Current state speed limit increase proposals

[Pink Jazz]

Oklahoma has a bill to increase speed limits to 80MPH on four turnpikes:

Turner Turnpike
Indian Nation Turnpike
H.E. Bailey Turnpike
Cimarron Turnpike

http://ktul.com/news/local/bill-to-increase-speed-limit-on-some-turnpikes-passes-senate

This appears to be a revival of a previous bill that was killed in 2015.

[Plutonic Panda]

i also believe this bill will increase other non-tolled freeway speed limits as well

[jwolfer]

Is Arizona too congested now to see 80 mph on certain sections of interstate? I'm surprised they haven't done it.

What has killed past attempts to raise the speed limit beyond 75 in Arizona is the state's criminal speeding law that any speed above 85 mph is considered a criminal offense.  Changing that has been a tough sell to the state's lawmakers, since a 5 mph buffer is too small.  That is why I see NM raising its speed limit before AZ since NM does not have such law.

Is Arizona too congested now to see 80 mph on certain sections of interstate? I'm surprised they haven't done it.

What has killed past attempts to raise the speed limit beyond 75 in Arizona is the state's criminal speeding law that any speed above 85 mph is considered a criminal offense.  Changing that has been a tough sell to the state's lawmakers, since a 5 mph buffer is too small.  That is why I see NM raising its speed limit before AZ since NM does not have such law.

Super speeder law in Arizona? Barry Goldwater would be turning in his grave!

It shocks me how few people are aware of this law.  For comparison almost everyone seems to be aware of Virginia's reckless driving over 80 law.  Is there a difference in the enforcement rates between the two states?

Virginia has signs regarding the reckless driving law. Does Arizona post signs at regular intervals?

No, and as far as I know Virginia's signage is fairly recent and so far it is only on I-95 and I-81, yet almost everyone knew about that law even before VDOT posted those signs.  However, Virginia does have its Speed Monitored by Aircraft signs.

Virgina also bans radar detectors

Z981

[mrsman]

Criminal speeding laws like AZ and VA are really wrong.  The rule should be that reckless driving is the higher of 20 mph over the speed limit or 85 mph.  A rural interstate in AZ can legally be 80 mph, and you should only violate reckless driving if you drive over 100.  Of course, a more local road like a 40 mph surface street should absolutely be reckless at 85 or greater.   

[kkt]

Criminal speeding laws like AZ and VA are really wrong.  The rule should be that reckless driving is the higher of 20 mph over the speed limit or 85 mph.  A rural interstate in AZ can legally be 80 mph, and you should only violate reckless driving if you drive over 100.  Of course, a more local road like a 40 mph surface street should absolutely be reckless at 85 or greater.   

The higher of 20 mph over, or 85 mph?  I don't think that's what you meant to say.  So a business district posted at 20 mph you should be able to blast through at 84 mph and NOT face a reckless driving charge?

[jakeroot]

you should only violate reckless driving if you drive over 100.

There really shouldn't be any definitive reckless speed. It's all relative. A straight section of freeway in the middle of nowhere can handle 100 mph no issue. This became most evident to me when travelling along the QE2 Highway between Edmonton and Calgary a few years ago. Traffic was steadily doing 90-100 mph the entire way (speed limit like 68). One or two cars doing that speed when everyone else was doing 70 or 75? Yeah, that's very reckless. But everyone going 90 to 100? Not dangerous, because the differential between cars is very little.

What's reckless is doing something unexpected: a tractor on a freeway, for example.

[Ingsoc75]

Oklahoma has a bill to increase speed limits to 80MPH on four turnpikes:

Turner Turnpike
Indian Nation Turnpike
H.E. Bailey Turnpike
Cimarron Turnpike

http://ktul.com/news/local/bill-to-increase-speed-limit-on-some-turnpikes-passes-senate

I wish they would up non toll interstates to 75 in OK. The bill allowing this has been on the books for 20 years but they have kept them at 70.

