Speed limits across the US are on the rise! Up-to-date state-to-state info & news...

romad

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Did they void the speed limit in the left lane?
Yes, at least somewhat in California. California Vehicle Code Section 21654:

21654.

(a) Notwithstanding the prima facie speed limits, any vehicle proceeding upon a highway at a speed less than the normal speed of traffic moving in the same direction at such time shall be driven in the right-hand lane for traffic or as close as practicable to the right-hand edge or curb, except when overtaking and passing another vehicle proceeding in the same direction or when preparing for a left turn at an intersection or into a private road or driveway.
(b) If a vehicle is being driven at a speed less than the normal speed of traffic moving in the same direction at such time, and is not being driven in the right-hand lane for traffic or as close as practicable to the right-hand edge or curb, it shall constitute prima facie evidence that the driver is operating the vehicle in violation of subdivision (a) of this section.
 

pkhoury

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Much of Utah has been 80mph for years, now they are just extending to all the interstates (except in the big cities). There was no appreciable increase in accidents or deaths in the stretches of highway with the 80mph speed limits.

As for Nevada, there used to be no speed limits until the 55mph National speed limit was imposed way back when. Until the 70s the speed limit was "safe and reasonable". What was "safe and reasonable" depended a lot on what you were driving. It might be 65mph in an old air cooled VW or 130mph in a Porsche 911.

We shall see what happens. In much of rural Nevada (which is most of the state), you can see 5 miles ahead and the roads are arrow straight. There is nothing for a police car to hide behind. I know a guy (with a CR JSW) who routinely sets his cruise control for 115 and drives for hours. He won't tell me what mileage he gets when he does that.:rolleyes:
Those higher speed limits work great in Texas! Love setting my cruise control on 90 when going to San Antonio (I know the speed limit is 85 but who cares!)
115 is pretty crazy. I think the highest I've set cruise for is 95, on SH-130 (that kpenner referenced). It's a toll road, but totally worth it to haul @ss. The fastest I've done on SH-130 was 115, but only for about 2 miles; that was in the Golf, and it was smoking like an ALCO in notch 8! I usually keep things below 105.
 

rotarykid

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Arkansas's 75 mph Speed Limit Increases Bill Passes

Arkansas's 75 mph Speed Limit Increases Bill Passes, but could be a while before the limit goes up anywhere in the state highway department spokesman says........


Arkansas State Highway Department Talks 75 mph Speed Limit Increases After Bill Passes....

(KFSM) -- Arkansas lawmakers passed a bill that could increase speed limits on interstates in Arkansas, but that change might not be coming as fast as you think.

"Basically what the bill does is authorize the highway department to study raising the speed limit throughout the state,"

Danny Straessle, spokesman for the Arkansas State Highway and Transportation Department said. "[That] doesn't mean it's going to happen."

When considering speed limit changes, the highway department has to consider much more than changing a sign.

"There's a lot of traffic studies," Straessle said. "A lot of engineering goes into it."

Some Arkansans said even now, people are driving much faster than the current speed limit.

"It should be okay for the most part," Brett McAfee said. "People tend to drive pretty fast down the highway.

I noticed a lot of people going quite a bit faster."

Accident statistics and other safety measures are also major factors in deciding whether or not to increase speed limits.

"The highway department sets the speed limit on highways throughout the state," Straessle said.

"That's all done by a speed study and certainly, we have to consider the geometric design of the highway.

Is it capable of handling those speeds? Safety is a critical factor in this."

Local parents agree and said they worry about their teens driving that fast.

"There are teenagers that go between the River Valley and Northwest Arkansas for ball games, University of Arkansas events, concerts at the Amp," Deborah Seay said.

"So, that would be my concern; young adults and teenagers driving that speed."

The State Highway and Transportation Department said you won't see the speed limit signs anytime soon.

The department plans to take its time with the study and find the areas in the state where the change would be appropriate.

The department did say the the stretch of I-49 from Alma to Fayetteville would be a good candidate for a speed limit increase as that area is primarily rural interstate.
 

rotarykid

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Speed limit increase to 75 one step closer in West Virginia

Speed limit increase to 75 one step closer in West Virginia with the measure adopted by the state house. The measure must still pass the state senate to become law....

subscription required.....

West Virginia House adopts measure to increase speed limit to 75 on rural highways

CHARLESTON — The West Virginia House adopted a measure that would request the Commissioner of Highways to increase the speed limit on highways in rural areas to 75 miles per hour.

House Concurrent Resolution 75 was introduced last month and delegates voted to adopt the measure Friday. The measure now moves to the Senate.

The resolution said at least 16 other states have speed limits of 75 miles per hour on interstate highways, at least in rural areas. Four of those states have speed limits of up to 80 miles per hour, the resolution said.


