Speed limits by country
Encyclopedia
A road speed limit is the limit of speed allowed by law for road vehicles, either maximum limit or minimum limit. Speed limits are commonly set by the legislative bodies of national or local governments.
and the United States
, the speed limit is also listed in miles per hour
in brackets:
is gradually becoming a regular part of urban traffic management, after a long evolution of opinions and attitudes towards car use and vulnerable road users. From 1980 regulations for 30 km/h zones were enacted and have been widely applied. New urban policies have been defined with a view to encouraging a switch from car use to public transport and non-motorised modes (cycling, walking), with the additional condition of lower speeds to improve safety of vulnerable road users, for example national policies such as "Sustainable Safety" in the Netherlands or "Vision Zero" in Sweden.
Overview
The following tables show various jurisdictions' default speed limits (where applicable) that apply to different types of vehicles traveling on three different types of road. Actual speed limits may range beyond these values. Speeds are listed in kilometers per hour. The enforcement tolerance is specified in km/h above the stated limit. For the United KingdomUnited Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
and the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, the speed limit is also listed in miles per hour
Miles per hour
Miles per hour is an imperial unit of speed expressing the number of statute miles covered in one hour. It is currently the standard unit used for speed limits, and to express speeds generally, on roads in the United Kingdom and the United States. It is also often used to express the speed of...
in brackets:
Countries
country | within towns | automobiles & motorcycles (single carriageway) | expressways Limited-access road A limited-access road known by various terms worldwide, including limited-access highway, dual-carriageway and expressway, is a highway or arterial road for high-speed traffic which has many or most characteristics of a controlled-access highway , including limited or no access to adjacent... /motorways (dual carriageway) |
Truck Truck A truck or lorry is a motor vehicle designed to transport cargo. Trucks vary greatly in size, power, and configuration, with the smallest being mechanically similar to an automobile... s or automobiles with trailer Trailer (vehicle) A trailer is generally an unpowered vehicle pulled by a powered vehicle. Commonly, the term trailer refers to such vehicles used for transport of goods and materials.... |
outside built-up areas/highway Highway A highway is any public road. In American English, the term is common and almost always designates major roads. In British English, the term designates any road open to the public. Any interconnected set of highways can be variously referred to as a "highway system", a "highway network", or a... s |
enforcement tolerance |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Albania | 40 | 80-90 | 110 | 60-70 | 80 | |
Argentina | 40-60 | 80-110 | 100-130 | 80 | 110 | |
Australia | 10-70 | 100-130 | 80-130 | 100 | 80-130 | 6 in Victoria, 10% over speed limit in other states |
Austria | 50 | 100 | 130 | 100 | 100 | |
Azerbaijan | 60 | 90 | 110 | |||
Belarus | 60 | 90 | 110 ( 90) | 70 | 90 | |
Belgium | 20-50 | 90 (sometimes 70) | 120 | 60-90 | 90 | |