[Plutonic Panda]

Oklahoma has a bill to increase speed limits to 80MPH on four turnpikes:

Turner Turnpike
Indian Nation Turnpike
H.E. Bailey Turnpike
Cimarron Turnpike

http://ktul.com/news/local/bill-to-increase-speed-limit-on-some-turnpikes-passes-senate

I wish they would up non toll interstates to 75 in OK. The bill allowing this has been on the books for 20 years but they have kept them at 70.

I believe the bill passed and the speed limits will be increased but I would double check that. I can't recall why I think that perhaps it is just wishful thinking but I won't go look it up because I'm too lazy, but I'm not lazy enough to not share this funny story of someone else being lazy:

"I was once on a US military ship, having breakfast in the wardroom (officers lounge) when the Operations Officer (OPS) walks in. This guy was the definition of NOT a morning person; he's still half asleep, bleary eyed... basically a zombie with a bagel. He sits down across from me to eat his bagel and is just barely conscious. My back is to the outboard side of the ship, and the morning sun is blazing in one of the portholes putting a big bright-ass circle of light right on his barely conscious face. He's squinting and chewing and basically just remembering how to be alive for today. It's painful to watch.

But then zombie-OPS stops chewing, slowly picks up the phone, and dials the bridge. In his well-known I'm-still-totally-asleep voice, he says "heeeey. It's OPS. Could you... shift our barpat... yeah, one six five. Thanks."  And puts the phone down. And then he just sits there. Squinting. Waiting.

And then, ever so slowly, I realize that that big blazing spot of sun has begun to slide off the zombie's face and onto the wall behind him. After a moment it clears his face and he blinks slowly a few times and the brilliant beauty of what I've just witnessed begins to overwhelm me. By ordering the bridge to adjust the ship's back-and-forth patrol by about 15 degrees, he's changed our course just enough to reposition the sun off of his face. He's literally just redirected thousands of tons of steel and hundreds of people so that he could get the sun out of his eyes while he eats his bagel. I am in awe.

He slowly picks up his bagel and for a moment I'm terrified at the thought that his own genius may escape him, that he may never appreciate the epic brilliance of his laziness (since he's not going to wake up for another hour). But between his next bites he pauses, looks at me, and gives me the faintest, sly grin, before returning to gnaw slowly on his zombie bagel."

[mrsman]

Oklahoma has a bill to increase speed limits to 80MPH on four turnpikes:

Turner Turnpike
Indian Nation Turnpike
H.E. Bailey Turnpike
Cimarron Turnpike

http://ktul.com/news/local/bill-to-increase-speed-limit-on-some-turnpikes-passes-senate

I wish they would up non toll interstates to 75 in OK. The bill allowing this has been on the books for 20 years but they have kept them at 70.

I believe the bill passed and the speed limits will be increased but I would double check that. I can't recall why I think that perhaps it is just wishful thinking but I won't go look it up because I'm too lazy, but I'm not lazy enough to not share this funny story of someone else being lazy:

"I was once on a US military ship, having breakfast in the wardroom (officers lounge) when the Operations Officer (OPS) walks in. This guy was the definition of NOT a morning person; he's still half asleep, bleary eyed... basically a zombie with a bagel. He sits down across from me to eat his bagel and is just barely conscious. My back is to the outboard side of the ship, and the morning sun is blazing in one of the portholes putting a big bright-ass circle of light right on his barely conscious face. He's squinting and chewing and basically just remembering how to be alive for today. It's painful to watch.

But then zombie-OPS stops chewing, slowly picks up the phone, and dials the bridge. In his well-known I'm-still-totally-asleep voice, he says "heeeey. It's OPS. Could you... shift our barpat... yeah, one six five. Thanks."  And puts the phone down. And then he just sits there. Squinting. Waiting.

And then, ever so slowly, I realize that that big blazing spot of sun has begun to slide off the zombie's face and onto the wall behind him. After a moment it clears his face and he blinks slowly a few times and the brilliant beauty of what I've just witnessed begins to overwhelm me. By ordering the bridge to adjust the ship's back-and-forth patrol by about 15 degrees, he's changed our course just enough to reposition the sun off of his face. He's literally just redirected thousands of tons of steel and hundreds of people so that he could get the sun out of his eyes while he eats his bagel. I am in awe.

