The 6 Fastest Roads in the World
With traffic congestion and government policies seeing the increasing imposition of speed limits on our roads, sometimes it is nice to reflect upon what it would be like to press the pedal to the metal and travel along the world’s fastest roads at legal speeds that allow you to experience the real excitement of owning a powerful car. Here's BMW of Silver Spring's guide to six locations where that dream can become reality. (Note: Many of these roads are located in mainland Europe, so you might need a plane ticket or two to get to them.)
The German Autobahn
Germany has to take the top spot in the world’s fastest roads, not least because around 45 percent of the country's autobahns have no speed limit, although the advisory speed limit is 81 mph. The total length of the autobahn network is 7,982 miles, which gives you plenty of space to test the limits of your car.
Isle of Man
Surprisingly, the Isle of Man, a small British island situated in the Irish Sea between the UK and Ireland is another place where there are roads with no speed limits. However, most of these unrestricted roads are two lanes wide and meander through the country in rural locations, so pushing the limit here, while not illegal, may not be advisable, to say the least.
Poland Autostrada
The roads that have highest maximum imposed speed limit can currently be found in Poland, where drivers can legally cruise along at a respectable 88 mph (140 km/h), secure in the knowledge that if you increase this to 93 mph you will still not be prosecuted by the police, as they generally only enforce the speed limit if you are caught driving more than 10 km over (at a speed of 98 mph).
Slovakia motorways
Remaining in Eastern Europe, the next fastest legal road network is located in Slovakia. Here, while the limit on most of its motorways is limited to 80 mph (130 km/h), the country is considering increasing that limit to 99 mph (160 km/h)--so close to that thrilling 100--on some sections.
Croatia Autocresta
Now onto Croatia! Although the legal speed limits on this country’s main highways conform to the dominant Europe mainland standard of 80 mph (130 km/h), Croatian police tend to tolerate speeds up to 90 mph, making these roads attractive to the power-hungry driver. A 10-mile margin of error means that you can push the limits of your car’s performance without fear of the seeing flashing police lights in your rear-view mirror.
France Autoroutes
Moving west into France, we come to the last of the world’s six fastest roads. Besides weather and traffic conditions, French motorways are limited to 80 mph (130 km/h), but even at this relatively lower speed (when compared to the others on this list), it's still satisfying to watch the needle hovering around the 80 mark.
So what have we learned from this list? Well, if you're a speed demon that wants to drive within the law, the best way to push a vehicle to the limit is to fly to Europe, rent the most powerful car in your budget, head for these fairly unrestricted roads, and open up the throttle.
Have fun.