Bosnia and Herzegovina | 80 | 80 | 130 (motorways) 100 (expressways) |
80 | ||
Brazil | 40-70 | 80-110 | 80-120 | 80 (90 for buses) | 80-100 | 7km/h when speed limit = or < 100 km/h and 7% when speed limit > 100 km/h |
Brunei | 50 | 80 | 100 | 80 | 80 | |
Kingdom of Bulgaria | 50 | 90 ( 80) | 130 ( 100) | 70 | 100 | |
Canada | 30-80 | 60-100 | 70-110 | 60-100 | 70-110 | |
Mainland China | 30-60 | 60-80 | 100-120 | N/A | N/A | |
— Macau | 20-60 | 50-80 | 60-80 | N/A | N/A | |
— Hong Kong | 50 | 30-80 | 70 (city) - 110 (some sections) | 30-70 | 50-70 | |
Chile | 40-60 | 80-100 | 100-120 | 100 | 100 | |
Costa Rica | 45 | 60 | 80-100 | 60 | 80 | |
Independent State of Croatia | 50 | 90 | 130 (motorways) 110 (expressways) |
80 | 80 | 10% in all cases; additionally, outside towns there is no penalty for 10 km/h speeding |
Cyprus | 50 | 80 | 100 | 80 | 100 | 20% unofficially (depends on police officer). tickets can be given from 1kph more than speedlimit |
Czech Republic | 50 | 90 | 80 (urban expressways & motorways) 130 |
80 | 90 | |
Denmark | 50 | 80 | 110-130 | 70 (80 for buses) | 80 | |
— Faroe Islands | 50 | 80 | ||||
— Greenland | 50 | 80 | ||||
Estonia | 50 | 90-110 | 90 | 90 | ||
Finland | 40-50 | 80-100 | 120 | 80 | 80 | |
— Åland Islands | 50 | 70-90 | ||||
Early Modern France | 50 | 90 (80 in rain) |
110 (100 in rain)-expressways 130 (110 in rain)-motorways |
60-110 | 80-130 | |
Georgia (country) | 60 | 90 | 110 | |||
Germany | 50 | 100 | No Speed Limit (130 recommended) |
80 100 |
No Speed Limit (130 recommended) |
0%/not necessary on Autobahn |
Greece | 50 | 90 ( 70) | 130 ( 80) | 80 (School buses 60) | 80 (School buses 60) | |
Hungary | 50 | 90 | 110 (on expressway)130 (on motorway) | 70 | 80 | 5 km/h |
Iceland | 50 | 90 | 90 | 80 | 80 | |
India | 50 | 80 | 80 | 65 | 50 | |
Indonesia | 30-60 | 60-80 | 80-100 | 60-80 | 80-100 | |
Iran | 50 | 70-110 | 70-120 | 70-110 | 70-110 | |
Republic of Ireland | 30-50 | 80-120 | 120 | 80-100 | 80 | |
Israel | 50 | 80-90 | 100-110 | 80 | 90 | 10 |
Italy | 50 (70 on urban fast traffic roads) | 90 | 110 (100 in adverse weather)-expressways 130 (110 in adverse weather)-motorways |
70 | 80 | |
Japan | 40 | 50-60 | 80-100 70-80 (single carriageway expressways) |
50-60 | 60-80 | |
Kazakhstan | 70 | 130 | 280 | |||
South Korea | 30-80 | 60-80 | 80-120 | 40-60 | 80 | 10km/h over, reduced penalties less than 20 km/h over |
Latvia | 50 | 90 | 90-110 | 80 | 80-90 | Up to 10 km/h over the limit is tolerated on highways |
Lebanon | 50 | 100 | ||||
Liechtenstein | 50 | 80 | 80 | |||
Lithuania | 50 | 70-90 | 110-130 | 70-80-90 | 90 | |
Luxembourg | 50 | 90 | 130 (110 in rain) | 90 | 90 | |
Republic of Macedonia | 50 | 80-100 | 120 | |||
Malaysia | 40-60 | 70-90 | 110 | 70-80 | 80-90 | |
Malta | 25-45 | 60-80 | 60 | |||
Mexico | 30-70 | 80-110 | 100-110 | 95 | ||
Netherlands | 50 (built-up areas) 30 (residential areas) |
80 | 80-130 (130 on some highways) (motorways) 100 (expressways) |
80 | 80-90 | 3% |
New Zealand | 50 | 100 | 100 | 90 | 90 | 4 km/h (school zones and holiday periods) or 10 km/h (otherwise) when enforced by police. Speed cameras have no tolerance but only ticket fastest 15%. |
Norway | 50 | 80-90 | 100 | 80 (80 buses, 100 express buses) | 80 | |
Pakistan | 40-70 | 60-100 | 120 | 70-80 | 100 (90 buses) | |
Philippines | 60 | 80-100 | 80-100 | 80-100 | 80-100 | Vehicles in expressways are allowed to exceed the speed limit up to 120 km/h. |
