US states rethink a long-held practice of setting speed limits based on how fast drivers travel
States rethink a long-held practice of setting speed limits based on how fast drivers travel
Born from that research was a widely accepted concept known as the 85% rule, which suggests a road’s posted speed should be tied to the 15th-fastest vehicle out of every 100 traveling it in free-flowing traffic, rounded to the nearest 5 mph increment.
Yikes. If they used this in northern Illinois, the speed limit on I90 West would be 85 or 90mph.
Northern Midwest driving is in an entire realm of its own. I remember in Michigan i was on I94 and cop was flashing their high beams at me because I was going too slow in the left lane.
I was going 90
I never thought I'd hear myself say this but I wish speed limits were enforced again. Traffic stops dwindled off during Covid and never seemed to recover. I've watched people run red lights and go 20 mph over right next to cops and nothing happens. The highways around where I live are almost unusable, if I'm going 5 over and move into an empty left lane to pass, there's immediately a Tahoe going 30 over right on my ass.
In Germany, the autobahn, with no speed limits, [the accident rate is reasonable.](In 2014, autobahns carried 31% of motorized road traffic while accounting for 11% of Germany's traffic deaths.), and speed is determined by the drivers common sense.
If that were allowed in my southern European country, my 80 year old mother in her 15 year old Fiat Punto, would be doing 180 km/h
I've yet to be convinced that Americans have any common sense.
Speed limits should be set by road design. Slapping a 25 mph speed limit on a section of road doesn't actually change how fast people drive on it, it just creates potential revenue.
Applying normal engineering practices where human lives are at stake, you build in a safety factor. Your design speed is 25 but it's built to be safe to drive at 50. Drivers figure this out and do 50. Now you have no more safety factor.
If you can't rely on signage, then you need to design roads that aren't safe. There are some obvious ethical considerations with this plan.
Then there's those spots where the speed limit is 25mph, but they throw a few "safety humps" in there, and you have to slow down below 10mph or you'll throw out at axle. First time visitors always hit too hard, because they're traveling at the speed limit, and the humps look gentle. Wonder what the city will do when someone loses control and hits a pedestrian while doing nothing wrong.
UK has it with 60-70mph highways that resemble American city avenues. Much less room for error - oh and a roundabout every so often to switch things up. Between that and on/off ramps designed for golf carts, i think we could really learn the average idiot driver.
In Buffalo, NY the Scajaquada or 198 I think was a barrier lined 50mph byway that connected 190 to 33 (I might be fucking these exact roads up its been a while). It cuts thru Deleware Park. There had never been a single accident involving a vehicle and someone at Delaware Park in the 50 years it was like this. Then 1 driver with narcolepsy falls asleep and kills someone at Delaware Park. The dumb as fuck Byron Brown spear heads the change reducing the entire 198 to 25 fucking miles per hour. NEVER. NOT ONCE has a single cop enforced it, nor a single drive abide by it. Everyone still goes 40-50 like nothing changed but the hundreds of thousands of dollars spent repainting and redesigning the markings of the 198 but nothing done to change it from a barrier lined 50-65mph designed roadway.
I think if you want slower drivers, you have to narrow the roadways and/or add perceived obstacles. People tend to drive the speed at which they feel safest, regardless of what's on the sign. So, if you make them feel less safe at speed, they'll slow down without even complaining about how slow they're "being forced" to go.
Put a big spike in the middle of the steering wheel of every Dodge Ram and Altima.
Ha like they'd notice anything on the other side of their phone.
That’s pretty well established. Narrower streets slow people down, and a side benefit is you can plant trees on either side of a narrowed roadway to reduce the heat island effect.
Doesn’t seem like that would be effective on something like the interstate highways. I’d imagine actually fining people would work.
An area close to where I live turned on speeding cameras for a work zone that’s been notorious for speeders. They clocked 38,000+ tickets in the first week.
One of them was for 106 in a 60 mph zone. I haven’t kept up with it since they turned it on but it was desperately needed.
Disclosure: I’m not any expert on road safety or driver psychology. Just someone that used to drive 50k+ miles a year and saw a lot of what I thought were trends.
I lived in a town that had a road with 2 full lanes of travel both ways a center turn lane and full parking lanes on both sides. Speed limit 25. It was actually difficult to drive that speed because you naturally just tended to go faster. That's not even considering the other drivers going 40 or 50 at times. That entire road needed some hefty rework to make it better. But that costs money and there's some old farts that are happy driving 25 in an actual 50 zone that would cry bloody murder if the speed limit was increased.
The problem with any automated cameras is making sure they are valid. Speeding cameras might be simpler, but we've all heard about many places where traffic light cameras are run by a third party and are time fudged to increase tickets. That being the case, any law is only as good as the enforcement of it, and that's why we have so many speeders, aggressive, and just bad driving. If everyone knows that their speed is being monitored and going X over the limit may result in a fine, they will slow down. Far better than relying on a few cops in random spots to nap a few here and there. Speed traps should go away and those officers should be on the road looking for things the camera can't catch, or maybe even helping the occasional car that has hazards on the side of the road (I've seen patrol cars go by those, one only hopes they called it in to someone else).
So yes, there is a danger in trying to automate everything, and definitely if someone will profit for more fines. But there are SO many cars on the road, most just keeping pace with the rest, and the only way to slow the whole crowd down is with some psychology. Ever notice how everyone goes around the speed limit when a cop car is in the group? So just post a sign that speeds are being monitored. Hell, don't even have to put a camera up, just see what a sign alone does.
Also, I like the other suggestion on putting surrounding perceptions to make the speed more apparent to the driver. Won't slow everyone, but it just has to affect the crowd mentality and then the real speeders stand out more.
For long stretches of roads /highways you could put strings of lights that light up in a manner that sets the speed. If you’re traveling at the speed limit the lights would appear to be stationary. If you travel faster or slower the lights would appear to speed up or slow down.
This would also help traffic jams by allowing the light chase speed to be adjusted before the jam to reduce speeds.
This would probably have an effect on fuel consumption for people that pulse the throttle by giving them a chase light to match speed too.
Speed bumps are underutilized. I believe there's a more modern design that doesn't slow down emergency vehicles too
Please no, i drive a smart car not a tank with wheels. Even under speed those are jarring i fuckin hate the roads that are lined with them.
The solution you're looking for are called potholes.
Yes, but they're much more intensive to install and maintain, and they also don't work well against things like trucks with wide wheel bases and high undercarriages.
I seem to remember that in my country they are testing chicanes, lined with concrete block like the ones used for sidewalks, so no straight through.
I want them to re-think minimums and their enforcement
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=IDSWll8RBk8
Though I'd settle for automatic flogging for distraction by cell phone
Don't threaten me with a good time 😈
Itd be nice if there was some way to stop the speeders, they keep using the passing lane like its a "fast lane" and its assanine.
Not all states have a passing lane... actually very few have passing lanes by law... so they are "fast lanes" but fast lanes will still get you a ticket because there is no such thing as far as i know
The speed limit was changed in 1974 to ration gas. None of it was ever about safety. Too funny.