UK: 30 miles in built-up areas, 70 miles on motorways. Most of Europe has 120 or 130 km/h (75 or 80 mph), except Germany which technically has no general speed limit on the Autobahn.
I think our speed limits are comparable to similar roads in the US, but that there are more highways/long and wide roads with a high speed limit in the US, so it probably goes faster.
The route we used to drive to get me to college (high school) was 8 miles and took around 30 minutes on a good day. I imagine that’s more time than a comparable journey would take for you.
There weren’t really any sections of this route where we could drive fast. The first mile was suburban and had a speed limit of 30mph, but frequent traffic lights and minor slowdowns due to parked cars on the side of the road (the UK has fewer dedicated parking places like driveways or garages). The next couple of miles had a limit of 60mph, but it was super twisty and hilly roads such that you’d be insane to drive at 60mph. Places like these are quite common, where it’s like the speed limit is just obligatory and they’re just saying “use your best judgement for the conditions”. Does the US have many speed limits like that, I wonder? Regardless of if there are similar stretches of road in the US, they’re far more dense in the UK, I reckon
Once we got out of the twisty, wooded area, it was a 40mph limit, but even that was only for two miles, before it dropped back down to a 30mph due to the main road taking you through a small farming hamlet that used to be a thriving settlement 600 or so years ago. Then once we got past that, there was a tiny stretch of 40mph road until we hit the urban areas, with all the intersections and traffic that entailed.
My point is that in the UK, if you’re not on a Motorway, then even the big main roads will often have you constantly slowing down and speeding up. The UK is much more dense than the US, even in somewhat rural places like where I lived.
To give another brief example, that 85 mile, longer seaside journey I mentioned in my original comment would typically take 2 and a half hours, if traffic was normal. Looking at the map, a lot of this journey wouldn’t take place on motorways.
Thanks for sharing your perspective; I really enjoy getting glimpses into the worlds of other people. It’s especially nice to have normal and interesting conversations with Americans online, because with how much the US dominates the news, it can be easy to slip into thinking of the US purely as a big, abstract entity.
I’ve gone 100 miles just to spend the day at an arcade.
What’s the speed limit like in Europe (and the UK)?
UK: 30 miles in built-up areas, 70 miles on motorways. Most of Europe has 120 or 130 km/h (75 or 80 mph), except Germany which technically has no general speed limit on the Autobahn.
I think our speed limits are comparable to similar roads in the US, but that there are more highways/long and wide roads with a high speed limit in the US, so it probably goes faster.
The route we used to drive to get me to college (high school) was 8 miles and took around 30 minutes on a good day. I imagine that’s more time than a comparable journey would take for you.
There weren’t really any sections of this route where we could drive fast. The first mile was suburban and had a speed limit of 30mph, but frequent traffic lights and minor slowdowns due to parked cars on the side of the road (the UK has fewer dedicated parking places like driveways or garages). The next couple of miles had a limit of 60mph, but it was super twisty and hilly roads such that you’d be insane to drive at 60mph. Places like these are quite common, where it’s like the speed limit is just obligatory and they’re just saying “use your best judgement for the conditions”. Does the US have many speed limits like that, I wonder? Regardless of if there are similar stretches of road in the US, they’re far more dense in the UK, I reckon
Once we got out of the twisty, wooded area, it was a 40mph limit, but even that was only for two miles, before it dropped back down to a 30mph due to the main road taking you through a small farming hamlet that used to be a thriving settlement 600 or so years ago. Then once we got past that, there was a tiny stretch of 40mph road until we hit the urban areas, with all the intersections and traffic that entailed.
My point is that in the UK, if you’re not on a Motorway, then even the big main roads will often have you constantly slowing down and speeding up. The UK is much more dense than the US, even in somewhat rural places like where I lived.
To give another brief example, that 85 mile, longer seaside journey I mentioned in my original comment would typically take 2 and a half hours, if traffic was normal. Looking at the map, a lot of this journey wouldn’t take place on motorways.
Thanks for sharing your perspective; I really enjoy getting glimpses into the worlds of other people. It’s especially nice to have normal and interesting conversations with Americans online, because with how much the US dominates the news, it can be easy to slip into thinking of the US purely as a big, abstract entity.