He slowly picks up his bagel and for a moment I'm terrified at the thought that his own genius may escape him, that he may never appreciate the epic brilliance of his laziness (since he's not going to wake up for another hour). But between his next bites he pauses, looks at me, and gives me the faintest, sly grin, before returning to gnaw slowly on his zombie bagel."

That was a funny story!   

[Pink Jazz]

Updates:

Looks like Nebraska's 80 mph bill is dead.  There are some speed limit increases that were passed, but the 80 mph provision was removed from the final bill.  Also, I wonder what is the fate of Oklahoma's bill.  I know it passed the Oklahoma Senate last March, but has it been signed by the Governor?

[wxfree]

Oklahoma passed a bill in 2016 that removed the numerical limit on highways and gave control to the highway department.  ODOT didn't expect that it would raise limits at the time.  I don't know if any limits were increased.

https://www.tulsaworld.com/news/capitol_report/speed-limits-not-expected-to-increase-under-new-law-odot/article_0221cd43-3978-5ff9-bb22-b1cb27f0a4b0.html

A bill was considered this year that would have imposed a new cap of 85 on all roads.  Another would have authorized a speed limit of 80 on "the Turner Turnpike, Indian
Nation Turnpike, H.E. Bailey Turnpike and Cimarron Turnpike" for vehicles up to 12,000 pounds.  It's unclear (to me) whether this bill would have forced that increase or merely authorized it, and prohibited any increase above that level.  Each of these bills was passed by one chamber and died when the legislature adjourned for the year.

Under the 2016 legislation, unlimited increases are authorized. The bill to cap that at 85 failed.  My reading of the other bill is that it would have authorized, but not mandated, an increase to 80 on certain turnpikes, and would have prevented speed limits higher than that, which are already allowed.  That section of statute specifies maximum allowed limits, and nothing in the new bill clarified that it was a mandated change, so I read it as a decrease in the legal maximum that already exists.  To read it as a mandate would be inconsistent with the section, and would mean that a speed limit of 80 would have been required on the entirety of those roads, including through toll zones.

The existing Oklahoma statute reads: "no person shall drive a vehicle on a highway at a speed in excess of the following maximum limits: 1.  On a highway or part of a highway, unless otherwise established in law, a speed established by the Department of Transportation..."  No maximum is given.  It then lists exceptions such as school buses, schools zones, and parks.  No other authorization is needed for ODOT or OTA to raise speed limits to whatever they find to be acceptable.

[Ingsoc75]

I'm just wondering why OK hasn't upped the speed limit to 75 on non toll road interstates?

Revenue? Safety concerns? Budget issues?

[Great Lakes Roads]

Oklahoma is STILL talking about raising the speed limit on the turnpikes... they SHOULD raise the speed limits on Oklahoma's major freeways, NOT on the toll roads!!

Article:
https://okcfox.com/news/local/bill-proposed-to-increase-speed-on-some-oklahoma-toll-roads-from-75-to-80-mph

[Pink Jazz]

Also, North Dakota has revived a bill to increase speed limits to 80 mph:
https://kfgo.com/news/articles/2019/jan/09/push-to-raise-speed-limit-on-interstates-in-north-dakota-to-80-mph/

[Roadgeekteen]

Also, North Dakota has revived a bill to increase speed limits to 80 mph:
https://kfgo.com/news/articles/2019/jan/09/push-to-raise-speed-limit-on-interstates-in-north-dakota-to-80-mph/

North Dakota has always seemed like a better fit for 80 than several of the other states that are 80.

[kphoger]

Oklahoma is STILL talking about raising the speed limit on the turnpikes... they SHOULD raise the speed limits on Oklahoma's major freeways, NOT on the toll roads!!

Article:
https://okcfox.com/news/local/bill-proposed-to-increase-speed-on-some-oklahoma-toll-roads-from-75-to-80-mph

With certain Turnpikes having grassy median humps with no inside shoulder, and others having naught but a cable barrier between carriageways, I don't think they need to have any higher speed limits.  The free roads, OTOH, should be 75 or 80 mph.

