Cars can generally go much faster than the maximum speed limit, so it wouldn't be the first time the car allows you to do something against the law.
Is it because Canada and Mexico? They have lower speed limits. Is it because the car could be exported to Germany and driven on the Autobahn? or what?
Remember that footage of Japanese drivers fleeing from the tsunami floods? How many more would have died if their cars had been slower? How many more would have survived if their cars could have gone faster?
There are plenty of survival situations (e.g., tsunamis, volcanoes, tornadoes, gas explosions, etc.) in which it's desirable for your car to go a lot faster than one should drive under normal driving conditions.
I see plenty of very dangerous driving within speed limits, ie people unable to keep in their lane, playing with cellphone, randomly breaking in semi-empty roads and so on.
These are my experiences from highways from most weekends. In towns, speed limits make much more sense and could be enforced by speed bumps or stationary radars
But I think the real reason is that people would be very, very grumpy about that law and regulators need to pick their battles.
For example, in Washington: http://app.leg.wa.gov/rcw/default.aspx?cite=46.61.425
An example is that if the speed limit is 55mph, it would generally be allowable to speed up to 60 to pass a farm vehicle traveling at 45mph on a 2 lane road provided that you're at a location where passing is allowed (clear line of sight, and the center line would be dotted instead of solid, no oncoming vehicles that would have to brake, etc.).
The second paragraph of that act does note that some roads may have minimum speed limits posted which you're not allowed to go slower than provided the road conditions are normal.
I believe Montana gave that up in the last few years, so there wouldn't be much of a case against putting an 85MPH governor in cars, except I guess against the possibility that some state might at some point raise their limit.
Some states (e.g. Texas) have been raising their speed limits, seemingly in keeping with the safety enhancements in cars, which is an interesting example of "risk compensation".
And extra 10km/h to account for instrument / measurement errors. Giving it an enforcable maximum of 160km/h = 100 mph. Yay :D
Back when the national speed limit was forced to 55mph because of the energy crisis, Montana legislators thumbed their nose at it by making it a cash fine of $5 IIRC that did not go on your record.
There are plenty of reasons not to do it. A lot of people take cars to the track, and not just those with high performance vehicles. I've seen people drag racing stock Camrys at a legit quarter mile track just because they wanted to see what it could do (not much).
Wouldn't work for controlling child, but on a freeway would work just as you expect.
Also, no offence, but if you can't trust your kid with a car, then maybe you shouldn't be lending them it in the first place? Or get them a less powerful car for the start?
A speed limiter is an incredibly one dimensional tool to try and modify accident chance.
It's called valet mode IIRC.
You make the erroneous assumption that drivers will suddenly obey the new speed limits. That isn't going to happen. Second the fatality rate and total number of motor vehicle crashes is lower now than it was when the NMSL (National Maximum Speed Limit) was in effect.
They circumvent this with their own car tuners which release the cars without this restrictions (AMG for Mercedes Benz as an example)
German here. No normal untrained person should be driving at those speeds. The general recommended speed for the autobahn is 130 km/h. Typical speeds on the middle and left lanes are up to 200 km/h though most days the typical "high" speed is probably closer to 170 or 180.
With good weather, no traffic and no roadworks (hah) you might be able to go over 200 km/h for a while but unless it's a long straight stretch you're probably way out of your comfort zone unless you're an experienced driver.
I would say a normal untrained person is safe to drive at speeds up to about 180 km/h. Most ordinary cars seem to handle noticeably worse with every 10 you go beyond 160 km/h or so.
And of course the entire discussion of typical speeds is philosphical when most of the Autobahn has speed limits (roadworks often limit the speed to 60 or even 40 km/h (or less) and even on normal parts the speed limit frequently is as low as 120, 100 or 80 km/h).
I got once 220 kmh with by older BMW 330d on unrestricted part of German highway, but it's quite stressful experience. You feel via your senses how fast everything is, you feel how long it takes for car to break to something more reasonable (ie 150) because of other drivers - this happens all the times, so it's almost never a smooth ride. And you know that any issue with the car like tire blowing means instant horrible death, and probably not only yourself.
Most normal tires have rating till only 220 (that is for new ones!), at speeds around 250 and more you will trash whole tires in 1 day (and you need good ones, not some cheap chinese crap with no grip), and whole car is just suffering much much more compared to regular driving.
Interesting one time experience, but even me I don't go over 150-160 on an empty road during day.
All new cars in EU have to be limited to 155mph by law, but manufacturers are allowed to remove that restriction if you complete an advanced training course. So for example - mercedes will remove the speed limiter on your AMG vehicle, if you finish their advanced amg handling course.
Can you give a source for that? To my knowledge the 155mph limit is just an informal agreement between BMW, Merc and Audi, and not law. The agreement also expired a decade ago.
I am fairly sure that you can just buy an RS6 or an AMG Mercedes with 190mph top speed, no courses required.
And yes, I've done a bit of digging at it appears you are correct - it's not actually the law, just an agreement between manufacturers.
Edit: Ok, I've looked through technical specs of all AMG vehicles, and it looks like every AMG model from A to S class is limited to 155mph unless you do the course, but the AMG GT isn't. So....yeah, I'm just completely wrong on this. My apologies.
And there are plenty of way less expensive cars out there with 300+ BHP. Again, not much point if you're limited to 85mph, which means the car industry has one less lever to pull to charge premium prices for premium models, and thus makes less money. And we're talking about an industry that's already, at least in some quarters, struggling.
(This could be complete nonsense of course.)
How’s that? In some jurisdictions (I would imagine in most, but can only speak with certainty about Czech and Slovak ones), it’s legal to do anything that would otherwise be illegal if you do in the course of protecting a person from imminent danger to their life. There are nuances to it, but the gist is that.
So imagine your son was bitten by a snake. Ambulance won’t get there and back to the hospital (because they won’t have a serum with them) fast enough. The fastest, best way to save your son is to drive him to the hospital as fast as you can. Fuck speed limits, a life is at stake, and it’s perfectly legal for you to ignore them (or any other laws you have to break to save his life) while doing so.
The car wouldn’t be able to judge this. It would have prevented you from driving fast enough and your son would die, even though the car’s restrictions would not be preventing any illegal behavior at the time.