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To be fair i have never driven in the States so i cant comment on the dynamics of
driving on your roads. Over here the national speed limit is 70mph most free flowing motorways the traffic is flowing at 80 if not faster on some roads at certain times. if all the traffic is flowing well then your not going to be pulled over for doing that speed. Its a case of reading the traffic particular road and not driving like a maniac but to be fair i drive at close to 100mph quite a bit on some road mainly when traveling on motorways at night but for most cars at that time as long as the road does not have speed traps its nothing unusual and you always see cars going even faster than you are I would say cars pass me at 120 quite often on certain roads at night.
I will give you a sinario that seems to happen all to often when i am driving. You get 2
HGVs traveling side by side on a 3 lane motor way. They should not really do that but for what ever reason they do. now they are at a limit of 60mph but you have a car traveling at 80 in the offside lane. so i may be traveling at 70mph and fast approaching the HGV is the second lane. I either have to put my brakes on and slow to match the speed and trail behind it until the overtaking lane is clear for some way back or i see my optionally before i get too close put my foot down and overtake. Not the car that is fast approaching is doing 80 but i don't know that for sure so to be safe i need to know that i can get up to nearer to 90 without a problem. i also want to be beside the HGV for as little time as i can. I know my car will excelerate hard till 115mph and top out at 120 so that maneuver is quite safe for me to do.
If it is not an HGV then its is usually someone that does not understand that you don't have a slow lane and fast lane just overtaking lanes. You get people sitting at 50mph in the centre lane when the rest of the traffic is flowing at about 70-80 in that particular lane but they do not drop into the outside lane to allow the rest of the traffic to overtake.
I would never go on a motorway with a car that could not top at least 100. You need acceleration in excess of what others are cursing at and if they happen to be going faster than i expect i need the power to account for that. When traveling at speeds its safer to speed up and get out of harms way than it is to slam on your brakes and cause a potential accident behind you with a ripple effect.
If all cars that could exceed the speed limit were replaced with a new technology that could exceed that then it really would not be an issue. Everyone would be in the same boat but that would never happen and I don't think people want to travel at 70mph it seems incredibly slow in a modern car. I cant say i know one person that sticks to the limit all the time.
If we are talking about potential cars for a world market then 100 does not seem that silly as a top figure. france have limits that go up to 80mph, Italy 95, only 30% of highways in germany have a limit at all, all though that may change in the future. At the moment you could travel at 170mph if wish. Australia 80mph.
You don't cruise at the the very top speed a car can do just like you don't listen to a HIFI at the fullest volume it can go. the peak speed and sustainable speed you wish a car to be able to sit at for any length of time is quite different.
One of the reasons the alternative tecnolagys get dismissed by the general public is because they just cant cut it among what we already have or offer a big enough advantage in another area to warrant the sacrifice.
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