Speed limits
You are on a California highway and there are no speed limit signs in sight. What is the maximum speed limit?
- 65 mph. Correct answer
- 55 mph.
- 70 mph.
Why
Unless something is posted, the handbook's ceiling on most California highways is 65 mph. The figure that trips people up is 55: that is what a two-lane undivided highway allows, and what anything towing a trailer allows, not the general ceiling, so the road you are on decides which of the two applies. Seventy mph is not a California limit in the handbook at all. And 65 is a maximum rather than a target, because the Basic Speed Law caps you at whatever speed is safe right now, whatever the sign says: the number of vehicles around you, the road surface, the weather and whoever else is on or crossing the road all pull the safe speed below the posted one.
Where this comes from
California Driver's Handbook, June 2025 edition. The correct answer is 65 mph.
The rule behind this one
California speed limits and the basic speed law goes through the whole topic, with the page of the California Driver's Handbook behind every rule.
More on speed limits
- Can a school zone have a speed limit lower than 25 mph?
- Near a railroad crossing where you cannot see far down the tracks, the limit is normally 15 mph. When may you drive faster than 15 mph there?
- Which of these does the handbook define as an alley?
- You reach an intersection with no stop signs on any corner, and buildings block your view of the cross street. Besides keeping within the speed limit, what does the handbook tell you to do?