On car's top legal cruising speeds, the limitations are not the car, it's the driver. Until our driver education and testing is far more stringent and strict, there's no way the speed limits should go up. Especially in a 25mph or 70mph zone. People are already at the raggedy edge of their abilities as it is.
Someone's mentioned this, but not all roads were designed for high speed cars. We have several curves here that were designed before the 60's and higher performance cars.
You will never see domestic commercial airliners going supersonic (768mph+). #1- It's illegal for any civilian or commercial aircraft to create a sonic boom over the US and Europe. And before someone mentions the Concord, it was only supersonic over the ocean, not land. #2- The physics, engineering, and costs of supersonic flight are exponentially higher than subsonic flight, so no one would be able to afford it anyway.
In reply to Jay:
I think it's a matter of a nation of people who are orderly and attentive. Last time I was in Munich, soccer moms in VW Polos were absolutely crushing me leaving stoplights - where you go from red to a yellow stage light before the green. Tony Schumacher wouldn't have had a chance. But once they cut a 0.001 light, they accelerate as hard as a Polo will go to precisely the speed limit.
I have no desire for faster speed limits on the highway.
I've even found since I've slowed down a bit, aside from saving gas, it makes my commute much less stressful.
We are already moving at 490,000 miles per hour, how fast do you want to go?
pinchvalve wrote: I was stuck behind someone observing the speed limit this morning in a 25mph zone (who does that?!?!?) and I was thinking how ridiculous 25mph is as a speed limit on any road given the capabilities of today's cars. Even in an affordable, basic, family hauler I had ABS, stability control, advanced radial tires, excellent steering and handling, great visibility, 7 air bags...25 mph is crawling!!!
I live on a residential street with a 25mph speed limit.. it is a narrow street with lots of home and LOTS of kids that play in the road.. and people still pass me on the double yellow even if I am doing 35.. so berkley them.. I set the CC to 25 and hold them up as best I can 
mad_machine wrote: I live on a residential street with a 25mph speed limit.. it is a narrow street with lots of home and LOTS of kids that play in the road.. and people still pass me on the double yellow even if I am doing 35.. so berkley them.. I set the CC to 25 and hold them up as best I can
Your CC works at 25? The only car I've bothered to check wouldn't activate CC lower than 35 or so.
yup.. 25 is the lowest it works at
mad_machine wrote: yup.. 25 is the lowest it works at
My car does 25 mph idling in 5th gear...
I'd actually love to see whole sections of urban landscape turn to 25 mph zones. In those zones get rid of helmet laws, seat belt laws, and basically all safety and registration laws. Golf carts? Sure. Gas powered bikes? Sure. Home built streamlined go karts? Sure, as long as you keep it below 25. It would open up a huge area of innovation and home building that has been missing from transportation for almost 100 years. It would be fantastic. 25 mph is about the upper limit for an in shape man on a bicycle. He has no registration and needs only follow basic traffic laws. Let all vehicles so limited live under the same limited rules. Freedom!
To save time in airline travel, why don't we look at the airport infrastructure instead? I live an hour and a half from the nearest major airport. Add the time it takes to park, check my bags, get felt up by the TSA, wait at the terminal, wait in line, wait in the plane for other passengers to, wait for the runway to clear, then add a reasonable time cushion just in case one of the many steps does not go as planned. When adding the post-flight processes, a two-hour flight can easily require eight hours of total time between the time of leaving the house and arriving at the final destination.
mazdeuce wrote: 25 mph is about the upper limit for an in shape man on a bicycle.
Out of shape man. On flat ground. I'm in O.K. biking shape, and clocked 36mph on my mountain bike the other day on a slight downhill.
I would like to agree, but I think that traffic laws would need to be strictly enforced in such an area. It would rock to be able to do short trips in town/to the store in an electric golf cart. I've heard there is a community north of Atlanta that was designed with this in mind.
ProDarwin wrote:mazdeuce wrote: 25 mph is about the upper limit for an in shape man on a bicycle.Out of shape man. On flat ground. I'm in O.K. biking shape, and clocked 36mph on my mountain bike the other day on a slight downhill. I would like to agree, but I think that traffic laws would need to be strictly enforced in such an area. It would rock to be able to do short trips in town/to the store in an electric golf cart. I've heard there is a community north of Atlanta that was designed with this in mind.
Ok, I can sprint to the mid 30's without any trouble, but maintaining over 25 on flat ground for any length of time is damn hard work. If you're in a pace line or going down a hill or any of the hundreds of other exceptions, then it's faster. It would be a huge pain to police, I'm not sure how they'd do it, but it would be a fun land where transportation was created by the users instead of a half dozen global corporations. I love cars, but I'd love to build a 6 seat go kart to take my kids to school even more.
In reply to Mitchell:
Absolutely, flying 500 miles with 1 layover was marginally quicker than driving.
mazdeuce wrote:ProDarwin wrote:Ok, I can sprint to the mid 30's without any trouble, but maintaining over 25 on flat ground for any length of time is damn hard work. If you're in a pace line or going down a hill or any of the hundreds of other exceptions, then it's faster. It would be a huge pain to police, I'm not sure how they'd do it, but it would be a fun land where transportation was created by the users instead of a half dozen global corporations. I love cars, but I'd love to build a 6 seat go kart to take my kids to school even more.mazdeuce wrote: 25 mph is about the upper limit for an in shape man on a bicycle.Out of shape man. On flat ground. I'm in O.K. biking shape, and clocked 36mph on my mountain bike the other day on a slight downhill. I would like to agree, but I think that traffic laws would need to be strictly enforced in such an area. It would rock to be able to do short trips in town/to the store in an electric golf cart. I've heard there is a community north of Atlanta that was designed with this in mind.
When I was in OK biking shape (30-40 miles/day), I would occasionally bust out with a 20mph average on my ride, on the damn near level, tree-lined, baby-butt-smooth asphalt of an abandoned railroad.
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