Bulgaria raises speed limit to 87 mph / 140 kph.

[Chris]

Bulgaria Ups Hwy Speed Limit to 140 Km/H

The maximum speed limit on Bulgarian highways went up to 140 km/h at midnight Tuesday, but it is effective only for sections with the most modern pavement.

According to the newly adopted legislation, "vehicles can move with a speed of up to 140 km/h only in new sections where the pavement allows such speed."

The previous speed limit was 130 km/h. It remains 90 km/h in risky sections and highway sections built years ago.

The amendments to the Traffic Act also introduce the term "fast road," where drivers can develop speeds up to 120 km/h. These roads will not have an emergency lane, just some places to stop. They are yet to be built in Bulgaria and will cost about 30% less than regular highways.

http://www.novinite.com/view_news.php?id=140674

The article is not entirely correct, as 140 km/h became the default speed limit unless otherwise posted, not the other way round.

This is the second country in Europe with a 140 km/h - 87 mph speed limit - after Poland introduced it 2 years ago.


Contrary to popular belief, Italy doesn't have - and never had - a 150 km/h speed limit. The highway code has a provision for 150 km/h, but it has never been activated so far. It's often quoted on the internet that Italy has certain toll roads with a 150 km/h limit. This is not correct.

Austria, however, did post a 160 km/h (100 mph) speed limit on the A10 Tauern Autobahn in 2006 as a trial project, but it was not continued by the next government.

[vdeane]

Seems like Europe is in a "who can raise speed limits the highest" contest.

I would be nice if some states here would challenge Texas.  Or Canada, whose limits are roughly equivalent to the northeast US even though most of the country is much more remote.

[agentsteel53]

the Bulgarian "fast road" idea sounds like Texas signing 75mph on adequately built rural two-laners.  seems like a good idea to me.

are any places other than Germany looking to go no-speed-limit?

[Truvelo]

Seems like Europe is in a "who can raise speed limits the highest" contest.

You can count Britain out. We have been slashing speed limits left right and center since the 1990's, the same time that speed cameras were introduced

[Scott5114]

Seems like Europe is in a "who can raise speed limits the highest" contest.

I would be nice if some states here would challenge Texas.  Or Canada, whose limits are roughly equivalent to the northeast US even though most of the country is much more remote.

Utah called Texas on the 80 mph thing, but Texas raised to 85. So far nobody but Texas has shown interest in 85.

Wonder if a few years from now we'll be seeing 90 MPH limits in Texas...?

[deathtopumpkins]

Seems like Europe is in a "who can raise speed limits the highest" contest.

You can count Britain out. We have been slashing speed limits left right and center since the 1990's, the same time that speed cameras were introduced

Recent news begs to differ:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/sep/29/speed-limit-raised-80mph
Various sources have been reporting on this study since the end of last summer. I saw an article pop up (I believe it was on Reddit in r/transportation) last week that was the first I heard of it.

[Truvelo]

^^That may be true but the 80mph trial has yet to begin and even if it becomes permanent the default will still be 70. In the meantime there's been many 100's of miles of rural 2 lane 60mph roads which have been slashed to 50 and 40. Suburban 40's are now 30 and so on. Even some sections of motorway have been cut from 70 to 50.

[Sykotyk]

Seems like Europe is in a "who can raise speed limits the highest" contest.

I would be nice if some states here would challenge Texas.  Or Canada, whose limits are roughly equivalent to the northeast US even though most of the country is much more remote.

Utah called Texas on the 80 mph thing, but Texas raised to 85. So far nobody but Texas has shown interest in 85.

Wonder if a few years from now we'll be seeing 90 MPH limits in Texas...?

I could see one or more of the Texas toll roads upping theirs to 90mph just to get some extra customers to pay the toll just so they can legally go that fast.

[Road Hog]

Seems like Europe is in a "who can raise speed limits the highest" contest.

I would be nice if some states here would challenge Texas.  Or Canada, whose limits are roughly equivalent to the northeast US even though most of the country is much more remote.

Utah called Texas on the 80 mph thing, but Texas raised to 85. So far nobody but Texas has shown interest in 85.

Wonder if a few years from now we'll be seeing 90 MPH limits in Texas...?

I could see one or more of the Texas toll roads upping theirs to 90mph just to get some extra customers to pay the toll just so they can legally go that fast.

I could see that happening for 130 in Austin. Most of the other tollways in Texas are urban and because of the volume, physically impossible to get up to that speed without eating some bumper except late, late at night.