Also Friday, Delegates adopted House Concurrent Resolution 31, under which the state Board of Education would assist in studying the number of boards of education. It is now in the Senate.

The Joint Committee on Government and Finance requested the study and would report findings and recommendations during the 2018 legislative session.

Sponsors are Delegates Ron Walters, R-Kanawha; Andrew Robinson, D-Kanawha; Mark Zatezalo, R-Hancock; Roger Hanshaw, R-Clay; John Shott, R-Mercer; Eric Nelson, R-Kanawha; and John O’Neal, R-Raleigh.
 

rotarykid

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.....here is a fun story from the past......

.....here is a fun story from the past, from 1987 after congress voted to allow an increase from 55(the NMSL temporary law enacted in Dec. 1973, made the permanently allowed maximum in 1976)......

...With the passage of the highway bill that maximum was changed to an allowed with the change in the law that year of 65 on interstate freeways across the US......

.....With the passage of this change in the NMSL law, several states got freeway miles that had been built re-classified as being part of interstate highway system to qualify for the allowed increase in the national maximum...

...Iowa, Illinois, Kansas, California, Florida & several other states got many miles approved for becoming part of the added miles to the interstate system...A plus of this not discussed at the time was these new miles added to the interstate system would now be eligible for interstate system funding from that point forward.....
..................Iowa targets Q-C roads for 65 mph.............

From Tuesday, April 21, 1987:

DES MOINES — Quad-Citians will have to wait until they leave the city limits to cruise at 65 mph, an Iowa Department of Transportation official said. The 55-mph speed limit will remain in effect on Interstate 80 east of the Interstate 280 interchange, and on Interstate 74 and I-280.
it took them years to finally adopt 65,....

Then almost 18 years more with four failed attempts to pass & to go to 70 across the state on interstates.....

This was a state with a 75 freeway & 65 two lane maximum before the NMSL was put in place in winter of 1973-74....

Currently, the 5th effort is underway in the legislature to go back to pre-NMSL finally again...

According to those putting this effort to raise the limit to pre-NMSL levels again say there is not much chance of passage this year, but legislators are optimistic about passage next year on the 6th try...
 

rotarykid

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!..attention all in Missouri..!..Missouri Ballot Measure Would Outlaw Toll Roads

!..attention all in Missouri..!....not speed limit per sea, but it is related to travel across a state I must cross on I-70 a few times a year...


Missouri Ballot Measure Would Outlaw Toll Roads

Missouri Ballot Measure Would Outlaw Toll Roads
Activist group in Missouri circulates a ballot petition that would, if successful, outlaw toll roads in the state.

A Better Road Forward

Activists in Missouri are out gathering signatures in the hopes of permanently blocking all plans to impose tolls on existing freeways.

State lawmakers have been trying for decades to erect toll booths on various routes, most recently securing federal approval to toll Interstate 70 under a deal that is set to expire on December 4.

The group A Better Way Forward wants to amend the state constitution to prohibit such deals.

"Neither the General Assembly nor any other entity or officer of state government may fund, design, acquire, construct, maintain, reconstruct or operate all or part of an existing state road as a toll project,

and may not transfer all or part of a nontolled road to another entity for operation as a toll project," the proposed amendment states.

Earlier this month, the group led by Wayne Baker filed four versions of the petition, each with slightly different wording.

One version, for instance, clarifies that all roads currently free for public use must always remain free.

If the activists can collect 160,199 signatures within the next twelve months, the question would be put to voters on the November 6, 2018 ballot.

"Tolling is not a solution to fund our transportation system," the group explains.

"We believe efforts to increase taxes in the form of tolls without a giving the public the right to vote is taxation without representation...

Toll roads and the so-called public-private partnerships have collapsed in states around the country leaving us on the hook.

These private toll companies collapsed leaving taxpayers like us on the hook while wealthy corporate interests and foreign companies make billions on the backs of hard-working Missourians."

Show Me State voters have already weighed in on the topic on two previous occasions.

In 1992, the legislature asked whether toll authorities should be allowed to issue bonds to set up toll roads.

The effort was rejected by 58 percent of the vote.

In 1970, another referendum saw 70 percent opposition to tolls.

More recently, voters in 2014 rejected the Missouri Department of Transportation's proposal to hike sales taxes by $5 billion to fund a list of
"transportation" projects....

Projects that focused far more on nature trails, trolleys, bus terminals and bicycle lanes with little left over for expanding road capacity.
 

rotarykid

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Drivers kept speeding along US71,M152&I435. Now part of the road’s limit will go up

Missouri DOT concedes that politically based posted maximums on freeways in the Kansas city area are having a negative effect on safe uniform travel in the area.....

South of KC most of US71 is already posted @ 70mph, this will remove the stretch where limits were for years kept low for political reasons....


