Highway Speed Limits in Europe

Highway speed limits in Europe have existed since the mid 1950s and they all started in England. When an unusual merger was made between AC cars and Ford motor company, a man called Carroll Shelby created a car called the Shelby Cobra. A coupe version of the car was clocked on the highway at 180 MPH and it made the papers. This incident single handedly started a movement in England that forced the government to introduce 70mph speed limits in the whole country.

Different countries in Europe have different ideas on the speed limits for their Highways and therefore the obvious question comes up; who decides how fast we are aloud to drive?

In England now the speed limit is set to 70mph on highways and 55 to 65 on dangerous traits, In Italy the speed limit is in kph and is equivalent to 80mph on highways everywhere, in France is 75 and in Germany there are no speed limits unless the road is dangerous.

I would understand if there would be a committee that sets the standard for the European union and oversees the whole process of standardizing the roads and categorizing them in order to set the same speed limit for similar type of roads in Europe. I have driven in all these countries and the difference is unbelievable, because different countries react differently to speed limits.

In England most people follow the speed limit but the government gives a little bit of space for error so you can travel at 75mph and not get a ticket. In France nobody drives even close to the speed limit because people are scared of getting a ticket so everyone drives even slower. In Italy nobody follows the speed limit, everyone goes as fast as they need to go and in Germany there is no speed limit.

What I think its very important to point out is that on Germanys highways there are less accidents then on any other country mentioned, studies suggest that not having a speed limit forces you to focus much more on your driving no matter the speed you are traveling at because the people around you are driving incredibly fast.

In countries like England and France accidents are very common on highways because the population has grown accustomed to the speed limit and now it does not feel very fast, so the human brain will eventually take away focus from the road.

Standards in this area of life are very important in Europe or one reason. In today’s Europe there are no border tolls, therefore people travel between countries freely and get used to different roads. If Europe had an overseeing committee that categorized the European roads and gave them appropriate speed limits then European citizens would not look at a speed limit as a way for a country to make money off of, but an index to inform how dangerous the road is and what the appropriate speed limit would be to feel safe.

In my opinion America has the same issue because speed limits are state controlled and are not regulated by the federal government therefore people take speed limits as a way to get you and not an important safety standard.