6 ms·

There is a big difference in commuting patterns, which is the difference I noted. Even comparing only suburbanite Americans to suburbanite Europeans, the Americ

by pash 12y ago

There is a big difference in commuting patterns, which is the difference I noted. Even comparing only suburbanite Americans to suburbanite Europeans, the Americans are likelier to drive, and when they drive, they drive farther and faster. See, e.g., a study comparing commuting habits of American workers with their British and Irish counterparts [0]. Aside from the more well known differences, the study points out that the average commuting speed is over 45mph in the United States compared to under 30mph in Ireland. Typical European cities and suburbs are not like typical American cities and suburbs. 0. http://abstracts.aetransport.org/paper/download/id/4040 http://abstracts.aetransport.org/paper/download/id/4040 [PDF]

darklajid 12y ago
I commented elsewhere in this thread: Americans drive .. faster? So I commuted (I tend to work from home) today, 31th of December, about 90km to the office of my company. Vmax was 200km/h. Tires are cleared up to 210, car can go ~230, but the weather wasn't nice and it's winter. I don't think that you can bring up 'fast driving' on the US side of things, if you want to compare yourself to Europe. What am I missing? France allows 130km/h. What's the limit (or what's the average speed over the limit, if you refer to that) for you?
- spdustin 12y ago
  On most major highways near cities, it's 55 mi/h / 88 km/h. Average speed of experienced drivers in light traffic would be about 15% higher.
  - darklajid 12y ago
    Thanks. I always fail to understand the word 'highways'[1]. I _think_ Autobahn, and compare it with that in my post. Sweden, according to the infallible Wikipedia, seems to have a speed limit on their version of the highway/Autobahn of 110km/h, in exceptional cases 120km/h. So I still think the GP is wrong, at least in terms of 'driving faster'. 1: I'm unsure what constitutes a highway, what is the difference (if there's any) to an interstate and .. what you'd call the 'normal' roads between cities.
    - aggieben 12y ago
      Interstate highways were built as a system of highways with no stops to anywhere in the country. I think in theory they are maintained by the federal government, but in practice, the feds give money to the states because the states each have agencies that deal with roadbuilding contracts etc. I think in contemporary usage, "freeway" and "highway" mostly mean the same thing: no stops.
    - spdustin 12y ago
      Autobahn = interstate highway. There are different kinds of highways here: interstate (numbered highways that cross state lines, with the exception of I-4, which is entirely within Florida), state, county, and municipal. The concept is the same throughout: a highway differs from other roads (sometimes we call those "surface streets") in that it has controlled or limited access and is "maintained" by a government agency of some kind. They're intended for non-local travel, just like the Autobahn and the other federal/state motorways. I drove on the Autobahn once (A13) going from Berlin to Dresden when teaching a class there. I remember distinctly feeling that it was all familiar to me. Just like an interstate highway here in the US, only the drivers around me generally seemed like they were attentive to their driving. :) I'd guess the German equivalent to our other highways would be Bundesstraßen and Landesstraßen?
      - Amezarak 12y ago
        > There are different kinds of highways here: interstate (numbered highways that cross state lines, with the exception of I-4, which is entirely within Florida), There's actually a lot of interstates that aren't interstate. Not quite sure how that got started. Aside from perhaps a dozen "primary" interstates that aren't interstate, most of the "auxiliary" interstates are not interstate. > a highway differs from other roads (sometimes we call those "surface streets") in that it has controlled or limited access and is "maintained" by a government agency of some kind. I am a little bit curious as to where you're from. :) In my experience (a little bit of California, a lot of the south and eastern seaboard), controlled access on state highways is the exception rather than the rule. Usually the best case scenario is that you get no stops for the non-highway intersecting roads (they simply stop and make a turn or cross the highway when there's no traffic - obviously this only works on the rural sections) and interstate-style merges on major state highway intersections. In more built up areas stops tend to be frequent. I'd like to drive where you are!
- pash 12y ago
  > I don't think that you can bring up 'fast driving' on the US side of things, if you want to compare yourself to Europe. What am I missing? I think I made it clear that I am talking about population averages. Average speeds depend substantially on how much driving is done on slow city streets versus high-speed arterials and highways, not on how fast the top-end highway speed is. Americans drivers spend more time on highways, and especially on fast suburban arterials, compared to their European counterparts. Your 90km commute at 200km/h is atypical.