Drivers kept speeding along U.S. 71. Now part of the road’s limit will go up.

There’s a stretch of U.S. 71 in south Kansas City where you’ll soon be able to drive 65 mph — legally.

The Missouri Department of Transportation will raise the speed limit from 55 mph to 65 mph on U.S. 71 from about a half mile south of 75th Street to just north of the 3-Trails Crossing interchange.

North of 75th Street the highway, also called Bruce Watkins Parkway, looks and functions like an urban road, with stoplights and numerous bridges.


South of 75th, it begins to appear like a freeway similar to Interstates 435, 49 and 470.

Along with that stretch, most drivers are not obeying the 55 mph speed limit.

There is no timetable set on when the speed limit will increase.

The state department is waiting for the new speed limit signs to be made and then installed, which could happen later this month.

“It’s about a three-mile section,” said Derek Olson, district traffic engineer for MoDOT’s Kansas City district.

“It’s got the same safety features as far as median guard cable and shoulders.

So we are going to post it the same speed as the other roads in the area.”

The department, however, is not changing the speed limit along U.S. 71 in the area of the traffic signals.

There are three traffic signals along the roadway between 75th Street to 55th Street.

It would not be appropriate to have the higher speeds there.

“There can be a lot of confusion from the public about speed limits and about how we decide to set them,” Olson said.

Basically, research shows that the closer the speed limit is to the speed that the majority of drivers are driving, the lower the crash risk.

“If you have uniform speeds in the traffic flow, people aren’t driving as aggressively,” Olson said.

“Because when you have someone quite fast and someone driving a lot slower, that creates tension in the traffic stream.”

Most people do drive a speed that is reasonable based on traffic conditions, Olson said.

Traffic engineers found that 85 percent of the people on the south more freeway-like section of U.S. 71 were driving closer to 70 mph, which is not surprising, Olson said.

“We want people to respect our traffic signs and laws, and appropriate speed limits do breed respect, not contempt,” he said.

“Law enforcement can then focus on the few people who are driving grossly unsafe and at risk to the traveling public instead of everybody being basically breaking the law.”

Several intersections along Watkins Drive have been identified as having the highest number of vehicle wrecks in Kansas City, Deputy Chief David Zimmerman told police commissioners earlier this month.

When studying to see if the speed limits could be raised, transportation officials looked at crashes in the area, how wide the shoulders are,..

other safety features and the spacing of interchanges.

They found that the south section of the highway could handle a higher speed limit.

About 80,000 vehicles pass through that section of U.S. 71. That’s compared to about 85,000 vehicles that head north I-435 from the 3-Trails Crossing.

The transportation department has increased the speed limits in other parts of the city.

In 2006, state transportation officials increased the speed limit on a 13-mile stretch of Missouri 152 in the Interstate 435 loop from 60 mph to 65 mph.

“It kind of helped. It is kind of bizarre,” deputy chief Zimmerman said.

“It seems like, to me, you would want people to slow down and not speed up.”

Read more here: http://www.kansascity.com/news/local/article146098589.html#storylink=cpy
 

rotarykid

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another push(mp's are discussing in the press the fact that the public overwhelmingly supports an increase in posted to 80 mph across rural UK freeways)...

"discussions" are underway in the UK again to try to raise the posted maximum from 70 to 80 mph on rural freeways..........
 
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rotarykid

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80 mph now posted on a ~130 mile broken into two sections stretch of Nevada's I-80, as of the beginning of last week.....

Now there are 6 states today with some miles posted @ 80 mph today across the western US...

Also as of the beginning of May stretches of 75 mph began to show up on Michigan's rural miles of freeways.....also as of this week, some parts of the U P are starting to see 65 mph on their rural two-lane highways....Likely by the end of the summer, these new limits will be posted across the entire state where the data says this is the appropriate speed....

And Arkansas DOT is currently looking at stretches that are soon likely to get the allowed now in law increase of 65 on two lane highways & 75 on rural freeways...
 

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New Idaho law permits higher passing speeds on certain highways takes effect July 1.

New law allowing speeds above posted while passing take effect July 1, 2017 in Idaho...

The new law adds Idaho to a list of states that include Washington and Wyoming to already allow motorists to exceed the speed limit while passing on two-lane highways.

The Washington law does not include a set amount.

However, the Wyoming law allows 10 mph over the posted limit.


New Idaho law permits higher passing speeds on certain highways takes effect July 1....


The rules for passing on certain Idaho highways are about to change.

Effective July 1, a new law permits motorists not towing another vehicle and motorcyclists to exceed the posted speed limit by up to 15 mph while passing on two-lane highways.

Affected roadways must have posted speeds of at least 55 mph.

Sen. Mark Harris, R-Soda Springs, said the change is a “balance of human behavior and safety.”

