> Then there’s also the the objectively atrocious driving record of Americans.
I think as in most things, the higher the penetration, the worse the average will be. If you give every moron in the country a car, the average will be pretty awful, the us just has high penetration. As a European it's always shocked me that in the us even borderline retarded people have cars. In Europe that's less so the case because those people usually can't afford to buy a car.
People just don’t give a duck about following the rules when driving in the US unless police are around, even then in some places there are rules where police can’t even stop you for minor infractions so it’s chaos in some areas.
In Australia, you are very at risk for jail for going over anything above 40km/h which is about 25mph. It’s considered reckless/dangerous driving. Your license would also be suspended for six months. I think we have excessive fines but the US seems to go in the opposite direction.
https://www.eastonlawoffices.com/blog/reckless-driving-examp...
This is mind-blowing, but it would be surprising to find this would happen without additional consequences. A friend of mine was ticketed for 20 MPH over the speed limit (not in California) and had his license suspended. Most states in the US adopt a points-based system that triggers suspension when you acquire sufficient numbers. California is no different.
In California, my understanding is there's three classes of speeding ticket (1-15, 16-25, and 26+), but there's also a separate offense for doing over 100 mph [1] that allows for a license suspension of up to 30 days at court discretion on the first offense, with mandatory suspensions on further offenses. Additionally, I think you commited both the basic speeding and the 100+ speeding. And as a sibling remarked, you're likely to catch a reckless driving charge too.
Entertainment media isn't always the best way to get legal information.
Also, the cost of a ticket is the fee by law, plus a bunch of court fees and other stuff. IIRC, when I had a speeding ticket near Los Angeles, the fee by law was about 1/3rd the overall cost. I had to deposit the full fees in order to contest the ticket.
[1] https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/codes_displaySectio...
I have decades of driving experience in the US, and even I find it a difficult environment to drive in. People are just extremely unpredictable and are apparently always in a hurry if they aren't instead slyly stroking their Instagram feeds on phones nestled in their cupholders. Maybe it's worse in California, but it seems pretty bad everywhere.
Though there are places in the USA that have always been especially bad. I have nightmares about driving in New Orleans, and Florida was always 80-85 once you hit the freeway. California, even LA, is easy mode in comparison.
Well, ackshually, the US doesn't look that bad, according to this chart [0].
The US is #107 of 191 for deaths per capita and #5 of 25 for deaths per mile driven.
However, there are only 25 countries on that chart with data for deaths per mile driven.
[0]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_traffic-r...
Ackshually go back to your list and tell me which high income countries do worse than the USA. Do you struggle with reading comprehension or something?
Have you considered improving the precision of your vocabulary?