bluefoxicy

I'm more of an advocate of higher speed limits-- on lower foot-traffic road and highways. Residential areas have always been 25mph here, and it needs to stay that way; we don't need 30-40mph traffic going past your house. Of course, most stuff that's not highway is already pretty decent here: the big commercial area roads are 35mph, the big middle-of-nowhere roads are 45mph. Highways are like 50-55 here though, and that should be 65-70; there are no pedestrians and no bicycles allowed on highways, so hitting those things is not a problem.

The bigger problem isn't speed; it's attentiveness. I always cite German traffic law, which I'll again point to a useful summary here: http://www.gettingaroundgermany.info/regeln.shtml

Under German traffic laws, the default speed in Urban areas is 50kph or about 30mph. Outside urban areas, it's trickier: 100kph (60mph) for cars and motorcycles, 80kph (50mph) for bigger things like trucks and buses or cars pulling trailers, and 60kph (about 37mph) for double-trailer trucks or any truck bigger than 7.5 metric ton. Which makes sense: get in a 7.5 metric ton truck and try to stop it from 60mph once, it's not great; the motorcycle stops from 60mph a lot faster.

Germany also has "traffic calming zones" where you must maintain the lowest speed possible: 7kph or about 5mph. Children can play in the street here. You are expected to not hit things.

But this is all speed control...well, mostly. "Traffic calming zones" are less about speed than the more important aspect of German traffic law: the large amount of responsibility placed on a driver. You cannot hit things with your car.

"I didn't see him" isn't an excuse. Why didn't you see a bicyclist in the road? You should have seen him. You should have seen a pedestrian. Your foot should be off the accelerator if there are children or old people near the road at all, and you should be prepared to stop; this is a requirement, and if you hit them it is your fault even if they run out in front of you and hurl themselves at your car.

European countries in general have the best driving laws, and I think America is way far behind. If we cut the speed limits down to 20mph, we'll have bicyclists getting killed by cars rolling over them at 20mph. They still won't see you at 20mph--not until we start structuring our driver's education better and start holding drivers accountable for their actions. We've stripped that down so badly in this country, especially with that whole liability insurance thing: your insurance goes up, at worst, for causing a traffic incident. We call it an "accident" and absolve you from responsibility, just assigning "fault" or "blame" or whatever you want to call it. This needs to go away.