In 1987, many states raised their highway speed limits from 55 to 65 MPH.
Our speed limits on average are 33 years old. Modern cars have improved leaps and bounds
Poll: Do You Think Highway Speed Limits Should Be Raised?
Yes (even if just by 5 MPH)
No (65/70 should be the absolute max)
0voters
Here in Central NJ, you almost never see the flow of traffic at or around 65MPH. Flow of traffic is probably around 75-80MPH…
I’m open to an autobahn-like system implemented nationwide. (enforced speed limits where and when it makes sense, advisory speed/unlimited where it makes sense.) – Of course, all interstates would need an overhaul and strict overtaking protocol would need to be learned.
For more than two decades, speeding has been involved in approximately one-third of all motor vehicle fatalities. In 2017, speeding was a contributing factor in 26% of all traffic fatalities.
The proportion of speeding-related crashes to all fatal crashes in 2018 decreased as the age of the driver increased. The proportion of female drivers who were speeding is smaller than male drivers across all age groups. Young male drivers in the 15-20 and 21-24-year-old age groups were the most likely to be speeding at the time of fatal crashes. In 2018, at least 29% of male drivers in these age groups involved in fatal crashes were speeding at the time of the crashes, compared to 18% of female drivers age 15 to 20 and 14% age 21 to 24.
In 2018, speeding was a factor in fatal crashes for:
16% of drivers on dry roads
19% on wet roads
37% on roads with snow or slush
37% on roads with moving or standing water
41% on roads with ice or frost
45% on roads with mud, dirt, or gravel
Add also construction — which was very common on many major roads/highways/freeways I drove on, in the past year, in CA, NY, NJ, MA, MD, VA, FL, TX, NV, AZ.
And not every state requires cars to be inspected, which can result in bald/dry rotted tires or bad brakes.
Like @Electric stated above, we are not talking about blanket raises or limit removals. Has to be implemented in a thoughtful manner, and I’m in no way advising that we raise the speed limits in construction zones. But there are stretches on I-95 in NJ especially towards the south that are laser straight with multiple lanes that could have a higher speed limit than 65 MPH. We should have unrestricted stretches like Germany as well.
Bald tires & bad brakes are dangerous at any speed in any condition. Due-diligence is a must on the driver’s part is must & yes that involved making sure you have winter tires when its winter.
In New York the speed limits are 55mph in many areas, which is awfully slow. They almost never stop cars slower than 70. The speed limit is kept at 55 so that when you are caught at 75-80 you are paying a highly punitive fine of 20-25 over the limit. This is nothing but a way for the state and the police forces to extract more revenue from relatively innocent drivers.
Safety needs to be balanced with some extent of mass convenience/efficiency. To ensure no fatalities we could have a speed limit of 25mph on highways and strictly enforce it. Raising the speed limit will likely increase fatalities, but if it’s only by a tiny amount, then it might be a net benefit to society. Also safety is much more helped by drivers remaining alert and cars having active safety technology like oncoming traffic/obstacle avoidance and autonomous emergency braking.
If the revenue streams for ticketing drivers wasn’t so plentiful maybe we could have more cops (and court rooms) doing valuable work instead of spending their days and nights patrolling a highway. You need some patrolling for sure, but the incentives are distorted right now.
Then NJ should pass a law and raise them. Since 1995, the states have controlled their own speed limits.
Sure. And since you can drive from a state without inspection rules to one that does in the same day, and to my knowledge states that require an inspection can do so on the spot, but it’s a secondary offense (meaning you have to be pulled over for something else for a spot inspection), how do you ensure drivers on your new NJ Gardenbähn don’t have bald tires and worn brakes?
If everyone leased, I’d have no issue raising it everywhere, but
The average age of cars on the road in the US is 12. I remember when TCS was a new requirement (and worked pretty terribly) in the good old days of Cash for Clunkers…
I think overall driver education + training is lacking in the US.
I agree 100% that’s a critical component to raising limits. Anyone that’s driven on the track will know that driving become a lot more “active” when driving fast. People tend to drive a bit passively (especially with lower limits)
There’s alot of discipline involved in an autoban type of setup. If you go drive on European multilane highways you will notice how the “fast lane” is mainly used for passing. Even if you do 100mph you need to move over for the lunatic doing 150mph. Our biggest problem is traffic. Good luck implementing anything in big metro areas.
Why raise the speed limit when fools are already driving well above it, i would say maybe 2 in 10 drive the speed limit these days. Absolutely zero reason to raise speed limit.
Although I’m in favor of increased speed limits generally, there’s just too many idiots with licenses here in the US to implement an Autobahn style highway. You could train a monkey to pass a US driver’s license test. In many European countries the standards to pass a drivers test are significantly higher. And thus here you’ve got people cruising in the left lane, passing on the right, and doing all sorts of idiotic things.
Exactly. One cannot talk about other countries with higher limits (or unlimited) without mentioning the stringent inspection requirements that help ensure the cars on the freeway are capable of being there.
Raising the speed limit safely would require a complete rethink of how we drive. First speed is somewhat dangerous but what is really dangerous is variations in speed. That person driving 50mph when traffic is flowing at 75 MPH is what creates high risk and when they are in the left lane that is even more dangerous.
Realistically it would require incredibly punative policing for 5-10 years to get drivers accustomed to following the rules of the road. In today’s political climate I just don’t see it because 1. punative policing doesn’t affect all Americans equally 2. The police wouldn’t actually enforce the law against everyone equally.
To this point, let’s think about Jersey. NJ State troopers tend to not enforce driving laws against people with gold PBA cards. A lot more Marino’s and O’Ryan’s have then than Freeman’s or Rodriguez’s. This is both unjust and ineffective. An older driver driving too slow in left lane is unsafe regardless of race and whether they have a PBA card.
Summary - I’m all for higher speed limits if done safely but I don’t think it’s possible for Americans to do so.
Or how even using Tesla’s windshield wiper controls are an illegal distraction like Germany. They just require far more from drivers which makes things much safer.
Agreed. Much of the Turnpike south of the Brunswicks could easily have a speed limit of 76-85. The Parkway Express Lanes north of Asbury Park before the Raritan should also be raised to 80, with heavy penalties for all of the beat-up minivans that constantly go 55 with their children not restrained
