danrjones wrote: ↑Thu Jul 23, 2020 2:01 pmThat's true of course. I'm thinking Southern and Eastern CA and Arizona and Nevada and beyond. The open roads so to speak. The posted speed limit in AZ and I-40 is 75 but most are doing 80 or more. In my area the official speed limit on US-395 and CA-14 is 65 or 70 depending on the area but traffic routinely is going 75. I'm certain I've seen posted limits out in Nevada at 80.cwerdna wrote: ↑Thu Jul 23, 2020 1:47 pmDepends on where.danrjones wrote: ↑Thu Jul 23, 2020 12:29 pmThe varying test conditions aside, 75 mph seems perfectly reasonable. All the highways around me that's about the average driving speed. I always keep my leaf at 70 mph but otherwise I'd probably be around 75 as well.
Speed limits when you hit AZ or other states are even higher.
IIRC, the speed limits of some of the highways around/in the Seattle area were only 60 mph. And, people drive slow in Western WA. People go at or below the speed limit in the "fast lane" for no reason (daylight, dry, nobody in front) and often, don't move over when cars are piling up behind them.
For some highways, the speed limits would go up as you got further from populated metro areas.
This is in contrast to say the LA area, where I distinctly remember going over 70 mph in the middle lane of 55 mph zone of i-5 and cars were going by on both sides of me, including some zooming by (happens all the time in LA but not as much in the SF Bay Area).
In my part of the Bay Area, the speed limits are 65 mph at max (w/a few highways a bit lower) and 75 mph all the time in those would likely land you some tickets.
NV, UT, ID, MT, WY, SD, OK and TX all have 80 mph rural Interstate limits. All the other Western States except CA and OR (70) are 75. Since most people know the highway patrol will give them 5 mph, the actual speed is 75 or 80.
On my recent trip up I-505/5 to Shasta and back, I cruised at 80 for at least 1.5 hours, and 75 most of the rest of the time, and I was moving pretty much with. the flow of traffic. 505's always been pretty empty, but 5 seemed to have less traffic than I remember, no doubt due to Covid, and was moving a bit faster than typical - at the height of stay at home it must have been almost empty. The trucks were cruising in the high 60s.