INTERNATIONAL NOTES: Safe at Any Speed?

In an effort to cut down on gasoline consumption, as well as traffic accidents, European governments are trying anew to enforce the speed limits imposed on the Continent's highways in the wake of the 1973 oil crisis. The response of motorists has been, well, wrathful. In West Germany, strident opposition greeted a modest proposal to place an 81-m.p.h. (130 km) limit on the currently unrestricted superhighways. In Italy, tempestuous public resistance to restrictions ended in a historic compromise involving an 87-m.p.h. limit on autostradas for Maseratis and other high-powered cars, with less powerful vehicles subject to...

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