Speed limits on motorways should be got rid of entirely.
Speed limits on motorways serve no useful function whatsoever. They certainly don't perform a safety function.
Whilst speed limits on British motorways are a sluggish 70mph, there are, in general, no speed limits whatsoever on German autobahns. Again, the Germans are showing typical Teutonic common sense.
While parts of the autobahns and many other freeway-style highways have a posted limits up to 81 mph based on accident experience, congestion and other facts, many rural sections have NO general speed limit.
The German Highway Code (
Straßenverkehrs-Ordnung) section on speed begins with the requirement which may be rendered in English:
Any person driving a vehicle may only drive so fast that the car is under control. Speeds must be adapted to the road, traffic, visibility and weather conditions as well as the personal skills and characteristics of the vehicle and load.
Some German autobahns have MINIMUM - not maximum, but MINIMUM - speed limits of 68mph on the left and 56mph on the centre lane. Vehicles which cannot sustain speeds of at least 37 mph on the flat are not allowed on the autobahn.
Despite the fact that autobahns generally don't have a speed limits, it doesn't mean that they are accident hotspots, with carnage on them every week.
In 2012, autobahns carried 31% of motorized road traffic while accounting for 11% of Germany's traffic deaths. On autobahns 22 people died per 1000 injury crashes; a lower rate than the 29 deaths per 1,000 injury accidents on rural roads, which in turn is five times higher than the risk on urban streets. Despite the lack of speed limits, autobahn deaths decreased from 945 to 430 deaths between 1970 and 2010.
Speed limits are just a nonsense piece of over-the-top 'Elf N Safety which serve no use whatsoever apart from making it longer to get from A to B.
120 kph is about 74 mph...
And, like I say, 70mph is the speed limit on British motorways. And it has been like that for years and yet Britain has less deaths on the roads than almost any other country.
On French autoroutes, the speed limit is 81mph (130kph, in funny money).
And yet here are some people complaining that Canada's roads are to increase to have a similar speed limit to what they have in Britian.
What do you lot drive over there? Horse and cart?