[Great Lakes Roads]

I was searching speed limit increase on Google, and I found this:

https://cdllife.com/2019/nine-states-consider-increasing-speed-limits/

EIGHT states are talking about changing their speed limits. The following are:

1. Minnesota- we already know what they are doing...
2. Iowa- currently have a bill in place to raise the speed limit to 75 mph from 70 mph on interstates
3. California- this one totally surprised me!! They have a bill in place to raise the truck speed limit in rural areas to 65 mph from the current 55 mph...
4. Indiana- eliminate the truck speed limit on interstates
5. Missouri- same as Iowa... would raise the speed limit to 75 mph from 70 mph on interstates
6. North Dakota- (third time already) bill in place to raise the speed limit to 80 mph from 75 mph on interstates AND raise the speed limit to 75 mph from 70 mph on divided highways...
7. Oklahoma- we already know what they are doing...
8. Oregon- the city of Portland will set the speed limits within their city limits, not ODOT

[Roadgeekteen]

I was searching speed limit increase on Google, and I found this:

https://cdllife.com/2019/nine-states-consider-increasing-speed-limits/

EIGHT states are talking about changing their speed limits. The following are:

1. Minnesota- we already know what they are doing...
2. Iowa- currently have a bill in place to raise the speed limit to 75 mph from 70 mph on interstates
3. California- this one totally surprised me!! They have a bill in place to raise the truck speed limit in rural areas to 65 mph from the current 55 mph...
4. Indiana- eliminate the truck speed limit on interstates
5. Missouri- same as Iowa... would raise the speed limit to 75 mph from 70 mph on interstates
6. North Dakota- (third time already) bill in place to raise the speed limit to 80 mph from 75 mph on interstates AND raise the speed limit to 75 mph from 70 mph on divided highways...
7. Oklahoma- we already know what they are doing...
8. Oregon- the city of Portland will set the speed limits within their city limits, not ODOT

Could CA raise speed limits on interstates for cars to 75?

[michravera]

I was searching speed limit increase on Google, and I found this:

https://cdllife.com/2019/nine-states-consider-increasing-speed-limits/

EIGHT states are talking about changing their speed limits. The following are:

1. Minnesota- we already know what they are doing...
2. Iowa- currently have a bill in place to raise the speed limit to 75 mph from 70 mph on interstates
3. California- this one totally surprised me!! They have a bill in place to raise the truck speed limit in rural areas to 65 mph from the current 55 mph...
4. Indiana- eliminate the truck speed limit on interstates
5. Missouri- same as Iowa... would raise the speed limit to 75 mph from 70 mph on interstates
6. North Dakota- (third time already) bill in place to raise the speed limit to 80 mph from 75 mph on interstates AND raise the speed limit to 75 mph from 70 mph on divided highways...
7. Oklahoma- we already know what they are doing...
8. Oregon- the city of Portland will set the speed limits within their city limits, not ODOT

Could CA raise speed limits on interstates for cars to 75?

Rural California could stand an 80 MPH or 130 km/h limit on parts of I-5, I-8, I-10, I-40, and CASR-58 the same as Nevada and Utah. I suspect that southern part of CASR-99 and the Eastern part of I-580 could handle the same. The legislation mentioned, however, only affects trucks.

[Roadgeekteen]

I was searching speed limit increase on Google, and I found this:

https://cdllife.com/2019/nine-states-consider-increasing-speed-limits/

EIGHT states are talking about changing their speed limits. The following are:

1. Minnesota- we already know what they are doing...
2. Iowa- currently have a bill in place to raise the speed limit to 75 mph from 70 mph on interstates
3. California- this one totally surprised me!! They have a bill in place to raise the truck speed limit in rural areas to 65 mph from the current 55 mph...
4. Indiana- eliminate the truck speed limit on interstates
5. Missouri- same as Iowa... would raise the speed limit to 75 mph from 70 mph on interstates
6. North Dakota- (third time already) bill in place to raise the speed limit to 80 mph from 75 mph on interstates AND raise the speed limit to 75 mph from 70 mph on divided highways...
7. Oklahoma- we already know what they are doing...
8. Oregon- the city of Portland will set the speed limits within their city limits, not ODOT

Could CA raise speed limits on interstates for cars to 75?

