We don’t actually want an American autobahn because we love our cars too much

It's the dream of every car enthusiast to power along not at some posted speed limit, but at the limit of what they and their cars are capable. These days, that's a lot; modern tech has pushed the performance envelope for new vehicles well beyond what most drivers can achieve.

And while speed limits have relaxed in many parts of the country, most of us are driving slower than we’d like. Why? We've accepted congestion as a way of life because we all want to be in our own cars. The automobile is the American way of asserting our freedom and prosperity, allowing us to live where and (to an extent) how we want. 

But could we get there faster? It’s a lovely fantasy, long-engrained in the minds of enthusiasts. Dedicated lanes, perhaps? Or even special highways built strictly for high-speed cruising and those who are competent and well-enough equipped to do it. But that’s what the interstate system already is — as it is in Germany. So why can’t we use it the same way?

Simply put, we’ve willfully abandoned every pillar upon which an unlimited-speed highway system could be established. An American autobahn would require us to not only choose differently at the ballot box, but completely change the way we think about getting around. Our infrastructure is in no shape for it — and not just the physical infrastructure of roads, bridges and tunnels. 

I'm speaking, of course, of driver training. Our drivers couldn’t handle an autobahn. Driver education in America is a joke because it has to be; it operates on the premise that driving is a necessity in most parts of the country. To deny an American a license is to deny them basic productivity. If you can't drive, how are you going to put food on your table? So anybody who shows up to "class" can (and likely will) get a license.

And we couldn’t simply have tiered licenses, with those who want to drive fast earning an advanced, high-speed license. The entire population would need to be trained to handle faster traffic. Lane discipline, for example, would have to exist for this to work, and I can promise you that a true application of that term is foreign to many who are reading this column — even on a site geared toward automotive enthusiasts.