[agentsteel53]

I could see that happening for 130 in Austin. Most of the other tollways in Texas are urban and because of the volume, physically impossible to get up to that speed without eating some bumper except late, late at night.

what about the free roads?  I-10 and I-20 out west, as well as certain two-laners, could easily handle a no-speed-limit situation, with enforcement for reckless driving instead. 

[Bickendan]

Don't you know? Anything above 65 is reckless driving.

[kphoger]

Don't you know? Anything above 65 is reckless driving.

Dude, this is Texas we're talking about.  Anything below 65 is. . . just not Texan.

[agentsteel53]

anything above 0 is a moving violation, anything at 0 is a parking violation, and anything below 0 is a physics violation.

[Bickendan]

Don't you know? Anything above 65 is reckless driving.

Dude, this is Texas we're talking about.  Anything below 65 is. . . just not Texan.

Jake gets what I was driving at.

[1995hoo]

....

are any places other than Germany looking to go no-speed-limit?

Seems unlikely when you consider that the no-speed-limit roads in the Northern Territory were recently posted at 110 km/h (with a few routes posted at 130).

[agentsteel53]

Seems unlikely when you consider that the no-speed-limit roads in the Northern Territory were recently posted at 110 km/h (with a few routes posted at 130).

there were no-speed-limit roads in Australia?  until how recent?

what's the enforcement like on those roads?  there are a lot of roads in the world which have no de facto speed limit, due to a lack of enforcement.  I would be quite comfortable driving the Alcan at excessive speeds, for example.

[bugo]

Go eastern Europe!

[1995hoo]

Seems unlikely when you consider that the no-speed-limit roads in the Northern Territory were recently posted at 110 km/h (with a few routes posted at 130).

there were no-speed-limit roads in Australia?  until how recent?

what's the enforcement like on those roads?  there are a lot of roads in the world which have no de facto speed limit, due to a lack of enforcement.  I would be quite comfortable driving the Alcan at excessive speeds, for example.

From what I've read, the Northern Territory had no posted speed limit on many roads until 2007, although I assume roads around Darwin were probably an obvious exception. I have no idea about the enforcement. I agree with you about there being some roads where I'd be very comfortable going very fast, although over time I've become more aware of the risk of animals running out into the road and that risk tempers my enthusiasm for going super-fast.

[bugo]

My Australian friend hit a kangaroo a couple of years ago.  He wasn't hurt but it sure fucked his car up.  I believe he was doing the speed limit.  The roo flopped up and tried to hop away but he probably didn't survive.

[1995hoo]

My Australian friend hit a kangaroo a couple of years ago.  He wasn't hurt but it sure fucked his car up.  I believe he was doing the speed limit.  The roo flopped up and tried to hop away but he probably didn't survive.

Several years ago I was on a two-lane road near Orange, Virginia, at night on the way back from a football game in Charlottesville and I was getting annoyed at the guy in front of me because one minute he'd be doing 60 mph and the next he'd be doing 45 (speed limit was 55 mph). I was just about to pull out and pass when I saw some brake lights in the distance, so I backed off.....and when we reached the brake lights we found a small SUV, Honda CR-V or similar, that had just hit a deer. The carcass was still spinning in the highway. If I'd have pulled out to pass I'd have plowed right into the deer at 65—70 mph and really smashed up the car, as I was driving my then-girlfriend's 2003 Acura RSX. All it takes is one incident like that to make you a lot more cautious about such things.

It's not just nighttime, either. In May of this year I was on I-66 westbound in Virginia in full daylight doing 75 mph (speed limit 70) when I saw a deer standing on the shoulder looking like it would leap out at any second to cross the road. Scared the crap out of me, especially with a tractor-trailer behind me (i.e. I couldn't risk slamming on the brakes and would have to hit the deer if it bolted into the road).

Plus they say if you see one deer there's probably another one not far behind, a statement that's often proven true in my observation just around my neighborhood where we have a good number of deer in the woods.


