Is 85MPH The Safest Speed Limit?

[smileyman]

Cars kill more people than hand guns...Maybe we should change our licesning requirements...

I think we should all get RFID transponders easily readable from a patrol car. Then we could license the most worthy, well trained, and experienced for higher limits.

Just thinking out loud...

[anthonyk]

Sure, but posts #38-#45, you were on quite a roll there.

Personally, I don't buy the "road and car safety has advanced so let's raise the limit" argument. The last thing I want is some moron in a Ford Excursion to have even more kinetic energy when they do something stupid around me on the bike. And I don't really see much need to get home any faster than I already do.

[Homeslice]

Today's speed limits are set for the ability & comfort of senior citizens.

Anyone who doesn't feel the need to exceed those limits might as well give up on life. Push the recycle button and start over.

[OneSickPsycho]

Originally Posted by anthonyk

Sure, but posts #38-#45, you were on quite a roll there.

Personally, I don't buy the "road and car safety has advanced so let's raise the limit" argument. The last thing I want is some moron in a Ford Excursion to have even more kinetic energy when they do something stupid around me on the bike. And I don't really see much need to get home any faster than I already do.

I buy it, but saying that a higher speed limit is somehow safer is ridiculous... maybe it's not proportionately less safe, but going faster can never possibly be more safe.

[Homeslice]

Originally Posted by OneSickPsycho

I buy it, but saying that a higher speed limit is somehow safer is ridiculous... maybe it's not proportionately less safe, but going faster can never possibly be more safe.

The higher speed itself isn't more safe..........It's the belief that it would reduce the differential of speed between the slowest & fastest drivers.

[OneSickPsycho]

Originally Posted by Homeslice

The higher speed itself isn't more safe..........It's the belief that it would reduce the differential of speed between the slowest & fastest drivers.

Maybe by and large in volume, but incidental situations are going to be progressively worse... the little old lady who's driving at 45mph on the highway, is probably not going to increase her speed proportionately, therefore more people are going to encounter her at higher rates of speed.

Don't get me wrong, I am all for increased speed limits, but to somehow justify it as a safety measure is bad logic.

[smileyman]

Lets take a recent I 540 example...PU headed Northbound at 65 changes lanes and clips a vehicle, sending the P.U across the median and head on into a Hyundai traveling South at 65.

Both people in V1 and V2 dead on impact, probably a 100-115 mph head on.

If they were meeting at 170 would it make a diff? Maybe in how many other cars would be involved?

Or Last week, older Ford PU leaves the road and strikes a tree 45 mph impact. Driver ejected and killed. So he hits it at 80...All that changes is the length of the debris field?

[Avatard]

Originally Posted by Homeslice

The higher speed itself isn't more safe..........It's the belief that it would reduce the differential of speed between the slowest & fastest drivers.

OMG, somebody fucking gets it!

You win a prize; whip or a doll, anything from the top shelf.

No more calls, please, we have a winner.

[marko138]

Originally Posted by Avatard

Good thing there's nothing in the fucking middle between NY and LA, huh (I guess)? Keep's dem folks safe, I reckon.

I mean, take the Schuylkill expressway in PA, along the main line (Route 76).

Typical speeds are about 65-75. Think a slightly more stretched out "Deals Gap", and you kinda get an idea of the turns. In certain areas, there's virtually no shoulder (edge of mountain), turns are completely blind, speeds are 65-75 and sometimes higher...oh, one other minor detail: It's so overcrowded that if you leave more that one car length, someone will cut in.

It's like NASCAR. People fucking draft each other, at 75 and even 85.

There's parts of the Belt Pkwy in NY like this, only there it's 4 lanes wide chaos, not two, and there's the occasional shore-bound family replete with all manner of recreational equipment - toys, rafts, bikes, lawn chairs, etc. - doing 25-40 which act as multi-colored prickly slalom pylons, which everyone careens around madly in an effort to avoid "losing position".

Sounds like some people on this board wouldn't last 5 minutes on the East Coast.

The Skook SUCKS. I drive it fairly often.

[tommymac]

Originally Posted by marko138

The Skook SUCKS. I drive it fairly often.

the belt is prety bad too, now theyre doing long term roadwork in one section, people still blast through there and it doesnt always end well for them.