Until now, Idaho law has not provided exception or leniency of a speed above the posted limit during or immediately following a pass.

Passing drivers would be required to return to the right lane and reduce speed to the posted limit “as soon as practicable.”

The new passing rule does not change where passing is or is not allowed. Work zones are also off limits for the maneuver.

Sen. Grant Burgoyne, D-Boise, cautions the new passing privilege will lead to more reckless driving and wrecks.

Advocates say the new rule permits motorists to complete a pass as quickly as possible, and avoid lingering in the opposite lane.

“If you are passing someone that is going slow, you should be able to get out of oncoming traffic as soon as possible,” Harris said while speaking on the Senate floor.

The new law adds Idaho to a list of states that include Washington and Wyoming to already allow motorists to exceed the speed limit while passing on two-lane highways.

The Washington law does not include a set amount.

However, the Wyoming law allows 10 mph over the posted limit.
 

rotarykid

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the new 65mph speed limit signs in UP, Michigan's US-2 from St. Ignace to Rapid River

Michigan two-lane UP roads finally seeing 65 mph posted,.....

New 65mph speed limits taking effect in some areas of the UP, the new 65mph speed limit signs up on Michigan's US-2 from St. Ignace to Rapid River.....

East of RAPID RIVER, Mich. (WLUC) - The speed limit increase has finally made its way into the Upper Peninsula.

The Michigan Department of Transportation finished putting the new speed limit signs up on US-2 from St. Ignace to Rapid River. Speed limit have been increased from 55 to 65.

Any areas where speeds were reduced in the past will remain reduced. The next area to be getting the speed limit increase should be M-28 as they work their way westward.

MDOT is encouraging drivers to follow whatever the posted speed is despite the future change.
 

tadawson

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Michigan two-lane UP roads finally seeing 65 mph posted

"MDOT is encouraging drivers to follow whatever the posted speed is despite the future change."
That would be a first! On most UP roads north of US2, other than the fruitbats in the Prii, you pretty much get run off the road doing much less than 65 . . . .
 

rotarykid

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across ILL there are have been no increase in crashes or deaths on the freeways which saw the increase from 65 to 70 for all traffic in 2014. what the actual data says is travel on these 70 mph posted today freeways has become safer for all...

Peru police officer Aaron Querciagrossa clocked a Michigan motorist going 79 mph and initiated a traffic stop a mile east of Plank Road. People speed and cops ticket — nothing new there.

But police haven’t found things have changed all that much since Illinois lifted its highway speed limit from 65 mph to 70 mph three years ago.

“People are doing a little over the speed limit,” Querciagrossa shrugged, “but it’s a welcome change for most people.”


The 70-mph limit has been on the books since Jan. 1, 2014. The previous year, a measure to lift the speed limit from 65 mph blazed through the Illinois House and Senate. Then-Gov. Pat Quinn took some time before signing the bill when state police and the governor’s transportation chief both opposed the increase. They argued higher speeds would translate into more accidents.

They need not have worried. To law enforcement, life on the freeways feels much the same today as it did when the speed limit stood at 65 mph.

And statistically, the roads seem no more dangerous since the speed limit was raised to 70 mph

Fatalities didn’t rise
Fatal crashes did increase in two of the three calendar years since the 70-mph speed limit was adopted, but not on the interstate highways where the speed limit was raised.

Take 2014, for example. That year, traffic fatalities jumped nearly 100 percent (from 13 the previous year to 25).

But only four happened on Interstate 80 and one on I-39, meaning just 20 percent of fatal crashes happened in 70-mph speed zones.

Last year was a bad one for traffic crashes, as well, with 30 people killed in La Salle County.

Here again, though, only six happened on I-80 or I-39. Eighty percent of fatal crashes happened on state highways, rural roads and within city limits rather than where the speed limit had been raised 5 mph.

Surprised? Coroner Bill Wujek was.

“I would have thought the numbers would be a little different,” Wujek said, anticipating the freeways would have comprised a higher percentage of fatal crashes.

But then speed doesn’t tell the whole story. Alcohol also is a proven killer at the wheel, but last year’s 30 deaths happened even as the county posted its second-fewest DUI total on record.

In fact, DUIs fell seven straight years before last year’s 502, which represented just a 1.6-percent up-tick from a record low.

Yet over the same period, the year-over-year fatal crash total bounced wildly from 12 to 30.

Just as there doesn’t seem to be a direct link between yearly crash totals and DUIs, there doesn’t seem to be a direct link between speed and death, either.

Speeding didn’t surge

The number of traffic tickets did fall in La Salle County after the highway speed limit was raised to 70 mph; but it’s hard to tie that to the 70-mph limit because the traffic volume was falling, anyway.