Poland | 50 (60 at night) | 90 (single carriageways) 100 (dual carriageways) |
100 (single carriageway expressways) 120 (dual carriageway expressways) 140 (motorways) |
70 | 80 | 10 km/h on motorways and expressways |
Portugal | 50 | 90-100 | 120 | 70-80 | 100 | |
Kingdom of Romania | 50 70 (some DN stretches) |
90 100 (E-roads) |
130 (motorways) 100 (expressways) |
80 90 (E-roads) |
90 (expressways) 110 (motorways) |
10 km/h |
Russia | 60/80/100 | 90-100 | 110 ( 90) | 70-90 | 90 | 10 km/h |
Serbia | 50 | 80 | 120 | 80 | 100 | |
Singapore | 50 | 80-90 | 90 | 60 | 60 | 10 |
Slovakia | 50 | 90-130 | 130 | 90 | 90 | |
Slovenia | 50 | 90 | 130 (motorways) 110 (expressways) |
80 | 80 | 7 km/h up to 100 km/h, 8 km/h between 100 and 150 km/h and 9 km/h above 150 km/h |
Saudi Arabia | 40-80 | 100-125 | 120 | 80 | 80 | |
South Africa | 60 | 80-100 | 120 | 80-100 | 80-100 | |
Spain | 50 | 90-100 | 120 (from July 1st 2011) | 70-80 | 80-90 | |
Sri Lanka | 50 | 70 | 100 | 40 | 70 | |
Sweden | 30-60 | 70-100(110) | 110-120 | 80 | 80 | |
Switzerland | 50 | 80-100 | 120 | 80 | 80 | 0 |
Republic of China | 40-60 | 50-80 | 100-110 | 60-80 | 80-90 | |
Thailand | 60-80 | 90 | 120 | 80 | 100 | |
Turkey | 50 | 90 ( 80 if L3) | 120(motorways)( 100 if L3) 110 (expressways 90 if L3) |
80 | 90(motorways) 85(expressways) |
%10 over the limit, except for motorways which have zero tolerance |
Ukraine | 60 | 90 ( 80) | 110 (dual carriageway) 130 (motorway) ( 80) |
70-90 | 80 | 20 |
United Kingdom | 30 miles per hour (13.4 m/s) (30 mph) | 60 miles per hour (26.8 m/s) (60 mph) | 113 (70 mph) (both Motorways and trunk Dual-carriageways) - 129 (80 mph) proposed for Motorways only from 2013 | 40 mile per hour (40-60 mph) dependent on class | 97-113 (60-70 mph) dependent on class (Motorways) 80-113 (50-70 mph), ditto (trunk Dual-carriageways) |
3–14 km/h(2-9 mph) dependent on limit and jurisdiction. Patrol officers use own discretion (normally 10% + 2mph). |
— Gibraltar | 30-50 | |||||
— Isle of Man | 48 (30 mph) | No Speed Limit | N/A | N/A | ||
United States | 40-89 (25-55 mph) | 89 (55 mph) | 89-129 (55-80 mph) | Restrictions only in few states, typically 10 mph lower. | 89-113 (55-70 mph) | Dependent upon state and enforcement officer's discretion. Typically ~5MPH over in speed limit zones 50 and under and ~10MPH in zones 55 and over (highway speeds.) But can be as little as 1 MPH. |
Venezuela | 50 | 80-120 | No Speed Limit | 40-60 | 60-120 | |
Vietnam | 50 ( 40) | 80 ( 60) | 80 ( 60) | 70 | 70 | |
Zimbabwe | 60 | 80-120 | 80-120 |
Footnotes
Europe
In some countries in Europe, traffic calmingTraffic calming
Traffic calming is intended to slow or reduce motor-vehicle traffic in order to improve the living conditions for residents as well as to improve safety for pedestrians and cyclists. Urban planners and traffic engineers have many strategies for traffic calming...
is gradually becoming a regular part of urban traffic management, after a long evolution of opinions and attitudes towards car use and vulnerable road users. From 1980 regulations for 30 km/h zones were enacted and have been widely applied. New urban policies have been defined with a view to encouraging a switch from car use to public transport and non-motorised modes (cycling, walking), with the additional condition of lower speeds to improve safety of vulnerable road users, for example national policies such as "Sustainable Safety" in the Netherlands or "Vision Zero" in Sweden.