A controlled access highway (e.g. interstate), even with a 55 mph speed limit and most traffic at 60-70mph, is probably far safer at 165mph than a 25mph city street with intersections is at 75mph. Cars you can see are relatively easy to predict (particularly when you're going 3x faster than them); pedestrians, other vehicles emerging from hidden alleys, etc. are a lot harder. It's still irresponsible, but tech, training, and such can mitigate risk at absurd speeds on an interstate, but not so much downtown.
(I used to do 140-160mph in UAE, Kuwait, etc. pretty frequently, on roads which were 60-70mph speed limits, but would never exceed the speed limit in cities. Then I discovered camels.)
(I used to do 140-160mph in UAE, Kuwait, etc. pretty frequently, on roads which were 60-70mph speed limits, but would never exceed the speed limit in cities. Then I discovered camels.)