Traffic tickets have been in freefall since 2003, which was about the time Illinois adopted graduated licensing for teenaged drivers.

With fewer young drivers risking their licenses by drag racing or reckless driving, the ticket volume fell about 40 percent in a decade.


That trend continued even after the speed limit rose to 70 and tempted drivers to hit the gas.

By the end of 2014, the first year of 70-mph speeds, traffic violations fell 11 percent from the previous year, and speeding tickets fell 20 percent.

Crashes down, too?

Crash data from Interstates 39 and 80 wasn’t available.

State police said in a response to a Freedom of Information Act that a 2015 switchover in databases impeded a before-and-after analysis.

The data on fatalities explained earlier suggest no surge in crashes, and Oglesby police chief Jim Knoblauch, whose officers handle I-39 crashes, observed,

“From what I can see speeding has declined.”

“I believe the semi drivers’ being able to go 70 has made it more difficult for the flow of traffic,” Knoblauch noted.

There also is no direct evidence to show that people keep the gas pedal down after they exit the freeways and drive on rural roads.

The La Salle County Sheriff’s Office said speeding tickets crept up between 2014 and 2016 but are on their way back down again, suggesting a natural ebb and flow in traffic offenses.

Sheriff Tom Templeton said his officers didn’t experience a spillover effect as high-speed motorists moved from the freeways to roads with 55-mph posted limits such as U.S. 6, 34 and 52 or Route 178.

“They haven’t really noticed a big difference in the numbers of what the speeds were,” Templeton said.
 

rotarykid

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75-MPH Limit Still Awaits Green Light on Arkansas Highways

Arkansas's new speed limit law allowing 75 on freeways & 65 on two lane roads took effect at the beginning of August....

But the state's department of transportation came out last week with a statement of we may never raise the limits anywhere in the state to 75 mph due to safety & traffic flow concerns across the state. They also stated that I-40 is likely never to see the increase due vehicle flow rate patterns.....

No comment yet on any two lane highways seeing the allowed in law increase...

It was noted in the articles I have seen that average current 85th percentile flow speeds are already safely & comfortably today at least 75 mph across all of arkansas's rural freeway miles...but this fact seems to have been ignored by DOT officials......

75-MPH Limit Still Awaits Green Light on Arkansas Highways



Westbound traffic passes a speed limit sign on Interstate 40 outside West Memphis. (Google Maps)

The state’s lead feet (lead foots?) likely rejoiced when the Arkansas Legislature passed a law allowing the State Highway Commission to raise the highway speed limit to 75 mph.

I understand the desire to drive faster on the interstate. I think the state would be better served by more drivers paying attention to the “Slower Traffic Keep Right” requirement than any speed limit increase, but that’s just me.

Act 1097 went into effect Aug. 1, but the actual raising of any speed limits will have to wait until the Department of Transportation and its engineers complete an updated traffic study.

Those looking forward to (legally) punching the gas heavier will have to wait a while longer, and there is no guarantee the limits will be raised anyway.

“We started getting emails from people, ‘When is this going to happen so I can drive faster?’” said Danny Straessle, the public affairs officer for the Department of Transportation in Little Rock.

“What we are stressing to people is what is posted out on the highway is the law of the land. Until that sign changes you may not drive a higher speed.”

Straessle said the law gives the State Highway Commission the authority to raise the speed limit, but it’s not a mandate.

The act, which was sponsored by state Rep. DeAnn Vaught, R-Horatio, was very popular in the Legislature, passing the House by a vote of 92-1 and the Senate by a vote of 34-0.


Straessle said the speed study should be completed by the end of the summer.

“We’ll see if it’s a good idea and where it is a good idea,” Straessle said.

Arkansas is not leading the nation here. Eighteen other states have speed limits of 75 or more, and Texas has a stretch of rural highway where the limit is 85.

Almost all of the faster states are west of Arkansas, and studies have shown that Western drivers generally drive faster than the rest of the country.

That’s not necessarily a personality trait, but a reflection that there are a lot of wide-open, desolate stretches of road, as anyone who has ever driven across Kansas can surely attest.

Arkansas, with more than 16,000 miles of highway, is not comparable. I routinely drive some open stretches, for example between Alma and Russellville,

but while that part of Interstate 40 traverses no significant population areas — no offense to the fine towns of Ozark and Clarksville — it does go through some significant twists and turns.

“Think about going through Ozark and the curves and there is a hill over there where the rest area is,” Straessle said. “The geometry changes pretty quick.”


Eastbound on I-40, near the Ozark rest area.
Straessle said the speed limit decision is serious.

It stands to reason that accidents that happen at higher speeds can be deadlier.

It’s one of the reasons the state is so gung-ho to put more traffic circles in, because they force drivers to slow down while approaching intersections.

