How fast do people drive between cities? Here’s how the countries rank, including ‘speedy’ SA
South Africa falls within the 20 fastest countries for average long-distance speeds.
Image: Newspress
How fast do people drive between cities? Here’s how the countries rank, including ‘speedy’ South Africa
South Africans are known for having a heavy right foot when they’re behind the wheel, but when it comes to average driving speeds, we’re not the fastest drivers in the world.
According to an international study conducted by MoneySuperMarket, drivers from the USA have the fastest average speed when driving between cities, at 109.5km/h.
Of the 140 countries sampled, South Africa ranks 17th with an average long-distance speed of 93.6km/h. How did they come to that conclusion?
World's average long-distance driving speeds.
Image: MoneySuperMarket
The researchers plotted routes between each country’s three biggest cities, using Google Routes API, and tested six times on both Mondays and Saturdays. The average speed across these journeys was used to calculate long-distance travel speed.
Canada came second in the long-distance ranking, with an average speed of 107.9km/h, followed by Oman (104.7km/h), Croatia (102.9km/h) and France (101.5km/h).
Hungary, China, Spain, Iraq and Italy rounded out the top 10.
Interestingly, Germany, with its expansive Autobahns known for their unrestricted sections that are a speedster's paradise, came 16th in the ranking, just before South Africa, with a speed of 93.9km/h.
The slowest countries in the world, for long distance driving, are Mauritania (22.9km/h), Malta (23km/h) and Andorra (29.4km/h).
“The countries with the slowest average long-range driving speeds do not typically lend themselves well to high-speed long-distance driving; for the case of countries like The Gambia and Haiti, poor road conditions, such as potholes, as well as older vehicles and more agricultural traffic are likely to increase congestion and make travelling slower,” the researchers said.
The study also ranked the fastest average urban driving speeds around the world, with Estonia topping the list at 46.6km/h, followed by Brunei (46.3km/h) and Equatorial Guinea (44.9km/h).
South Africa ranked 14th for urban speeds, at 38km/h, while Namibia took 17th place at 37.1km/h.
“Many of the countries in the top 10 for fastest urban average driving speeds have a lower density of cars on the road, resulting in less congestion and allowing drivers to reach greater speeds - though no countries’ average driving speed breaks above 50km/h,” the researchers concluded.
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