Well - if you look at the average speeds on a typical urban US highway, even a snail would overtake the commuters.
You've...never...actually driven here, have you?
The DC Beltway is insane; the speed limit is 55 mph but if you're going slower than 65 you're catching a lot of hate from other drivers.
Usual scenario is going 75 mph bumper-to-bumper.
And if you hop on Interstate 95 to Baltimore everyone's doing like 80.
True that during rush hour certain stretches of certain roads turn into a parking lot, especially I-95 southbound towards Richmond. But when it moves, it
moves, uncomfortably so.
I make an effort to sleep not far from where I work in order to avoid that craziness, but I know people who live as far away as West Virginia and drive to the DC area every day, which is crazy!
All that speeding is illegal, of course, but the speed limits in the US are really just de facto revenue collection schemes for governments, with many speed limit zones painfully low-balled. When it's time to drum up more money the cops can just go pick out the worst offenders and write more tickets. Our Interstates are actually built for high speeds, for the most part.
---------- Post added at 08:34 PM ---------- Previous post was at 08:30 PM ----------
And I might add, I've spent enough time on the West Coast to know that the Los Angeles freeway system is even scarier, in terms of high-density high-speed traffic. You have to adjust your comfort level.
On the other hand I've been to a lot of countries where the idea of traffic rules seems to be nonexistent, at least in the US we
do stop at red lights and so forth...
