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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

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!
      - spdustin 12y ago
        Loops (three digit Interstates beginning with an even number) and spurs (three digits beginning with an odd number) are not considered separate from the interstate off which they branch, semantically speaking. So I-4 it is. And maybe one in Hawaii? I can't recall. :) I'm from Chicago area, grew up in Southeast, many years all over eastern seaboard up to upstate NY. Limited access just means no intersection with every possible side street, basically. Was just trying to simplify it a bit for the comment. :)
  - Amezarak 12y ago
    > 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. Very generally speaking, interstates are federally-funded/built longer roads (I-10, for example, spans from Florida to California, but there often shorter offshoots) that are usually at least four lanes total (almost always much more in metropolitian areas) and do not have stoplights, stop signs, or any cross traffic at all. Access is controlled by marked exits. The usual speed limit is 70 mph, sometimes lower or higher, often much lower in metropolitian areas with lots of exits and therefore merging. It really depends on the area, congestion, and the actual speed limit but in my experience people more commonly drive ~80mph on the interstate, at least where the speed limit is 70mph. Highways are pretty much a broad spectrum. They are usually paid for and maintained by the states (although federal grants are common). Sometimes access is controlled for short stretches, but in general they have stoplights and stop signs. They are usually multi-lane and often the major throroughfares through a city are a highway. Speed limits vary wildly. There are two lane country-road highways with few stops and 10 lane metropolitan highways with stops every 100 feet. They tend to be fairly long but not always. "Other" is pretty much the final category, which includes city streets and country roads. They usually aren't very long; any sufficiently long road is usually transformed into a highway if it isn't already. The "normal" roads between cities are almost always interstates and highways.
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.

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!
    - spdustin 12y ago
      Loops (three digit Interstates beginning with an even number) and spurs (three digits beginning with an odd number) are not considered separate from the interstate off which they branch, semantically speaking. So I-4 it is. And maybe one in Hawaii? I can't recall. :) I'm from Chicago area, grew up in Southeast, many years all over eastern seaboard up to upstate NY. Limited access just means no intersection with every possible side street, basically. Was just trying to simplify it a bit for the comment. :)
- Amezarak 12y ago
  > 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. Very generally speaking, interstates are federally-funded/built longer roads (I-10, for example, spans from Florida to California, but there often shorter offshoots) that are usually at least four lanes total (almost always much more in metropolitian areas) and do not have stoplights, stop signs, or any cross traffic at all. Access is controlled by marked exits. The usual speed limit is 70 mph, sometimes lower or higher, often much lower in metropolitian areas with lots of exits and therefore merging. It really depends on the area, congestion, and the actual speed limit but in my experience people more commonly drive ~80mph on the interstate, at least where the speed limit is 70mph. Highways are pretty much a broad spectrum. They are usually paid for and maintained by the states (although federal grants are common). Sometimes access is controlled for short stretches, but in general they have stoplights and stop signs. They are usually multi-lane and often the major throroughfares through a city are a highway. Speed limits vary wildly. There are two lane country-road highways with few stops and 10 lane metropolitan highways with stops every 100 feet. They tend to be fairly long but not always. "Other" is pretty much the final category, which includes city streets and country roads. They usually aren't very long; any sufficiently long road is usually transformed into a highway if it isn't already. The "normal" roads between cities are almost always interstates and highways.

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.