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Comment by causalmodels | Hacker News Reader

Doesn't the autobahn have unrestricted sections with no speed limit?

Well, yes, but not really. The recommended speed limit is still 130 km/h. However going past the recommended speed limit is not illegal.

If you get into an accident while going faster than 130km/h which could have been prevented by going the advised speed limit, you may be considered more liable by the courts. I’ve heard that there may be cases where your insurance might not cover you, but I’ve never found proof of that online.

Edit: rephrased “decriminalised” as “not illegal” as per comment.

That wording is not correct. Recommended speed is a mechanism that is employed in many countries (in the Netherlands you see it on highway exits). The only rules that apply on a highway without signs is a recommended speed of 130 km/h with all the legal consequences this entails (e.g. if you have an accident you are at least partially at fault because the traffic situation obviously didn't allow you to drive as fast as you did) but speeding is not decriminalized as THC products are decriminalized in the Netherlands. There just is no speed limit. Period.

It does. And people drive between countries all the time in Europe, I personally drive through Germany few times a year and I'd hate it if my car had a speed limit purely because I bought it outside of Germany. But perhaps that's somewhat of an edge case that would work with a simple GPS geofence.

My car instantly recognises that I’m in Germany and knows what speed I used in the unrestricted sections, and automatically switches back to that.

When I’m in Belgium it knows the speed on the highway is 120 km/h. In France or Denmark 130 km/h. In Germany in an unrestricted section? Whatever I last set it to.

There were talks for ending this last bit of "madness" to help with the climate (to go at double one's speed one needs to spend 4 times more energy).

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