Ever wonder what it would be like to drive really fast without worrying about getting a speeding ticket? Wonder no more. Depending where you are in the world, you can put your pedal to the metal and feel like a real-life Formula 1 driver. No more getting your jollies on an amusement park racetrack. Why not sprint down a road with no speed limit?
Before you check this thrill off your bucket list, you need to know where you can do it, how fast you can actually go and what to expect before you rev up your engine. To weigh in on all things speed limits—including what highways don’t have them—and how to stay safe while driving, we asked William Van Tassel, PhD, manager of national driver training programs for the American Automobile Association (AAA), and Michael Brooks, executive director for the Center for Auto Safety, to help break it all down.
Keep reading to find out exactly where you can drive like a race car champ—without getting a ticket.
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How fast can cars actually go?
Pretty darn fast. Currently, the zippiest car on the planet, with a top speed of 308.4 mph, is an electric vehicle called the YangWang U9 Xtreme, made by the Chinese automaker BYD. In September 2025, the YangWang beat out the previous fastest car, the French-made Bugatti Chiron Super Sport 300+, which reached 304.8 mph in 2019, according to Car and Driver.
As far as U.S.-made cars go, the fastest is General Motors’ Chevrolet Corvette ZR1X, with a top speed of 233 mph. These super-speedy cars can go from zero to 60 mph in under 2 or 3 seconds.
While some niche and luxury sports cars and electric vehicles can reach 200 mph or a little above, generally, people in the U.S. aren’t driving cars with those high-speed capabilities, Brooks says. “The average vehicle that most of us drive, such as a conventional sedan or SUV, is probably going to top out at somewhere between 120 to 140 mph and go from zero to 60 in anywhere between 5 and 10 seconds.”
Which roads have no speed limit?
Currently, there are two countries that have main roads with no speed limits. Of course, even if there’s no specified limit, there’s often still a recommended one that tends to get ignored, or stretches of road that do have a restriction. If you find yourself on these roads, it’s important to pay attention to avoid a potentially deadly car accident.
“It’s simple physics; higher speeds result in an increased impact force,” Brooks says. If you’re going 10 mph and you speed up to 20 mph, that’s twice as much kinetic energy, “so you’re getting more force for each mph you’re traveling.”
With that said, if you find yourself on an adventurous road trip and you want to test the limits while keeping safety in mind, here are the two roads on the globe where that’s possible:
The Autobahn, Germany
Germany’s national highway system, aka the Autobahn, is world famous for being a road with no speed limit, but to be more precise, it’s the only public roadway system without set speed limits on large sections of its network. So while 30% of the Autobahn’s motorways do have speed limits, the majority of the highway allows people to put their foot to the floor, with only a recommended (not required) limit of 130 km/h, or 80 mph.
Driving above this limit isn’t uncommon, and according to CNBC, top speeds on the Autobahn have topped 250 mph.
The Mountain Course, Isle of Man, British Isles
The Isle of Man is located in the Irish Sea between Great Britain and Ireland. This self-governing island has no national speed limit, which means there’s no upper limit on unrestricted roads. (Residential roads have a default limit of 30 mph, and the government is currently weighing lowering it to 20 mph.)
Thrill seekers can get their kicks driving on the 37.73-mile Mountain Course (also referred to as the TT Course), a public road that hosts world-class two-wheeled and sidecar motorcycle races. When it’s not being used for motorbike racing, people drive cars on it at significant speeds, even up to 130 mph. And it’s not for novices: The Mountain Course contains sharp curves, more than 200 corners and multiple elevation changes as it winds through towns and countryside on the 2,036-foot-tall Snaefell Mountain.
Are there any U.S. roads with no speed limit?
No. All roads in the U.S., including highways, rural roads and residential streets, have speed limits, which are set by state legislatures or the state, city, county or other local transportation agencies. But that wasn’t always the case.
In 1974, President Richard Nixon signed the Emergency Highway Energy Conservation Act into law, prohibiting any state from setting a highway speed limit higher than 55 mph. But that nationwide speed limit was eventually eliminated by President Bill Clinton in 1995, allowing states to go back to setting their own highway speed limits.
There was also a time in America when some highways didn’t have a set speed limit, instead relying on a “reasonable and prudent” standard. This meant you could use your own judgement and discretion regarding the speed you drove, based on the road and circumstances like your vehicle’s condition, weather, traffic and overall visibility.
After the national law was revoked, some states, such as Nevada and Montana, returned to a pre-1974 “reasonable and prudent” rule of thumb. But in 1998, the Supreme Court of Montana found it was unconstitutionally vague and failed to provide drivers with an adequate measure of what speed was fast enough to be illegal. In 1999, Montana set daytime speed limits on the interstate at 75 mph, and in 2015, it increased its speed limit to 80 mph for both day and night driving.
“‘Reasonable and prudent’ doesn’t exist in the U.S. anymore and is a relic of the past,” Brooks says.
Which U.S. state currently has the highway with the highest speed limit?
State Highway 130 in Texas has the highest speed limit in the U.S., clocking in at 85 mph on a 40-mile-long stretch between Austin and San Antonio. Van Tassel has driven on State Highway 130 several times, and interestingly, he says driving on it isn’t much different from driving on a road with a lower speed limit.
“With 85 mph, people will drive faster, just like they will at 65 mph, and it’s designed for higher speeds,” he says. “I found there was more space (between vehicles), and there seemed to be a lot of space reserved on either side of the road, so if a vehicle went off the road, you may have a better chance of getting control of the car.” All in all, Van Tassel says driving on Texas State Highway 130 was fairly drama- and stress-free.
The Lone Star State may boast the highest speed limit, but there are other states that come close to its 85 mph limit. In addition to the previously discussed Montana, states with an 80 mph speed limit on some parts of their rural or urban interstates include North Dakota, South Dakota, Idaho, Utah, Wyoming and Nevada, according to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety.
What is the highest speed limit in the world?
The highest speed limit in the world belongs to the Czech Republic, where the top speed on the D3 Motorway is 150 km/h, or 93 mph. Here are the places with the top five highest speed limits in the world:
- Czech Republic: D3 Motorway (93 mph)
- United Arab Emirates: E11 Highway (87 mph)
- Bulgaria: A1 (Trakia) Motorway (87 mph)
- Poland: Autostrada (87 mph)
- Saudi Arabia: Highway 40 (87 mph)
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Sources:
- Michael Brooks, executive director of the Center for Auto Safety in Washington, D.C.; interviewed, October 2025
- William Van Tassel, PhD, manager of national driver training programs for AAA; interviewed, October 2025
- Car and Driver: “YangWang U9 Xtreme Hits Absurd Top Speed for New Production Record”
- CNBC: “GM unveils quickest Corvette ever with ZR1X ‘hypercar’ going 0-60 mph in less than two seconds”
- CNBC: “How the German Autobahn ended up without speed limits”
- Isle of Man TT Races: “The Complete Beginners Guide to the TT”
- American Presidency Project: “Statement on Signing the Emergency Highway Energy Conservation Act”
- Chicago Tribune: “National Speed Limit is Repealed”
- The New York Times: “Montana’s Speed Limit of ?? M.P.H. Is Overturned as Too Vague”
- Britannica: “One Good Fact: The highest speed limit in the United States”
- Radio Prague International: “D3 motorway first to allow speed of up to 150 km/h along selected stretch”
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