Why aren't top speeds limited?

[Kurokage]

Allegedly.

BUT, I haven't had a ticket since 1990.

I gotta tell this one. It was 1990 and I owned a Kawasaki Ninja 750. On my way home from work, there was a stretch of road about 5 miles long, straight and flat. The State Trooper clocked me at 130.

Yes, I got arrested.
Yes, they impounded my bike and Hell Yes it was expensive.

Around the same time, I owned a tuned up Ford Sierra XR4i. Was driving a girlfriend back home on an empty (2am) motorway at around the same speed (a little bit faster!!!). A jag flew down a slip road and right up behind me, I didn't brake but took my foot of the gas, was clocked doing 98. I borrowed an etiquette book and wrote a grovelling letter to the judge, got a small fine and a couple of points on my licence. Learnt my lesson. 

Which is why young drivers should be limited !! 

[Oldcarpy2]

Around the same time, I owned a tuned up Ford Sierra XR4i. Was driving a girlfriend back home on an empty (2am) motorway at around the same speed (a little bit faster!!!). A jag flew down a slip road and right up behind me, I didn't brake but took my foot of the gas, was clocked doing 98. I borrowed an etiquette book and wrote a grovelling letter to the judge, got a small fine and a couple of points on my licence. Learnt my lesson. 

Which is why young drivers should be limited !! 

Me?  Opel Manta Gte Exclusive that had been turbod.  M25.  Got done for speeding.

In Dartford Mags Court where I regularly used to appear.  This time, in the dock.

Beak said 'Mr X, you seem to be standing in the wrong place"?

"Not today, I'm afraid...".

So, prosecuting Counsel, who I knew well, was very kind.

Banned for 14 days, which took off the 6 points on my licence....

[Kurokage]

Me?  Opel Manta Gte Exclusive that had been turbod.  M25.  Got done for speeding.

In Dartford Mags Court where I regularly used to appear.  This time, in the dock.

Beak said 'Mr X, you seem to be standing in the wrong place"?

"Not today, I'm afraid...".

So, prosecuting Counsel, who I knew well, was very kind.

Banned for 14 days, which took off the 6 points on my licence....

Solicitors being bad and speeding?? Never!! 

That must have been around the mid 80s, and you tend to only get banned after a ton??

[UltraBudgie]

There are a few very rare circumstances where being able to speed up or accelerate above legal limits can avoid an accident. For example, if you're going through a green-light intersection and you see someone about to run the red light and hit you. Imagine if a speed limiter kicked in and stopped you from flooring it to clear the intersection before getting t-boned. Lawsuit!

That said, yes, it is mostly about two other things: the thrill of going fast, and adding to an environment of self-perpetuating fear of the law because everyone's going 75mph on the highway and you have to as well or it's dangerous, but then you're a scofflaw who can be sanctioned if your luck is bad. Learn to fear Officer Friendly!

[sahgwa]

What I've never understood is the fact that small cars that are picked by young drivers these days, can easily do 130mph, and because they're light are more affected by winds and road conditions at those high of speed.
Young males driving 4up (young people onboard) in a more 'sporty' or modified vehicle have always been one of the biggest causes of accidents. 

I think limiting new drivers to what ever the maximum speed limit is a sensible precaution.

I am not sure if he was an illegal immigrant but a young Latino (21 yo) put 2 people in the hospital with serious injuries because he was driving his Audi at almost 80mph in a 40 zone on a Saturday at dinner time. He hit an old hippie VW van and both occupants were thrown out of the car and lucky to not be killed.
The question is, since he was arrested 2 months after the crash, were they investigating his culpability, or had he fled the scene?

The article I read is purposefully vague methinks. 
He had his friends in the car with him too. 
So you are right on the demographic with cars too fast for their developing brains to handle.

[quintessentone]

Topic says it all.  What is the logical reason a car needs to be able to go over 90mph?  First responder/emergency vehicles not included of course

They raised the speed limit where I am by 10 km and life is getting very fast for me because I don't drive as often, and hardly ever now on highways.

The thing is the speed may be 90mph but people do up to 30 mph on top of that and when in heavy traffic, the time saved is miniscule. So there is no logical reason anyone needs to go 90mph or faster IMO.

[UltraBudgie]

The thing is the speed may be 90mph but people do up to 30 mph on top of that and when in heavy traffic, the time saved is miniscule.

True about the time saved being miniscule. I've been passed on the interstate by cars vrooming along, and then caught up with them at the traffic light 10 minutes later when I take my exit. It usually doesn't make a difference going fast in those cases.

But there does seem to be a "top speed" that people are happy with. I was driving through Wyoming recently, and the speed limit of 80mph seemed just fine to everyone. They were driving it exactly, or one or two miles under. Don't think I got passed once. But then again, that's Wyoming for ya.

[quintessentone]

True about the time saved being miniscule. I've been passed on the interstate by cars vrooming along, and then caught up with them at the traffic light 10 minutes later when I take my exit. It usually doesn't make a difference going fast in those cases.

But there does seem to be a "top speed" that people are happy with. I was driving through Wyoming recently, and the speed limit of 80mph seemed just fine to everyone. They were driving it exactly, or one or two miles under. Don't think I got passed once. But then again, that's Wyoming for ya.

I tell ya, I do the speed limit because driving relaxes me, right on the nose speed limit, and I'm given the horn by tailgaters on my neighbourhood rural roads. I just slow down and if they don't get the message to pass, I slow down even more. It is what it is.

[Wild Bill]

In my late teens and early twenties I was a nut job late at nights in the quiet roads where I live , I considered it my private race track as long as their was nothing else about it was pedal to the metal all the way , I really pushed some very powerful cars to their limit and still wanted to go faster .

Then I wisend up and did a total 180 and became a very frugal driver who could get crazy milage from a gallon of fuel long before it was a thing , 

With the state of the roads these days it is not safe to speed and i really pity bikers because you can get lost in some of the holes in the roads in the UK .

Years ago I had a policeman who hated me just because I beat him at running at school when we were kids follow me for 30 + miles in a unmarked cop car hoping I would speed so he could ticket me lol .

I drove perfect not using the brakes just the gearbox on a very windy road ,he actually complimented me on it .

I have done that with a lot of things in life going from one extreme to another , but don't kid yourselves if you think cars are more powerful now than 30 odd years ago , They ain't !

[Tecate]

As a Paramedic I have had the misfortune to attend to a lot of high speed wrecks, single vehicle and multi-vehicle crashes.

I have often asked myself this same question. But it really comes down to driver competency and what they are driving. I had a ‘75 Dart Sport 340 6 pack that was squirrelly as hell. I was brought up driving fast on gravel roads, so paved roads were a treat. 

I have peeled folks out of cars that they shouldn’t have been driving at those speeds (think 17 y/o hitting a bridge abutment at 95mph in a K-Car) and wondering how they thought that was going to work out.

As an aside, I have seen people walk away from wrecks that no one should have survived, and others die in fender benders. Weird 

Meh, maybe when your number is up, then your number is up…

Tecate