Raising the speed limit...

Mirlyn

Mirlyn

Well-Known Member
A recent bill is in the stages of approval here to raise our 4-lane divided (with median) highway speed limit from 70mph to 75.

Story: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/4592598/

What do you think? Whats the upper limit where you are, and should it go up?

A quote just for you, Gonz (knowing your love for Ohio):
But every trucker we talked to Tuesday say they have no problem driving through Kansas.

"I might skip Ohio, might skip Illinois, but won't skip Kansas," said Dave Cortis.
Click to expand...
:D
 
I'm thinking 70 is fast enough. Missouri's top is 70 now on 4 lane roads, 65 is the top on two lane, but it has to be a decent road with good shoulders, otherwise it's 60 or 55.
 
Take away radios, coffee, McD, and cell phones, and you can go as fast as you want. Leave those distractions .... keep it to 55.
 
The only road around me that was ever 70 mph was the expressway connecting Philadelphia to the casinos in Atlantic City. For those emergency gambling urges i guess. :shrug: They ended up rolling the speed back because the death toll on the road was unacceptable. They said it fell way off at 55.
 
70 here, unless you're on 2 lane, and even that's 65. The exception is within 25 miles of a population center. Then it throttles back to 60 and finally 55.
 
Professur said:
Take away radios, coffee, McD, and cell phones, and you can go as fast as you want. Leave those distractions .... keep it to 55.
Click to expand...

Sadly, you're probably right. It peeves me when I have to drive slow because others think they're in their f*cking living room instead of operating a potentially dangerous piece of equipment, but there's the problem. BTW, I listen to the radio while I drive, but I do not change the station (or the cd) while driving.
 
You have to remember a bit of physics.
Energy vs speed isn't linear. It's exponential.
You have to factor in
How good are people's brakes.
How close do they tailgate.
How fast are their reflexes.

At 55, you're pretty safe. At 70 you'd be safe, if any of those things were modified. But people don't leave any more distance at 70 than they did at 55. They still have the same reflexes and brakes. QED more accidents. Higher speed, harder impacts. More dead idiots. And innocents.

You don't suppose they'd build a high speed route for idiots alone, do ya?
 
i like what they did in montana (where my dad lives)...they don't have a speed limit during the day (65 at night) but the coppers'll pull you over for driving like an asshole, ie...constant lane changes, lack of signals etc...'course this is only on the highways and there ain't exactly lots of congestion in montana.
 
chcr said:
. BTW, I listen to the radio while I drive, but I do not change the station (or the cd) while driving.
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Me too. Ever catch yourself drumming on the steering wheel?
 
Professur said:
Me too. Ever catch yourself drumming on the steering wheel?
Click to expand...

No, but I do end up going 5-10 mph faster at the end of "Born to be Wild" than I was at the beginning. ;)
 
Yea, that was neat when they did have it. On a nice day, most people drove about 90 on interstate. It probably wasn't the safest thing, but it sure helped getting across that infinite expanse between ND and Idaho.
 
the other day, my bf was driving me home, and i saw that he was going 90mph.
when i freaked out, he pointed out to me the fact that we were barely pacing traffic... cars were still passing us.
that doesnt make it a good thing, but does make it more understandable.
 
In California, it's 65 in population centers on four-or-more-lane highways, and 70 in rural areas. On two-lane roads, it's 55 with only a few exceptions, in which case it's 60 or 65.

I was driving in eastern Arizona once early in the morning, where the speed limit is 75. I was doing about 80 and got passed by two tour buses.
 
...but then they'd be innocent passengers.

I propose third-generation airbags which have an automatic sensor for whether the accident was caused by a dumb driver or not. If it's not the driver's fault, the air bag will inflate like normal. If it's because the driver is an idiot, the air bag will inflate with some sort of spage-age material that instantly turns as hard as concrete.
 
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