Palting

Found this excellent article in CNN: http://www.cnn.com/2008/LIVING/wayof...tes/index.html

Just a few quotable points from the article:
"The results were clear: "By and large, across the 50 states, there was no discernible effect from the higher limits," Yowell said. "Two or three states actually had a decrease in fatalities."

Once speed limits are raised on interstates, drivers are more likely to get off the more dangerous two lanes and use the faster routes, Yowell said. Furthermore, the motorists traveling the fastest on the higher-speed interstates tend to be good at that kind of driving. The less competent drivers at high speeds tend to drive more slowly.

While Yowell admits most states are well-intentioned, he's "not willing to accept that speed limits are solely a function of safety," he said. "They are a function of revenue generation as well. There have been cases of judges saying communities have to raise their speed limits because they were obviously being used to raise revenues and that's not a proper use of the law."

And:
"His research doesn't surprise Jim Baxter, president of the Waunakee, Wisconsin-based National Motorists Association. His organization had lobbied heavily for an end to the federal limits.

Baxter's rule of thumb for computing the right speed limit is the traffic engineering standard known as the 85th percentile speed. That's the speed that 85 percent of motorists drive at or below. But it tends to be well above the speed limits that most jurisdictions set.

With the speed limit set at that level, traffic tends to move smoothly, reducing the risk of accidents, Baxter said. If you put the limit below that speed, some vehicles are traveling far more slowly than the fastest drivers, creating the most dangerous conditions of all.

Baxter argues that most drivers naturally tend to drive at speeds that suit the road conditions and their driving skills.

St. Thomas is a case in point, albeit an extreme one. With its congestion and rugged terrain, the island is bereft of performance cars; many of the vehicles are older pickups, aging Japanese compacts and SUVs. The treacherous conditions restrict speeds far more effectively than any local law."

CosmosC4S

I vote for American Autobahn's!

triode

Bravo, Palting. Baxter and the NMA do yeoman work!

pat056

Don't get me started on speed limits. In South Carolina, local municipalities can go to the interstate, change the speed limit in their jurisdiction from 70 to 55 for just a couple of miles, and sit there giving speeding tickets out. Some of the local towns are well known speed traps, where towns with less than 1,000 people will have a 1/2 dozen police cars staffed around the clock, sitting right under speed limit signs giving tickets.
Be careful if you go to DE's at CMP in Kershaw. The local's have figured out they can write all the tickets they want to as cars and truck/trailers slam on brakes trying to go from 55 to 35.
Anyway, I know this os OT, but speeding tickets are nothing more that some city's form of road tax, and it can have dramatic affects on peoples lives IMHO. Meanwhile, when's the last time you saw a ploice car doing the speed limit? I know some local police and can tell you, they get a real charge out of whipping the car around and stopping people and it has nothing to do with making our roads safer.
I'll shut up...

ElTorrente

I just moved to Baltimore from San Diego, and boy the speed limits on these roads are driving me crazy.

Speed limits are 55mph on the 695, which I take to work everyday, and people actually only drive 55-60.. it's maddening!!!!! In San Diego, the traffic flowed at 80-85 in the left lane(s). In Baltimore, I feel like a speed-demon when I'm only going 70.

Barn996

Our 'politicians' feel the need to protect us at every step whether we need their help or not, and speed limits seem to reflect that misinformed attitude. Raise our speed limits...please!!

jsmirand

I seem to get one speeding ticket every 5 years or so. As it happens, I got one 3 weeks ago leaving Sedona Arizona going 10MPH over, while driving my BMW. For some reason, it didn't bother me too much, because having owned my first 911 for just 4 months now, I just accepted it as the way it is, as I know I've done much worse on my new to me 911. I was all but tempted to tell the officer "I am so grateful I got this on my BMW today; you wouldn't even imagine what I was doing on my 911 last week..."

Many Arizona highways have a speed limit of 75MPH, and that is a reasonably comfortable range to drive in. If anything, I dislike vintage rice burners with poor tires going by at 90MPH, as I've seen two sudden blow outs in the past year that could have easily cost not only their lives but of those of drivers near them.

On the other extreme, I can't imagine major highways that go on and on in the East Coast set at 55MPH. That seems like idling.

Palting

I know this post is OT, and it will probably get moved to the OT board shortly by John. Thought we at the 996 board can enjoy the article a bit to ourselves first.

I always knew that safety was not an issue with speed limits, and now I know that there is a study that actually proves it. It also came as a surprise that some judges have actually mandated that the speed limits in their community be raised because the limits were used to raise revenues and that was improper use of the law.

Marv

"The less competent drivers at high speeds tend to drive more slowly." and in the left lane!

pat056

+1 Marv!
People will sit in the left lane and let folks fly by on the right! I haven't been on the Autobahn, but have heard they are quick to give tickets for left lane traffic going too slow...I love that!!

Tippy

+1,000,000

steve germany

Not tickets very often - they just don't do it! Lots of training and respect for the road from the begining. There used to be a law that if you were hit from behind and in the left lane on an unlimited autobahn YOU were at fault. That has been repealed.

There are very few politzi on the autobahn - regulation is mostly done by camera. If you have a witness in the car you can take pictures and turn someone in to the politzi for driving in the right lane. A hold over from Gastapo times...

Meister Fahrer

In my experience, the Polizei in Germany were less Gestapo than the police in Podunk....

I remember the first time flying by the Polizei on the Autobahn and my instinct was to slam on the brakes....

Not only does slow traffic stay to the right, but get this: people actually use their turn signals!

Irony of note: Germany banned the "flash to pass" (aka Licht Hupe / light horn) many years ago because West Germans were getting a little too aggressive on all the East German Trabants after the wall came down....

gota911

Speed limits??? We don't need no stinkin' speed limits!!!

Wellardmac

So, you've been to PA then?

Speed limits = taxation plain and simple. Politicians are addicted to the revenue generated by speeding tickets and it's slam dunk to sell cracking down on speeding to the less educated masses.