When driving on a highway with speed limits (which is pretty much every road except for the Autobahn) one can notice that most drivers break the limit by at least 5-10 km/h. Where the speed limit is seen as unreasonable (e.g. 4 lane highway, middle of the night, 80 km/h limit), most people would go 15-20 over if they know radar detectors are unlikely to be present. To me this shows that most drivers (and therefore most voters) would welcome an increase in highway speed limits, to (say) 160 km/h which is the maximum speed most people drive on the Autobahn.
But for some reasons the speed limits stay the same, to the point where New York has a limit of merely 105 km/h. So why aren't New York voters electing people who promise to raise the limits to something reasonable?
P.S. I'm not asking why the public won't raise the 50 km/h limit in cities - this limit does save a lot of lives and most people won't speed when pedestrians are nearby. Highways are a whole different beast.
most people would go 15-20 over
: I doubt that. Most people seem to drive according to the speed limit.