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Comment by cylinder | Hacker News Reader

Yes, the main point is that I pay more attention when driving faster on a freeway. One need only take a road trip in Australia to see how ridiculous low speed limits on open roads are. 110 kmh limit with, yes, very strong enforcement in place, in a completely rural area with few cars around, no people, no pedestrians, on a long drive (it's ten hours from Melbourne to Sydney with basically nothing in between).

Result -- zone out on cruise control, look at your phone, talk to others in the car, etc. Focus on the road? Nope.

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Australian traffic camera tolerances are also set ridiculously low, and there are far too many variations in limits.

I fully support 50kmh urban street limits, but the open road sections should have a day/night limit, where the day limit is 130, like most of Europe and some parts of the US. There should also be limits to how often a speed limit can change in a single stretch of road, and highway speed zone changes should have a minimum of three signs at even spacing to indicate the change approaching, at the spot and one more reminder.

There should also be a ban on concealed traffic cameras - getting a fine long after the event has very little effect on the behaviour, apart from generating feelings of injustice.

Exactly -- sure, you can still hide behind a truck and go 100 km/h all the time -- but most cars efficiency sweet spot is around 130 km/h, and driving at that speed leads to more dynamic, occasionally passing trucks, etc.

What is an "efficency sweet spot"?

When I consistently drive at the speed limit (in the Netherlands, 120km/h) I have to fill up every 4 working days. When I consistently drive 100 km/h I only have to fill up every 5 working days. Takes 20% longer but the tank also lasts 20% longer.

Depends on the car. If you have a tiny engine, then it will use large amounts of fuel at high speeds. If you have a large engine, it will use less. My personal experience:

Peugeot Partner 2.0 HDi - 6-7l/100km when driving in city traffic, 12-13l/100km when driving at 140km/h,

Land Rover Discovery 3 4.4L V8 - 15-16l/100km when driving in city traffic, 9-10l/100km when driving at 140km/h.

Basically your engine should stay below 3000rpm - if you have to keep it at 4000rpm just to maintain a certain speed then it's too much for the engine and it's not being efficient.

It really depends on the car. I mostly drive rentals, in the range of Ford Fiesta to Opel Astra -- all of them fell in that range.

110 isn't that much different to the US's 75. There is much stronger enforcement though. I spent six weeks driving around the US, multiple hours most days, and I was generally 0-5 mph above the speed limit... but I didn't have to look at the speedo. Came home, and it was painfully obvious just how much of my attention was split watching the speedo like a hawk because people can and do get fined for doing 64 in a 60 zone. And the fines aren't trivial.

If the limit were higher, wouldn't you still zone out on cruise control, and so on, just at the higher speed?

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