Drivers in the U.S. tend to stay within the speed limit range on most major highways, according to new GPS data from TomTom. The company crunched numbers from its Speed Profiles database, sourced from TomTom’s Tele Atlas map business unit and a part of TomTom’s trademark IQ Routes feature that tracks the average actual speeds of drivers on typical routes.
It found that even drivers in the fastest stages–Mississippi, New Mexico, Idaho, Utah, and Alabama–stayed either within or just over posted speed limits of 65 to 75 mph. This next bit is news to no one, but congested routes like I-95 on the eastern seaboard exhibit dramatically different average speeds in different sections, with the slowest being in Virginia, New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut.
Interestingly, Montana was nowhere to be found in the top group; that state famously lifted all numerical speed limits in December 1995 and replaced them with “reasonable and prudent,” and did things like issue $5 “energy use” tickets for anyone driving under 100 mph. That whole thing didn’t stand up in court very well, so it was repealed four years later.
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