Speed limits
You are driving on a street in New York City and see no speed limit sign. What speed limit applies?
- 25 mph. Correct answer
- 30 mph.
- 55 mph.
Why
New York City is the manual's own example of a place whose limit is lower than the statewide default and is not always signed. Inside the city, the limit is 25 mph unless a sign sets a different one. 55 mph is the statewide maximum for roads with no posted limit, which is exactly the rule a driver coming from outside the city would wrongly carry in with them. 30 mph comes from a different part of the manual: it is the speed modern roundabouts are designed to hold traffic at or below, and it has nothing to do with city streets. Two unposted limits exist side by side, 55 for the state and 25 for the city, and a posted sign replaces whichever one applies where you are.
Where this comes from
New York State Driver's Manual (MV-21), April 2026 version. The correct answer is 25 mph.
More on speed limits
- Fog has settled over an expressway with a posted limit of 55 mph. You keep driving at 50 mph. Can a police officer give you a speeding ticket?
- What speed limit do New York expressways normally have, and what higher limit may be posted in some rural areas?
- Modern roundabouts are built to hold the speed of every vehicle inside them to what level?
- You speed through a marked work zone at a time when no workers or work vehicles are there. What happens to the fine if you are ticketed?