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Author Topic: US STATE HIKES SPEED LIMITS?  (Read 2266 times)

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Offline Ultra

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US STATE HIKES SPEED LIMITS?
« on: January 20, 2007, 11:26:38 AM »
80mph and don't dawdle in outside lane

Another US state is considering increasing its maximum speed limit to 80mph.

Utah's Senate transportation committee has recommended the adoption of a law that would give officials the discretion to increase speed limits where engineering and safety surveys show that most motorists are already safely travelling at that speed.

It would also allow the police to stop drivers for committing various misdemeanours such as using a mobile phone and other due care and attention offences, but not speeding. It also outlaws driving slowly in the outside lane of the motorway, saying that dawdlers, "may not impede the movement or free flow of traffic."

Common sense is not quite yet lost forever. We wish...
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Offline MG

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Re: US STATE HIKES SPEED LIMITS?
« Reply #1 on: January 20, 2007, 01:27:44 PM »
Yeah, if I was driving through Utah I'd want to get through it as fast as possible too!    :hah:
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Offline Boxer2500

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Re: US STATE HIKES SPEED LIMITS?
« Reply #2 on: January 20, 2007, 09:03:38 PM »
Quote from: MG on January 20, 2007, 01:27:44 PM
Yeah, if I was driving through Utah I'd want to get through it as fast as possible too!    :hah:

Only someone who has never been to Utah would say that... the peculiar marriage habits of the locals aside. :-X ;)

I think more and more states are going towards sane speed limits; within the last year, Texas and Utah have both declared intention to raise the limit to 80. It seems like 75-80 is the speed most drivers settle at on a rural freeway, and the posted limit has nothing to do with it. The vast majority of folks have an innate sense of self-preservation, and they will instinctively drive at a speed that they find safe. Now, we could go a step further and say that rural interstates should be unlimited, but in our litigious society, it'll never happen. My adopted home state tried this from 1995-99, and it went down in flames in the state supreme court after some yahoo got a ticket for doing 110 in a rainstorm ("driving too fast for conditions"). and got himself a good lawyer. The final decision was that "Reasonable and Prudent" is unconstitutionally vague.
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Offline Rich

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Re: US STATE HIKES SPEED LIMITS?
« Reply #3 on: January 20, 2007, 10:02:17 PM »
Utah, especially Southern, is really beautiful.  Will be taking the DeLuxe down there as part of my summer midlife crisis fix.

Scary part of this speed limit thing is that 80 is not restricted to the rural areas, at least not around here.  You drive through SLC and there's 55 mph signs all over as people blast by you whilst you're doing 80-85 ten feet in back of the guy in front of you ten feet in back of the guy in front of him....

Damn, this traffic jam
How I hate to be late
Hurts my motor to go so slow
Damn, this traffic jam
Time I get home
My supper be cold
Damn this traffic jam.......
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Offline Boxer2500

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Re: US STATE HIKES SPEED LIMITS?
« Reply #4 on: January 20, 2007, 11:07:08 PM »
Quote from: Rich on January 20, 2007, 10:02:17 PM
Utah, especially Southern, is really beautiful.  Will be taking the DeLuxe down there as part of my summer midlife crisis fix.

Scary part of this speed limit thing is that 80 is not restricted to the rural areas, at least not around here.  You drive through SLC and there's 55 mph signs all over as people blast by you whilst you're doing 80-85 ten feet in back of the guy in front of you ten feet in back of the guy in front of him....

I drove through SLC last week on I-15 coming up to Montana. Seemed like the *minimum* traffic speed was 75, speed limits be damned. And forget about safe following distance.
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Offline Tifosi

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Re: US STATE HIKES SPEED LIMITS?
« Reply #5 on: January 21, 2007, 01:56:07 AM »
Quote from: MG on January 20, 2007, 01:27:44 PM
Yeah, if I was driving through Utah I'd want to get through it as fast as possible too!    :hah:

I always felt that way about New Jersey...


Dan
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Offline MG

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Re: US STATE HIKES SPEED LIMITS?
« Reply #6 on: January 21, 2007, 06:55:42 AM »
Hey, guys. It was a modest attempt at humor, OK?  Hell, I live in Rhode Island. What have I got to be smug about?

And fwiw, I've been to SLC and Park City.  I like to ski at Solitude if for no other reason than I totally love the name of the place.

I shall try to make my humor more humorous in the future.     8)
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Offline Rich

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Re: US STATE HIKES SPEED LIMITS?
« Reply #7 on: January 21, 2007, 06:57:28 AM »
No worries, MG...I read your commentary as humorous, not vindictive nor ignorant, particularly since UT is one of the reddest states you'll find and I'm somewhat aware of your political leanings........

r
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Offline Jagman

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Re: US STATE HIKES SPEED LIMITS?
« Reply #8 on: January 30, 2007, 09:56:37 AM »
It also outlaws driving slowly in the outside lane of the motorway

More states should enforce this, but I doubt they will..................

I thought they had to periodically review and adjust speed limits to the 85th percentile anyway?

Out west, they really need to look at raising the limits, there's a lot of room to roll out there...........
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Offline MG

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Re: US STATE HIKES SPEED LIMITS?
« Reply #9 on: January 30, 2007, 10:22:40 AM »
 thought they had to periodically review and adjust speed limits to the 85th percentile anyway?

Not so. "THEY" set speed limits according to what the feds TELL them to set the limits at or what the politicians TELL them to set the limits at. Around here, we have an 8 lane highway with a limit of 50. Couldn't tell you how many hundreds of tickets get writen each month on that stretch of road.    :(

Most professional traffic engineers SUGGEST setting the speed limit at the 85th percentile. But their advice is seldom if ever followed.

Most such engineers will tell you that it is the differential in speed between vehicles on any given road that is the danger.  A motorist going 20 mph under the limit (or prevailing speed) is JUST as dangerous as the one going 20 mph over the limit. Maybe more so, as there are more of them and they act like a rolling chicane, forcing other drivers to change lanes to get around them and being a primary source of "road rage." 

As usual when it comes to gummint regulation, what ought to be and what am are often worlds apart..... :-[
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Offline GTO48

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Re: US STATE HIKES SPEED LIMITS?
« Reply #10 on: January 30, 2007, 12:00:41 PM »
I live in Salt Lake City, and...

I can tell you that I had the Goat out yesterday, and was cruising between 85 and 95 on I-15 and felt like I was "average".  Some faster, some slower.  Normally 75 is about the median speed though.

Our interstate here was recently refinished prior to the 2002 olympics.  While they should have done a couple of more lanes, it is one of the most advanced in the country.  Glass smooth.  The only beef I have is how our carpool lane is used...  That's another topic though.

BTW MG, I keep telling my wife we need a 3rd, but she's not going for it.   ;D  Utah has a law against polygamy.  Not everyone adheres to it, but the ones who don't are slowly going down ala Warren Jeffs.
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