| Americans just don't understand if you say a 55 mph speed limit enables society. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Maximum_Speed_Law "From April to June 1982, speed was monitored on New
York's Interstate highways, and an 83% noncompliance rate
was found despite extreme penalties"
There was a legendary coast-to-coast race in the 70s, defying the national 55 mph limit: "Dan Gurney, winner of the 1967 24 hours of Le Mans...won
the second Cannonball in a Sunoco blue Ferrari 365 GTB/4
Daytona. Gurney said, "At no time did we exceed 175 mph"
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cannonball_Baker_Sea-To-Shinin...While the races ended due to police crackdowns, people still do the coast to coast run individually and set records: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cannonball_Run_challenge "In May 2020, Arne Toman, Doug Tabbutt, and spotter
Dunadel Daryoush set the new cannonball record of 25
hours and 39 minutes during the COVID-19 pandemic in a
modified 2016 Audi S6 disguised to look like a Ford
Taurus police interceptor. Police-evasion modifications
included brake light kill-switches, radar detectors,
laser diffusers, CB-radio, and a roof-mounted thermal
camera. Performance modifications included a trunk-
mounted 67-gallon auxiliary fuel cell..."
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Cannonball_RunA comedy where: "JJ McClure, a famous racing driver and team owner
(Reynolds), and Victor Prinzi, his chief mechanic and
sometime co-driver (DeLuise), drive a Dodge Tradesman
ambulance fitted with a NASCAR engine (Hal Needham and
Brock Yates used the same vehicle in the actual 1979
race)."
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I_Can%27t_Drive_55 "...it took two and a half hours to drive there from
Albany. And I was driving from Albany, New York at 2:00
in the morning, burnt from all the travel. Cop stopped me
for doing 62 on a four lane road when there was no one
else in sight. Then the guy gave me a ticket. I was doing
62. And he said, 'We give tickets around here for over-
60.' and I said, 'I can't drive 55.' I grabbed a paper
and a pen..."
Really, (and I just learned this) it says it all that there was a punk album titled as a reaction to "I can't drive 55" called "Double Nickels on the Dime". In Soviet America, the rebels drive 55!https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Double_Nickels_on_the_Dime |
In any case, from what you quote here, it seems Americans driving fast occasionally is worthy the stuff of legend? In Germany those speeds would be just another Tuesday.
About half of German Autobahnen famously don't have a speed limit. The recommended speed is 130 km/h (~80 mph).
Of course, petrol costs a lot more in Germany than in the US. In practice, that tends to limit driving much more.