“Just because adjacent states have a higher speed limit does not mean it is a good idea for Arkansas,” Straessle said.

“The states that do have the higher speed limits, 75 and 80 in some cases, those are extremely special and extenuating circumstances that enable those speeds to be attained.”

Another point that may slow down drivers’ excitement is that the places where the speed limit could be raised are probably not the areas where drivers would most like to go faster.

Interstate 40 from North Little Rock to Memphis could be reclassified without a speed limit and it wouldn’t matter because there is so much traffic, truck and otherwise, that determines how fast people can go.

An increased speed limit probably won’t matter to the majority of the trucks on the road because trucking companies have pretty set standards about fuel efficiencies and safety.


“It’s a huge decision,” Straessle said. “If we bump up the speed limit to 75, we know people are going to go 80 and 85.

Right now the speed limit is 70 so we know they are at least going 75 or 80.”
 

romad

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I'm confused. You posted the story on Arkansas last week, so why are you re-posting it again?

I've noticed you seem to do this frequently; it is annoying to be notified of a "NEW" post only to see it is the same post I read days or weeks before.
 

rotarykid

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I'm confused. You posted the story on Arkansas last week, so why are you re-posting it again?

I've noticed you seem to do this frequently; it is annoying to be notified of a "NEW" post only to see it is the same post I read days or weeks before.
I finally just a bit ago found an article I could actually attach....the other ones were subscription only that I was unable to attach.....that is all....
 

romad

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I finally just a bit ago found an article I could actually attach....the other ones were subscription only that I was unable to attach.....that is all....
Ah, OK. However you could just to edit the original post; no need to make a whole new post.
 

rotarykid

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Increasing Arkansas' Speed Limit Up for Public Input & Debate

Arkansas speed limits open for review & input from the public until Dec. 13, 2017..........


Increasing Arkansas' Speed Limit Up for Public Input & Debate



Though it now has the legal ability to raise speed limits, the Arkansas Department of Transportation won't be replacing its 70 MPH signs with ones that read 75 MPH until it hears from the public and the State Highway Commission. (Arkansas Department of Transportation)

Arkansans have more than a month to tell the state’s Department of Transportation what they think of increasing the highway speed limit.

Raising the speed limits on state highways became a possibility when the state Legislature passed Act 1097, which went into effect Aug. 1. The law gave the State Highway Commission the authority to raise the limits but, as ArDOT spokesman Danny Straessle said two months ago, it’s not a mandate.

At least one commission member, Philip Taldo of Springdale, is against increasing the speed limit. He was quoted at length in the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette and later followed with a social media post that he was opposed to the higher limits as long as texting while driving was still a problem.

The Transportation Department completed a speed study of Arkansas’ freeways and highways to determine the feasibility of raising the speed limits. The department posted its draft of the 2017 Speed Limit Review on its website.

The draft was presented to the State Highway Commission on Oct. 18 and left open for review and public comments until Dec. 13. Straessle, two months ago, said the Speed Limit Review would show whether raising the speed limits was a good idea and if so, where it would be a good idea.


The main question of an increased speed limit, of course, is how dangerous it would be for motorists. The review showed that fatalities on rural interstates increased by 9.4 percent after the speed limit was raised from 65 mph to 70 mph.

Not to get bogged down with boring minutiae, but the standard divisions of roads in ArDOT’s purview are rural freeways (think interstate with few interchanges), urban freeways (interstate with many interchanges), rural multilane highways and other rural highways.

The review said that after the initial bump in fatalities in 1996, the fatality rate peaked in 2000.

“While speed obviously has a significant impact on the fatal and serious injury crash rates, these figures show a declining trend for fatal and serious injury crash rates since 2000, even given the steady increase in the vehicle miles traveled over this period,” the report said. “It could be argued that technology has played a more significant role in the fluctuation of the rates than the posted speed limit. For example, continued improvements in vehicle safety design, airbags, better tires, and the more recent development of collision avoidance systems, has contributed to the declines, whereas the explosion of the use of smartphones and texting has contributed to the increases.”

The executive summary of the review stated that, after investigation, the department recommended that speed limits be raised on three of the four highway divisions of the state. ArDOT recommended that for rural freeways the speed limit be raised to 75 mph from its current 70.

ArDOT also recommended that urban freeways be given a standard 65 mph limit, up from their current 60. The department recommended raising the rural multilane limit to 65 from its current range of between 55 and 65 — and keeping all other rural highways at 55 mph.

The review showed that 85 percent of motorists drove 71 mph or slower on rural interstates and 59 mph on urban interstates.

Doug Voss is an associate professor at the University of Central Arkansas in Conway and also a member of the board of directors of the Arkansas Trucking Association. He thinks raising the speed limit is a bad idea because it will highlight the dangerous speed difference between cars and trucks, which are usually restricted by their companies as to how fast they can go.

