> > My one big concern with traffic laws is that so many of them seem to be for show (or revenue, as is
> > evidenced by the insanely low 65 MPH speed limits on freeways) rather than actual safety...
>
> Is 65 mph really insanely slow? Wow.
>
> There's no road, anywhere in Australia (except possibly in the deep, deep outback where the Main Roads Department never ventures) where drivers are allowed to go over 70 mph.
> Normal speed limit in towns and cities is a tad under 40 mph.
>
> Pa"assuming I got the conversion factor right"ul

Paul, the difference is the highways. You don't raise a cloud of dust on US Interstate highways.
They are between 4 and 12 lanes wide and a lane is 12 feet, nearly four meters. When I go to my daughter's house 170 miles away I cover 155 miles of Interstate in just over two hours. I set the cruise on about 72 or 73 and sometimes I never drop under that. More often, I kick it up to 80 or so just to get past a truck. I have a small 4 cylinder car but it's new and very smooth. Most of our Interstates are extremely smooth pavement.
65 miles per hour can seem painfully slow.
Howard