Why are cars made to go faster than the fastest posted speed limit?

Question

Cars that go faster than lets say 70 mph cause deaths and serious injuries. If cars were made not to go over a certain speed then it would lower accidents caused by speeding. there would be less speeding tickets, less high speed chases, less death by motor vehicles. this seems to be a simple solution for a stupid problem. What is up with that?

Answer 1

Not necessarily. States also have seat-belt laws. Ah, but therein lies your question too. Why do they make seat belts you can unbuckle? It's all about choice.
Less traffic tickets would mean less revenue those tickets generate for local governments. Which means communities would have to raise taxes to make up for the short fall. No one wants to pay higher taxes, am i right?
The same can be said for insurance companies too. I don't want to have to pay the same insurance rate for a sports car or an SUV, when i don't own one.
Some people choose to live dangerously. That's their prerogative. And they way things are, they pay a little more to do so. Making up for the rest of us who would rather be safe and pay a little less.

Answer 2

bostonianinmo is right.

Speed limits are set by politicians in response to public perception that speed kills (thanks to heavy propaganda from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety and self-appointed 'safety watchdogs' like Ralph Nader).

If speed (alone) did kill, there would be no live fighter pilots or astronauts. The former travel at speeds up to 30 times the national speed limit, while astronauts travel 1,000 times faster than the speed limit.

The real question is not "why do we continue to build cars that can exceed the speed limit," but "why do we continue to limit speeds on limited access highways ('freeways,' toll roads and 'turnpikes') to speeds lower than people actually drive?"

There are several answers.

1. It's true that there is an appallingly low level of driving skill in the general population, so a low speed limit, although it is ineffective at keeping traffic below the posted limit, does keep speed down somewhat, with the result that the casualty rate is lower in the inevitable accidents that result. (We cannot repeal Newton's laws.)

2. Speed limits are a compromise that gives the highway patrol the legal basis to cite the drivers who drive UNSAFELY at high speed. Generally, if traffic is moving at a speed above the speed limit, officers will not cite a vehicle that is 'keeping up with traffic.'

3. Politics. No politician would be re-elected if he or she appeared to be 'anti-safety,' and as I said, most of the population (read - voters) erroneously associate higher speed limits with lowered safety.

4. Yet most people drive above the speed limit. Why? In spite of the truth of 1. above, everyone thinks he or she is an excellent driver. They believe that they are capable of maintaining a high rate of speed safely, whatever the speed limit. At the same time, they also believe (with some justification - see 1. above again) that the rest of us are unskilled morons who only got our drivers' license by bribing an examiner, and who need to be kept off the road. That being impractical, they accept the idea of speed limits to allow law enforcement officers to keep the rest of us driving at speeds closer to our skill level.

Freedom has a price, and all limits on it are a compromise.

We could totally eliminate all traffic accidents by limiting vehicles to a speed of zero miles per hour. If we accept that that is impractical, then we are just arguing over the details.

In Europe, auto manufacturers have agreed among themselves to limit the top speed of most of their cars to a top speed of 250 kph (about 155 mph). Here, we do it differently. We don't govern the cars, we govern the drivers.

I know this isn't what you wanted to hear, but it's the truth. Good luck and safe driving!

Answer 3

A low performance car is more likeley to get into bother. I used to have a 5 litre turbo Transam in the Mid-East. OK, it would do 160 mph on a dead straight desert road, but got me out of trouble in town when an accident occured in front of me. Just step on the gas with full lock, and it pointed the other way, in a cloud of tyre smoke. In the UK, though, I fail to see the point of my mates' Ferrari, capable of 200mph. He says it is the 0-70 acceleration thing. But it is still in 2nd gear. You may have a 100watt amplifier on your sound system, but leave it set low for quality sound. Same thing I suppose. Bob

Answer 4

Speed in and of itself does NOT kill or harm anyone. Excessive speed for the conditions at hand can be dangerous but the most common cause of traffic accidents and fatalities is DRIVER INATTENTION, not speed. The next most common cause is drunk driving. Speed, by itself, is way down the list of actual accident causes.

If I'm driving along a deserted highway that is in good condition and I'm alert, sober and awake and the weather is clear, and my car is in safe operating condition, the chances of my being involved in an accident merely because I'm driving at 120 MPH is virtually zero. (I lived in Germany for several years and did just that for many thousands of miles, thank you very much!) In the US, my only risk is being caught by the cops and cited for excessive speed. That's my choice, however, not yours.

Several years ago I had to rush my son to the hospital due to an accidental drug overdose. I called 911 but EMS would not be available for over an hour due to a major crash on the highway. I made the 25 mile trip at around 125 MPH and got him to the ER in a little over 12 minutes. The ER doc said that if we had been 5 minutes later it would have been too late. I did pick up a TX DPS trooper along the way who followed me to the ER and cited me for dangerous driving. The judge accepted my explanation and tossed the ticket.

If you'd like to save 30,000 lives a year, work on the drunk driving problem instead of trying to fix something that isn't broken.

BTW, there are speed limits in excess of 70 MPH. But let's say we limit speed to 80 MPH, the highest posted limit in the US. OK, so on a 55 MPH road, I can still drive 25 over. Or in a school zone I can still drive 60 MPH over. How many lives is your silly speed limiter going to save in those conditions? I'll tell you: Zero!

That's what's up with that!

Answer 5

All I gotta say is stupid drivers kill people. You doing ten over doesnt mean everyones going to crash and burn around you. If your well aware of whats around you and where other drivers are then whats the big deal?. If a person pulls in front of another and causes an accident well theyre dumb. Was there an accident because he/she was doing ten over? NO. It was because he/she pulled in front of that person. Speed doesnt kill people...stupid people not know who to drive kill people. Just like guns dont kill people...people kill people.

Answer 6

So police can give you tickets and pay for the roads we drive on hahahahaha.
Sorry no the car is rated by horse power and that power produced can drive a car well over the speed limet.
The controll for that speed is metered by you. Thy give us a limet that we can safty drive, but it can go over it.

Answer 7

try to accelerate only pushing the pedal down as far as you would to keep your car at 40 mph. it would take forever and that would be unsafe.

Answer 8

so the cops stay in business and you can be tempted think your gonna git away with it and tada pullover da weres the party and just start dancing when you see red white blue

Answer 9

its all political...rich people want more than that they really need...so faster cars are offered...if they stopped making them, then the rich people would stop giving money...economy stops growing and we all get affected...its best to just let the rich people do what they want...money walks and bullsh!t talks

Answer 10

In case you want to race!