Compare and Contrast German and American Interstate

German American Interstate

Countries with more freeways in the world are contrasting examples in their policies on speed: Germany, with much of their network without limit. The United States, which for 21 years held the top speed of 55 miles per hour (88 kilometers) and where today it is usually the top of 70 miles / hour (112 km / h).

In Germany, the speed limit was eliminated in the thirties by the Nazi dictatorship. The restriction introduced and removed several times by various governments until 1997, when he rose for vehicles from 2.8 to 3.5 tones. Only the Greens and the Left have argued for re-impose it (Boslaugh & Sarah, Pp. 413-14).

The free speed is not general: there are restrictions in some places and some states, like Bremen, it does set the limit at 120 kilometers per hour. In total, two thirds of the motorways have no limits, although the 130 is advised. The German road safety is improved remarkably: in a country with 82 million inhabitants in 2010 recorded for the first time, less than 4,000 dead (were 3,700, 10% less than last year).

In the U.S., in 1974 imposed an overall limit of 55 miles (88 km) chosen in the years of the embargo on crude oil producing countries. In 1984, amended to allow up to 65 miles (104 kilometers) in some cases, but remained in effect until 1995. According to the Capitol, the law resulted in savings of 167,000 barrels of oil per day and demand for gasoline remained almost unchanged for a decade. His performance was patchy and many states, including Arizona and Idaho, Washington mocked by imposing fines of only five or ten dollars. Today, each state decides its limit, which at best is 75 miles (120 km) on half a dozen of them.

Speed Limit in United States

In the states, each state set its own speed limits, but there are guidelines:

15 miles / hour before school

25-30 miles / hour within villages

55 miles / an hour outside of towns

60-65 miles / hour on multilane roads

75 miles / hour is the maximum on Interstate selected with the appropriate sign.

Similar traffic rules as prevail in Europe. Driving is on the right side, and the distances and speed limits are in kilometers. There is a general speed limit of 100 km / h (60 mph) on motorways and 50 km / h (30 mph) in town.

The argument that there should be "free travel for free citizens" in Germany is wrong. The fact is that there is only 1% of the roads in Germany are no speed limits. If you add up all the kilometers of roads in Germany, then there are exactly 2% of highway roads in Germany. Half of it has been a permanent or temporary limit. There exists a speed limit on more than 25% of our federal highway network, because these sections are chronically overloaded due to limited expansion. There is a free choice of speed is not possible (Eichar & Douglas, ...