“I do not believe increasing the speed limit is in the best interest of safety,” Voss said. “Raising the speed limit will create greater speed differential between trucks and cars, which is a major precursor to safety incidents. It’s safer when everyone travels at the same speed.”

Of course, no one travels at the same speed. The truth of driving on highways is the person in front of you is going too slow and the person behind you is going too fast; it’s just human nature to think that way.
 

rotarykid

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Speed limit raised to 110 kph on section of Shin-Tomei Expressway in trial to study

The first increase in legal speed allowed since 1963, 110km/hr now allowed on one freeway in Japan....With 120 km/hr likely soon to be allowed if test successful....


Speed limit raised to 110 kph on section of Shin-Tomei Expressway in trial to study safety


KYODO NOV 1, 2017
SHIZUOKA – The speed limit on a section of the Shin-Tomei Expressway was raised on Wednesday to 110 kph from 100 kph in a trial, set to last for at least a year, meant to gauge safety.

The change to a limit higher than 100 kph is the first since the nation’s first expressway opened in 1963.

The trial — on a 50-km section of the roadway between the Shin-Shizuoka and Morikakegawa interchanges — comes in the wake of national debate on the topic.

The current plan calls for the upper limit to eventually be raised to 120 kph, with restrictions set during bad weather or in the event of accidents.

The trial change does not apply to trucks and other large freight vehicles, which still must adhere to a limit of 80 kph. To prevent accidents caused by the stark difference in speed, trucks will be limited to the left lane in certain sections.

The National Police Agency said in October last year that in addition to the Shin-Tomei trial, it would increase the limit on the Tohoku Expressway between the Hanamaki-Minami and Morioka-Minami interchanges. Authorities, including the Iwate Prefectural Police, are considering when to begin the trial on the 30-km section.

Also on Wednesday, the Shizuoka Prefectural Police expressway unit held a ceremony in the city of Shizuoka to demonstrate their resolve to step up traffic enforcement.
 

rotarykid

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Government Study In 1964 Revealed Dangerously Slow Drivers

....Drivers traveling slower than normal comfortable & safe 85th percentile speed pose a safety risk to all they share the road with....

Government Study In 1964 Revealed Dangerously Slow Drivers

Report from precursor to US Department of Transportation found driving slower than the flow of traffic is dangerous.

The "Solomon Curve"-Half a century ago, US government officials were concerned enough about the safety of rural highways to take a closer look at the causes of accidents. In an exhaustive survey, the Commerce Department's Bureau of Public Roads --

which has since become the Transportation Department's Federal Highway Administration --

concluded that excessively slow driving is every bit as dangerous as overly fast driving.

The agency's chief researcher, David Solomon, compiled the results of a massive eleven-state study that covered 600 miles of main rural highways, accidents involving 10,000 drivers and interviews with 290,000 motorists.

The road segments had traffic of up to 24,000 vehicles per day and speed limits of between 55 and 70 MPH.

After crunching the numbers, Solomon found that the simplistic slogan "slow down" was not the key to improving highway safety, and that such slogans are actually counterproductive.

"Within the limits of the study, there is an unmistakable indication that low-speed drivers are more likely to be involved in accidents than relatively high-speed drivers," the report concluded.

"Note that at extremely high speeds, approaching 80 mile an hour, the difference would disappear."

It is common to see traffic on many interstate highways cruising above the posted speed limit.

When a car in the left lane, however, decides to stick to the lower speed, it creates a backup. Cars then accelerate much faster than traffic on the right to get past the bunched up traffic, creating greater risk.

Such individual observations fit within the statistically significant findings that resulted in the chart now known as Solomon's curve.

"It is clear that regardless of the average speed on a main rural highway, the greater the driver's variation from this average speed, the greater his chance of being involved in an accident," the report explained.

"The lowest [accident] involvement rate occurred at the average speed or slightly above it.

As speeds departed from the average speed in either direction, the involvement rate increased in a nearly symmetrical fashion."

The consequences of a high-speed accident, however, were found to be more severe, with injury rates soaring at speeds exceeding 70 MPH.

Yet the report even found that inherently slower automobiles also proved to be less safe, on average, than fast cars.

"Drivers of passenger cars having low horsepower had higher involvement rates than drivers of cars having higher horsepower, regardless of the other variables studied," the report found.

"This may he related to the relatively poor acceleration capability at highway speeds of cars having low horsepower."

The Solomon report's findings are at odds with those produced by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS), an organization funded by the insurance industry.

That industry earns additional revenue from every speeding ticket issued through surcharges.

The industry has produced research slamming the Solomon Report, but IIHS researchers have had their own academic integrity questioned.

A copy of the 1964 study is available in a 3.5mb PDF file at the source link below.

