The Stuart Highway, in Australia’s Northern Territory, has one 200km long section between Alice Springs and Barrow Creek with an open speed limit.
The Isle of Man also has no speed limits but unlike Germany and Australia lacks motorways (highways).
Other countries and territories impose speed limits that can vary quite widely. And remember we’re talking about the highest posted speed limit in each country, not the average. Always be sure to know and understand the speed limit where you’re driving and stick to it. Speeding kills!
Surprisingly, given America’s love of cars, all states have speed limits. Until, 1999 Montana had a non-numeric “reasonable and prudent” speed limit, but this was deemed too vague by the Montana Supreme Court and a new limit of 75 mph (120 km/h) was imposed.
That means a 41 mile (65km) long portion Texas State Highway 130 is the fastest road in the United States (and the Americas), with a posted speed limit of 85 mph (140 km/h).
Also interesting, all US states have limits above 55 mph (90 km/h), which was the federally mandated limit from 1973-87. The limit then increased to 65 mph (105 km/h) until 1995, when it was finally abolished.
Hawaii, at 60 mph (100 km/h), is only state with a speed limit below 65 mph. Alaska, Connecticut, Delaware, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Wisconsin have all kept it at 65 mph, with all other states now having higher limits on at least some roads.
Canada’s most populous provinces have even lower speed limits, with both Ontario and Quebec sharing a maximum limit of just 100 km/h (60 mph). However, it’s Nunavut with no speed limits above 70 km/h that is the lowest in Canada and potentially the world.
In Europe, The UK is among the slowest states with maximum limits of just 70 mph (110 km/h). Poland and Bulgaria, on the other hand, are among the fastest with limits of up to 140 km/h.
Finally, some of the slowest countries in the world include: Bolivia, Faroe Islands, Greenland, Honduras, Lesotho, Liechtenstein, Malta, Macau, Madagascar, Montenegro, Suriname, Trinidad & Tobago, Uganda all of which share national speed limits of just 80 km/h (50 mph).
Like to learn about speed limits and driving? Then have a look at:
- Drives of a Lifetime: 500 of the World’s Most Spectacular Trips
- The Great Race: The Global Quest for the Car of the Future
- The Big Roads: The Untold Story of the Engineers, Visionaries, and Trailblazers Who Created the American Superhighways
Know of speed limits in any other country not on the map? Tell us in a comment below:
Dumpweed says
Nice map with only one tiny flaw. We have ea speed limit in germany on our “Autobahn” and it is 130km/h. There are only some spots where is no limit but you have to watch out for them. And even if you are lucky to drive on a part that has no limit and you are involved in a crash your insurance will tell you that it would have been better driving 130km/h.
Alan James says
Actually, he said it’s the highest posted spot in each country, not the average. Since there are some spots where there is no limit, that makes it the highest.
mckyj57 says
This map is wrong. Idaho, Montana, Utah, and Wyoming all have 80mph speed limits on some of their rural interstate highways.
Kevin_OKeeffe says
South Dakota just recently increased its speed limit to 80 MPH.
Adam Hovey says
Here in South Carolina the highest that I know of is 70 miles per hour
(about 113 km/h). The fastest I know of in the United States is 85 miles per hour in Texas (about 137 km/h)
Brian Charles Redfern says
In Norway there are only a few motorways in the east of the country where there is a 110kph speed limit the general limit is 80kph.
Hal says
Idaho and Utah have an 80mph limit on rural freeways.
sonya says
dagger gt is the best
mike says
Speed does not kill. This is a lie perpetuated by people who observe the 6 o’clock news vs observing statistics.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_traffic-related_death_rate
Germany and Austria (with a combination of speed controlled and unlimited speed sections of motorway) consistently have lower fatality rates than many Western countries, e.g. the US and Canada (where I live). Not necessarily scientific, but I have driven in all the above countries, and my experience is that many many drivers are simply unable to safely operate a modern vehicle at highway speeds, either due to fear, lack of ability, lack of training, or simple lack of ability. If we keep giving drivers licence’s to people who cannot drive at speed, we will keep killing people unnecessarily….and blaming it on speed.
1inCanada says
Agreed.
Severity One says
It doesn’t quite work that way. Speed in itself doesn’t kill, but very rapid deceleration does. For example, if you crash at high speed. The energy of a moving object is the square of the speed, so a car that drives twice as fast has four times the destructive power. That’s basic physics.
Road design plays a huge factor as well. I’m originally from the Netherlands, where a lot of thought goes into designing infrastructure. Intersections are designed in such a way as to minimise the chance of a collision. If you watch car crash videos from Russia or the USA, where a lot of collisions happen on intersections where a lane turning left has to cross a lane going straight: that will not happen in the Netherlands. And if you need to turn left onto an 80 km/h (50 mph) road, there will be a bit in the middle where you can wait, so you don’t cross two lanes at once.
About 20 years ago, I moved to Malta. At the time, the Netherlands had the second-lowest number of deaths per capita in Europe. Only Malta had fewer. But this was not because the Maltese were better drivers; if anything, traffic rules were considered more like recommendations. Drinking and driving was and still is considered normal, and enforcement was and still is largely absent.
So why did Malta have such low numbers of fatalities? Because it’s a relatively small and very densely populated island. The blanket speed limit is 80 km/h, but usually it’s lower than that. Moreover, traffic is so intense that often you’re driving slowly.
Fast-forward 20 years, and Malta has only gone up in number of fatalities per capita – even though the population has gone up by 20%. So what has happened in the meantime?
* Getting your licence was trivial; that’s no longer the case.
* There are far more motorcycles, and they usually drive like maniacs.
* Several arterial roads have been realised, allowing for better traffic flow, and speeds closer to the limit (or over the limit; there is still only a handful of speed cameras).
Yes, training is all-important. You can have the best designed roads in the world, or a low speed limit. But if your driving ability is that of a baboon, that becomes irrelevant.
But claiming that speed plays only a minor role? Uh-uh. That’s not how it works.
(Also, Austria does have speed limits. Germany is the outlier in Europe.)
Theroux says
I remember this. “Nunavut ain’t havin’ none of it.” If only they were pronounced the same.
Mohammed says
I saw this map in so many sites. But it has major errors. Speed limit shown for UAE is wrong. The highest speed limit in UAE is 160 km/h. That is for two major highway stretch between Al Wathba- Al Ain & Mafraq – Al Gweifat.
Secondly the speed limit chose for Norther Territory of Australia in the maps must be wrong. Please correct
Raymondo says
In New Zealand, apart from a few short motorways the speed limit is 100 kph. Not 110 kph.
Charlie says
The Northern Territory in Australia has a maximum limit of 130 kph. The unlimited section of road was eliminated in 2016, so there are no longer any unlimited speed limit highways in Australia.
San Pateste says
On Venezuelan’s roads the limit still is 80 km/h, so it’s false to state 120 km/h. I am Venezuelan I’ve never seen before a kind of adv showing limit of 120km/h, never ever…
Heywood Jablowme says
Most of the comments on this page are completely missing the point – this is an article and map about the HIGHEST speed limit in a country or state, not the most common or the average or the one on the highway you drive most often.
Sara says
In Ontario we have regions where the highest posted speed limit is 110km/h near the border
Quentin Brown says
You say that Nunavut has a max 70Km/h speed limit, yet is coloured orange which would denote 90. The big brown blob to the North-East of Canada is Greenland, which is not part of Canada, but rather a part of Denmark.