 6 km/h (3.7mph) in a parking lot would induce road rage in other drivers. Trying to make roads with a 6 km/h speed limit would be politic

In America driving at 6 km/h (3.7mph) in a parking lot would induce road rage in other drivers. Trying to make roads with a 6 km/h speed limit would be political suicide for any politician that recommended it.

jandrese 8y ago
That's literally a slow walking pace. Kids running would be breaking the speed limit. Bikes would always be breaking the limit. The speedo in my car isn't even accurate at speeds that low.
- mcv 8y ago
  It's not about a hard speed limit, it's about driving at walking pace. It's not for thoroughfares, it's for cul-de-sacs where people live and children play. No car has any business going fast there. Bikes aren't a problem; they're small and nimble and don't kill people when they hit them.
  - jandrese 8y ago
    Bikes on the road are subject to all of the same laws cars are.
    - mcv 8y ago
      You seem to be intentionally missing the point here. It's about safety for playing children. Cars are a bigger issue than bikes. Especially when the bikes are being used by playing children.
leetcrew 8y ago
that's an absurd speed. i literally cannot go that slow in my car without lugging the engine or slipping the clutch the whole way. no thanks.
- darkpuma 8y ago
  I could put my car in neutral, open up the door and push my car that fast.
- deleted 8y ago
  [deleted]
- tom_ 8y ago
  The speed is not defined by a number: https://translate.google.com/translate?sl=auto&tl=en&u=https%3A%2F%2Fde.wikipedia.org%2Fwiki%2FSchrittgeschwindigkeit%23Definition_im_Stra%25C3%259Fenverkehr https://translate.google.com/translate?sl=auto&tl=en&u=https... (comprehensible, though probably more poetic in the original German) It's not my place to speculate, but I'm going to do it anyway: I expect you can get away with simply just driving as slowly as you can, assuming that isn't ridiculously faster than the 7km/h that is suggested. (My old automatic car (1.4L) would probably creep at about the right pace. My manual car (3.0L) isn't super happy to pull the car along while idling in 1st gear, but it's fine at ~1000rpm and that's ~8km/h.) (This does make me wonder. I typically drive in car parks in 1st gear at <2000rpm, so max ~16km/h or ~10mph. But, you know... maybe I'm going too quickly?)
  - leetcrew 8y ago
    fluid-coupling automatics do have an advantage here, as they can essentially creep at any speed without causing undue stress to any of the vehicle's components, although you would need to use the brakes to go really slow. when driving through complicated areas with lots of pedestrians (eg, parking lots), I usually travel at the lowest speed in 1st gear that puts the engine in a happy RPM range (as low as ~1200 in my car, maybe 1500 up a hill). this is definitely faster than a human can comfortably walk for a long time. if that's sufficiently slow, I guess I don't have any objections.
- ajmurmann 8y ago
  It's really not that bad. Keep in mind that you typically will only go this slow for the last 15-60s of your drive. Before that you will likely go faster than on a typical drive in the US. European speed limits and especially German ones have a lot more range then US speed limits. To be that makes for a more deliberate and fun driving experience. It also turns out to be safer if you look at fatalities per mile traveled, even including the Autobahn which seems to be unfathomable to most Americans.

jandrese 8y ago

That's literally a slow walking pace. Kids running would be breaking the speed limit. Bikes would always be breaking the limit. The speedo in my car isn't even accurate at speeds that low.

mcv 8y ago
It's not about a hard speed limit, it's about driving at walking pace. It's not for thoroughfares, it's for cul-de-sacs where people live and children play. No car has any business going fast there. Bikes aren't a problem; they're small and nimble and don't kill people when they hit them.
- jandrese 8y ago
  Bikes on the road are subject to all of the same laws cars are.
  - mcv 8y ago
    You seem to be intentionally missing the point here. It's about safety for playing children. Cars are a bigger issue than bikes. Especially when the bikes are being used by playing children.

leetcrew 8y ago

that's an absurd speed. i literally cannot go that slow in my car without lugging the engine or slipping the clutch the whole way. no thanks.

darkpuma 8y ago
I could put my car in neutral, open up the door and push my car that fast.
deleted 8y ago
[deleted]
tom_ 8y ago
The speed is not defined by a number: https://translate.google.com/translate?sl=auto&tl=en&u=https%3A%2F%2Fde.wikipedia.org%2Fwiki%2FSchrittgeschwindigkeit%23Definition_im_Stra%25C3%259Fenverkehr https://translate.google.com/translate?sl=auto&tl=en&u=https... (comprehensible, though probably more poetic in the original German) It's not my place to speculate, but I'm going to do it anyway: I expect you can get away with simply just driving as slowly as you can, assuming that isn't ridiculously faster than the 7km/h that is suggested. (My old automatic car (1.4L) would probably creep at about the right pace. My manual car (3.0L) isn't super happy to pull the car along while idling in 1st gear, but it's fine at ~1000rpm and that's ~8km/h.) (This does make me wonder. I typically drive in car parks in 1st gear at <2000rpm, so max ~16km/h or ~10mph. But, you know... maybe I'm going too quickly?)
- leetcrew 8y ago
  fluid-coupling automatics do have an advantage here, as they can essentially creep at any speed without causing undue stress to any of the vehicle's components, although you would need to use the brakes to go really slow. when driving through complicated areas with lots of pedestrians (eg, parking lots), I usually travel at the lowest speed in 1st gear that puts the engine in a happy RPM range (as low as ~1200 in my car, maybe 1500 up a hill). this is definitely faster than a human can comfortably walk for a long time. if that's sufficiently slow, I guess I don't have any objections.
ajmurmann 8y ago
It's really not that bad. Keep in mind that you typically will only go this slow for the last 15-60s of your drive. Before that you will likely go faster than on a typical drive in the US. European speed limits and especially German ones have a lot more range then US speed limits. To be that makes for a more deliberate and fun driving experience. It also turns out to be safer if you look at fatalities per mile traveled, even including the Autobahn which seems to be unfathomable to most Americans.