But anyway, we're taking this thread off-topic, so to try to get it back where it belongs, I think concerns like deer and the like are a fine example of the point I've made to people that the speed limit is just that–the speed limit. As long as you don't obstruct traffic or dip below the minimum speed limit (if there is one), and as long as you stay out of the passing lane, there's nothing requiring you to go as fast as the speed limit. You can go slower if you like. I don't hesitate to do so if, for example, the sun is in my eyes and I think I might have trouble seeing cars being driven without lights. A lot of Americans seem to believe the speed limit is the speed you're supposed to go–if it says "Speed Limit 70" they get outraged if you're not going 70. That's not how it's supposed to work, although I certainly agree it's damn annoying when you encounter a string of trucks going under the speed limit in one lane and slowpokes who don't accelerate whilst passing in the other lane. If people understood that you're allowed to go slower than the posted speed limit, then posting speed limits of 80 mph or more on most rural Interstates wouldn't be a problem. But people don't understand that. I suppose that's an example of one reason why higher speed limits sometimes seem to work better in other countries where lane discipline and the like are more ingrained–although I've never been to Bulgaria and have no idea what circumstances prevail there.

[JREwing78]

30+ years of the United States underposting highway speed limits for political reasons tends to do that. Only recently have speed limits in general risen back to what they were posted in the early '70's.

[vdeane]

Their are three main types of drivers:
1. Those who drive the speed they are comfortable at regardless of the speed limit (the majority of US drivers; this speed is well above the speed limit 90% of the time)
2. Those who are slowpokes who shouldn't be on the road (almost all of the rest)
3. Those who drive the speed limit (it's VERY frustrating to be in this group!)

The reason the US doesn't have higher speed limits is because the anti-speed nazis have managed to convince everyone that if the speed limit is raised the group 1 drivers will be driving 90 instead of 70-80.  And at least in New York, it's almost impossible to go below the speed limit and not obstruct traffic.  And why should traffic ahead of you be allowed to force you to drive below the speed limit?  That's what you do when you drive below the limit: you force everyone to drive slower than they want to!

Personally, I usually drive the speed limit because I don't want to get a ticket, though I've noticed that I'm a lot more willing to speed than I used to be since NY fixed the state budget (the state troopers have mysteriously vanished since that happened despite all claims that speed enforcement was about safety).

[Chris]

The reason the US doesn't have higher speed limits is because the anti-speed nazis have managed to convince everyone that if the speed limit is raised the group 1 drivers will be driving 90 instead of 70-80.

That is the usual argument. If you raise the limit to 80, people will drive 90, if you raise it to 90, people will drive 110 and before you know it people zip by at 300 miles per hour.

Of course this is nonsense, because people like to drive a speed that fits the road. Studies in the Netherlands found that raising the limit from 120 to 130 kph increased the V85 by only 2 kph, from 127 to 129 kph. In other words, people were already exceeding the limit, but did not significantly increase their speed after they were allowed to drive faster.

There will also be the 1% idiots that drive too fast no matter what, but it's not like the other 99% of the traffic has to suffer from unrealistic low speed limits.

[Brandon]

The reason the US doesn't have higher speed limits is because the anti-speed nazis have managed to convince everyone that if the speed limit is raised the group 1 drivers will be driving 90 instead of 70-80.

That is the usual argument. If you raise the limit to 80, people will drive 90, if you raise it to 90, people will drive 110 and before you know it people zip by at 300 miles per hour.

Of course this is nonsense, because people like to drive a speed that fits the road. Studies in the Netherlands found that raising the limit from 120 to 130 kph increased the V85 by only 2 kph, from 127 to 129 kph. In other words, people were already exceeding the limit, but did not significantly increase their speed after they were allowed to drive faster.

There will also be the 1% idiots that drive too fast no matter what, but it's not like the other 99% of the traffic has to suffer from unrealistic low speed limits.

Ditto for when MDOT raised the limit from 55 to 70 mph on the freeways in Detroit.  It brought the lower end of traffic up and slightly calmed, yes, I said calmed, the top end.  It actually made for a smoother traffic flow.

[1995hoo]

I saw some data from when New York finally posted a 65-mph speed limit in 1995. Prior to the change (i.e. when they still followed the original NMSL) the average speed on New York's Interstates was 65 mph. After the change, it increased to 68 mph. The change is easily attributed to the speed-limit obeyers speeding up.

BTW, I'd consider one group of drivers to be a fourth group–the ones who ate determined to go as fast as they want regardless of road conditions, traffic, speed limits, etc., and who will weave all over the place in and out of traffic like madmen, tailgate, etc. The dangerous groups are these people and the ones who drive too slowly, and by "too slowly" I mean the little old lady or the immigrant who's clearly scared shitless to the point of being a traffic hazard due to slow speed.