The other day I spent a happy six or so hours driving up from New York to Montreal. It’s a pretty drive, and basically a straight line north once you hit the I87 just outside the George Washington Bridge. The total distance is 370 miles, and unfortunately this time the wait at customs was about 45 minutes (which has never happened before), which meant the journey took seven hours for a change.
Now apparently the 55mph limits that are imposed on a lot of the route, although 65mph is also common, is not now a federal requirement. According to this opinion piece in the Wall Street Journal all state governments have had the right to impose any speed limit they like since 1995. In fact Texas has an 80 mph limit on rural roads! If this were the case in New York states then I’d save an hour on that drive plus be a heckuva lot stressed about exceeding speed limits and be a lot safer by not slamming on the brakes whenever a state trooper pops up (I passed about 15 on the way up this time).