alt Hacker News> the data clearly shows the speed limit should probably be adjusted
The problem is a cultural one. Most people interpret a speed limit of N as "I should go N+10" (or something like that). If we remove speed limits, the majority of people would end up driving at unsafe speeds. People will always break speed limits unless they are set at that unsafe level.
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And the solution is to build the roads such that going over the speed limit feels dangerous.
Make roads narrower. Add more bends and lateral shifts. Plant trees along the road to obstruct sight lines. Build roads so that only speeds below the speed limit are safe on them and people will travel below the speed limit.
I don't think that's true. When I was in Montana, where the limit is 80mph on freeways, there were very few people going faster than the limit.
Not true people drive what they feel the safe limit of the road to be. You can easily devise a road that has 55 mile an hour speed limit and no one will go over 35.
> If we remove speed limits, the majority of people would end up driving at unsafe speeds.
[[citation needed]]
The speed limits are a useful safety signal. If I suddenly see a 30mph limit in a 50mph zone, usually it's because of upcoming curves and it likely not safe to continue at 65mph.