Technology may be a solution here. Can we make it a law that all car must come with an auto-speed limit device.

Driving a car without such control device will be illegal in the city.

The Phillies!

Not exactly. There are _sections_ of many autobahns (no such thing as _the_ autobahn) that don't have speed limits, but most of the highway mileage in Germany has speed limits (and both enforcement cameras and highway patrols). So far as I know, no other country in Europe has any speed-limit-free zones.

"Redesign the streets so you CAN'T speed."

Taken a look at the budget picture lately? How many years do you think it'll take before that has much effect? My guess would be about 300.

Hate to say it guys, but the study cited here, makes it clear that what we need is enforcement, not engineering. These days, cars are so good (i.e., powerful, manoeuverable, easy to control, stable, well isolated from roughness) that even traffic-calming designs are unlikely to have much of a deterrent effect on speeders. Look at the way SUV drivers drive -- weaving, passing, accelerating, stopping short. Anybody trying this stuff in, say a '70s Ford Bronco would flip and die. Nowadays, people do things you used to only be able to do in a sports car in three-ton behemoths. Chicanes, neck-downs, speed humps? These aren't slowing anybody down; that just makes it more fun for the idiots racing souped up Civics. Ever notice how you can be zipping along at 80 mph, then all of a sudden, everybody hits the brakes and starts doing the speed limit? Why? Because of a sign, or because they see an accident on the other side of the road, or because they enter a construction zone? No. Because they see a cop car on the shoulder.

Enforcement is something we actually can afford. NYC is wildly over-policed, with thousands of cops devoted to tasks that reduce our level of freedom without enhancing our safety. The conversation should be about how to change policing policy. All this design stuff is great fun for the folks around here with planning degrees, but it's largely irrelevent.

By the way, who won the World Cup again? Refresh my memory

That said, speeding in New York City, and especially on local streets, is a deadly scourge. It's hard to respect drivers who engage in such antisocial behavior.

Not only will motorists murder fewer pedestrians in NYC, but I'll murder fewer motorists.

Also, speed limits for the same roads vary from state to state and country to country. Since any human's reaction time is largely the same around the world, the differences have to do with education, sense of "what is prudent," and politics. Better enforcement does nothing to influence any of those three issues.