Have you compared the average car in Germany with the ones in the USA? Furthermore, in Germany there are mandatory periodic technical inspections, and these are no joke. Half the cars I see in the USA would never pass these inspections. Also, getting a driver license in Germany is HARD, and the average Autobahn driver is very well disciplined compared to his USA counterpart (exceptions exist, I know I know...)
That came across me as well - this senator is making a comparison, but has no idea of how things actually work over here. Having visited the United States frequently, I cannot begin to describe how horrible driving over there is. You have people cutting you off, people who turn without signals, people who will drive so incredibly close behind you that a rear end accident is inevitable. This kind of driving is highly frowned upon over here, and just violating one of these would come with a heavy price. And not only this, but the vehicles themselves are a part of the problem as well - you have rusty old trucks from the 80's that would never pass a safety inspection, you have these large SUVs that think they are invincible, you have these pseudo drag racers which will drive as fast as they can safety be damned.
In short, I think a lot of people over here don't realize they are driving what is essentially a one ton bomb on wheels, and raising the speed limit is really not a good idea.