by pash 12y ago

darklajid 12y ago

I commented elsewhere in this thread: Americans drive .. faster? So I commuted (I tend to work from home) today, 31th of December, about 90km to the office of my company. Vmax was 200km/h. Tires are cleared up to 210, car can go ~230, but the weather wasn't nice and it's winter. I don't think that you can bring up 'fast driving' on the US side of things, if you want to compare yourself to Europe. What am I missing? France allows 130km/h. What's the limit (or what's the average speed over the limit, if you refer to that) for you?

spdustin 12y ago
On most major highways near cities, it's 55 mi/h / 88 km/h. Average speed of experienced drivers in light traffic would be about 15% higher.
- darklajid 12y ago
  Thanks. I always fail to understand the word 'highways'[1]. I _think_ Autobahn, and compare it with that in my post. Sweden, according to the infallible Wikipedia, seems to have a speed limit on their version of the highway/Autobahn of 110km/h, in exceptional cases 120km/h. So I still think the GP is wrong, at least in terms of 'driving faster'. 1: I'm unsure what constitutes a highway, what is the difference (if there's any) to an interstate and .. what you'd call the 'normal' roads between cities.
  - aggieben 12y ago
    Interstate highways were built as a system of highways with no stops to anywhere in the country. I think in theory they are maintained by the federal government, but in practice, the feds give money to the states because the states each have agencies that deal with roadbuilding contracts etc. I think in contemporary usage, "freeway" and "highway" mostly mean the same thing: no stops.
  - spdustin 12y ago
    Autobahn = interstate highway. There are different kinds of highways here: interstate (numbered highways that cross state lines, with the exception of I-4, which is entirely within Florida), state, county, and municipal. The concept is the same throughout: a highway differs from other roads (sometimes we call those "surface streets") in that it has controlled or limited access and is "maintained" by a government agency of some kind. They're intended for non-local travel, just like the Autobahn and the other federal/state motorways. I drove on the Autobahn once (A13) going from Berlin to Dresden when teaching a class there. I remember distinctly feeling that it was all familiar to me. Just like an interstate highway here in the US, only the drivers around me generally seemed like they were attentive to their driving. :) I'd guess the German equivalent to our other highways would be Bundesstraßen and Landesstraßen?
    - Amezarak 12y ago
      > There are different kinds of highways here: interstate (numbered highways that cross state lines, with the exception of I-4, which is entirely within Florida), There's actually a lot of interstates that aren't interstate. Not quite sure how that got started. Aside from perhaps a dozen "primary" interstates that aren't interstate, most of the "auxiliary" interstates are not interstate. > a highway differs from other roads (sometimes we call those "surface streets") in that it has controlled or limited access and is "maintained" by a government agency of some kind. I am a little bit curious as to where you're from. :) In my experience (a little bit of California, a lot of the south and eastern seaboard), controlled access on state highways is the exception rather than the rule. Usually the best case scenario is that you get no stops for the non-highway intersecting roads (they simply stop and make a turn or cross the highway when there's no traffic - obviously this only works on the rural sections) and interstate-style merges on major state highway intersections. In more built up areas stops tend to be frequent. I'd like to drive where you are!
pash 12y ago
> I don't think that you can bring up 'fast driving' on the US side of things, if you want to compare yourself to Europe. What am I missing? I think I made it clear that I am talking about population averages. Average speeds depend substantially on how much driving is done on slow city streets versus high-speed arterials and highways, not on how fast the top-end highway speed is. Americans drivers spend more time on highways, and especially on fast suburban arterials, compared to their European counterparts. Your 90km commute at 200km/h is atypical.