User:Elominius/Essay on motorway speed limits

In my opinion, there should be no general speed limit on motorways, at least not for the leftmost track.

Germany is famous for having no general driving speed limit on motorways. While individual motorways may have speed limits, there is no fixed limit for all.

In Germany, the farther a track is to the left, the faster one can drive. That is why huge trucks and busses drive on the right lane. On motorways with at least three tracks, it is fair to reserve the leftmost one for fast drivers.

On some foreign trips many years ago, our family was forced to sneak into the distance at 120 to 130 kilometres per hour for several hours, on bright sunny days with a wide and straight track, clear of other vehicles. One could look kilometres ahead. Nothing but straight and clear track. One could have safely driven at twice the speed, but due to the law in that country, we were confined to driving inconveniently slow.

Sure, driving at a higher velocity increases fuel consumption, and therefore the travelling expenses, since the air drag and ground resistance increase exponentially with speed, but that might be an acceptable trade-off for the saved time. We would happily have paid more for fuel if that meant that we would have to spend two fewer hours driving on an inconveniently hot summer day. And as one knows, time is more important than money.

It is the responsibility of the driver to evaluate the conditions and choose at which speed to drive. For example, if it is raining, if the visibility is poor due to fog, or if the motorway is populated, it is their responsibility to drive slower. But there should be an option to speed when the conditions are safe.

de:Benutzer:Elominius/Geschwindigkeitsbegrenzung