Aggressive Urban Driving

It is almost entirely pointless from the perspective of "getting to your destination faster." Depending on my perspective at the time I laugh at or want to smash in the windows of people who gun their cars for half a block and then slam on the brakes for the other half. And higher speed limits in that context don't help, either.

The time benefits one gets from boosting speeds in urban areas can end up being surprisingly modest: In downtown streets, the difference between a 25 mph commute and 45 mph commute is roughly an addition 48 seconds for every three-quarters of a mile traveled, according to Nelson\Nygaard. It’s also worth remembering that even urban “rapid transit” often isn’t really all that fast. (The New York City subway averages 17 miles per hour.)

If you're traveling 5 miles within Philly, for example, you're traveling *a long way* in Philly, and even if that's on a road without stops or congestion, that's 12 minutes versus 6.5ish minutes. Add in the realities of most urban streets and a higher speed limit barely helps at all.