Source: PDF File Accidents on Main Rural Highways (US Department of Commerce, 7/1/1964)
 

2015vwgolfdiesel

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Speed kills ~~ So does really slow drivers

....They really do not mix, well:eek:

....So "blend" this fine happy Turkey day:D
 

2015vwgolfdiesel

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Drive right in Oklahoma -- or $187 ticket

Now the signs are up and the enforcement is in effect.

The signs are of a different size and shape. Somewhat square in shape, rather than highly rectangle. White in color

On my two trips to Stillwater today and yesterday, I did not see a single Trooper. But I did notice that cars were "moving" to the right lane after passing.

.... as for my $.02 I have started to give a "right turn signal blink" as they safely are ahead of me. ~~ and to remind them to get back in the right lane:D

.... 'bout time we got this law. :eek:
 

ATR

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Now the signs are up and the enforcement is in effect.
The signs are of a different size and shape. Somewhat square in shape, rather than highly rectangle. White in color
On my two trips to Stillwater today and yesterday, I did not see a single Trooper. But I did notice that cars were "moving" to the right lane after passing.
.... as for my $.02 I have started to give a "right turn signal blink" as they safely are ahead of me. ~~ and to remind them to get back in the right lane:D
.... 'bout time we got this law. :eek:
We desperately need a similar law in Maryland.
 

2015vwgolfdiesel

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We desperately need a similar law in Maryland.
.......glad we have it now.

.......only sad issue is the condition of roads (OkieVille) in the right lane(s)

.......the right lane(s) are shot, in general compared to the left :mad:
 

rotarykid

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80mph bill gains gov support in Nebraskia for I-80...

Proposed 5 mph limit increase bill, that would allow 80 mph to be posted the length of I-80 across Nebraska seems to have support from the gov.....

This is a law that would have a real effect on crossing times going east from Denver(CO) region,....



Nebraska's Governor supports a bill to increase I-80 speed limit to 80 mph across the state....



LINCOLN, Neb. —A bill introduced at the Nebraska Capitol could increase certain speed limits across the state.

"Increase the speed limit yes, I think there'll be more crashes,” Dale Tubbs said.

Tubbs drives from Lincoln to Omaha often to see his granddaughters. He said west of the capital could use a speed increase, but he wants to pump the brakes on any change between Nebraska’s two biggest cities.

“I think west of Lincoln on the end of the state 80 is probably OK. Between Lincoln and Omaha they're already driving 80 and if you tack on an extra 5 they'll just go 85,” Tubbs said.

A bill by Gretna Sen. John Murante to increase speed limits is backed by Gov. Pete Ricketts.

It would raise the limits in most high-speed areas by 5 miles an hour if safety allows.

“Generally allowing us to raise speed limits about 5 miles an hour. For example, if the engineering and so forth would determine that we could between Lincoln and Omaha we could raise it to 80 miles an hour,” Ricketts said.

Rural highways could be upped to 65 or 70. Murante said the Department of Transportation has already studied the idea of increases.

“They feel, and I agree, that it is perfectly safe and reasonable to increase the speed limits and it’s something that the people of Nebraska really want,” Murante said.

The Nebraska Safety Council disagrees.

“Statistically, for every 5 miles per hour that you increase the speed limit on an interstate or a highway, fatalities increase by about 8 percent,” Lisa Henning, Nebraska Safety Council, said.

Henning said that would mean an extra 18 fatalities every year.

But, Ricketts and Murante say it'll streamline transportation, drive tourism and help people get to work faster.

Still, some say faster isn't always better.

“If you end up causing a wreck and hurting someone, or you get hurt, you're not going to get there as fast as you thought you were anyways,” Tubbs said.
 

rotarykid

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Idaho proposing doing away with lower for trucks split speed limits adopting uniform

Idaho may be about to allow uniform 80mph for all traffic on I-84 if the proposed law is passed..........


Proposal would allow trucks across Idaho to go 80 mph on parts of I-84

BOISE, Idaho -
A proposed bill inside the Idaho Statehouse would increase the speed limit for commercial trucks to 80 miles per hour on certain parts of Idaho highways has one Democrat calling foul.

Currently, commercial trucks are limited to 70 MPH miles in rural areas and 65 MPH in urban areas.

The proposed legislation introduced Monday would do away with the lower designated speeds for commercial trucks.

According to the proposal brought forth by the chairman, Republican Joe Palmer of Meridian, Idaho is one of the only states in the country with dual speed limits.

Democrat Representative John Gannon of Bosie says the bill presents a public safety risk.

"We always balance safety against commerce and in this case when you're getting to the speed of 80 miles per hour that's very hazardous, and it takes three football field for an 80 thousand pound truck to stop," said Gannon.

A date for a formal hearing on the bill has not be set.
 
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