Rural California could stand an 80 MPH or 130 km/h limit on parts of I-5, I-8, I-10, I-40, and CASR-58 the same as Nevada and Utah. I suspect that southern part of CASR-99 and the Eastern part of I-580 could handle the same. The legislation mentioned, however, only affects trucks.

I-15 and I-80 could also see some increases.

[kphoger]

2. Iowa- currently have a bill in place to raise the speed limit to 75 mph from 70 mph on interstates

I support this, considering Interstate traffic in Iowa tends do drive 79.995 mph.

[michravera]

I was searching speed limit increase on Google, and I found this:

https://cdllife.com/2019/nine-states-consider-increasing-speed-limits/

EIGHT states are talking about changing their speed limits. The following are:

1. Minnesota- we already know what they are doing...
2. Iowa- currently have a bill in place to raise the speed limit to 75 mph from 70 mph on interstates
3. California- this one totally surprised me!! They have a bill in place to raise the truck speed limit in rural areas to 65 mph from the current 55 mph...
4. Indiana- eliminate the truck speed limit on interstates
5. Missouri- same as Iowa... would raise the speed limit to 75 mph from 70 mph on interstates
6. North Dakota- (third time already) bill in place to raise the speed limit to 80 mph from 75 mph on interstates AND raise the speed limit to 75 mph from 70 mph on divided highways...
7. Oklahoma- we already know what they are doing...
8. Oregon- the city of Portland will set the speed limits within their city limits, not ODOT

Could CA raise speed limits on interstates for cars to 75?

Rural California could stand an 80 MPH or 130 km/h limit on parts of I-5, I-8, I-10, I-40, and CASR-58 the same as Nevada and Utah. I suspect that southern part of CASR-99 and the Eastern part of I-580 could handle the same. The legislation mentioned, however, only affects trucks.

I-15 and I-80 could also see some increases.
[/quote

Sorry. I left I-15 out of my list by accident. If anything else on the list (or in the whole state) could get a higher limit, I-15 certainly could (especially North/East of Barstow). I-80 was posted 70MPH between West Sacramento and Fairfield prior to 1974. I believe that parts of I-680 (maybe part of CASR-12 or 24 at the time) were as well.

What happened back in 1992 was that the California Legislature revived the pre-1974 text almost word-for-word, but put a "default 55MPH" provision in for single-lane and urban divided non-freeways. There wasn't a single dissenting vote in ether house. I am sure that we could get something of an increase through, but no one has tried to my knowledge.

[Great Lakes Roads]

https://kfgo.com/news/articles/2019/feb/13/speed-limit-increase-bill-defeated/
https://www.kxnet.com/news/bismarck-news/speed-limit-increase-bill-fails-in-nd-house-on-a-tie-vote/1779325961

Well, it looks like another failure of raising the speed limit to 80 mph on North Dakota's interstates... 

[Plutonic Panda]

Oklahoma speed limit increases progressing forward. I hope it becomes a reality!

https://www.tulsaworld.com/news/bill-to-up-speed-limits-on-turnpikes-rural-highways-clears/article_b8747d88-4afb-59b6-accd-087a073384e8.html

[jamess]

A new report by Christopher Monsere and Sirisha Kothuri, researchers in Portland State University's department of civil and environmental engineering, found a direct correlation between increased speed limits and an increase in serious crashes in Eastern Oregon. The Oregon Department of Transportation (ODOT) funded the study examining issues related to changes in posted speed limits.

Speed limits on approximately 1,400 miles of highways and interstates in Eastern Oregon were increased by the Oregon legislature effective March 1, 2016. Using four years of data, Monsere, Kothuri and researcher Jason Anderson examined speeds in relation to crash frequency and severity from the year after the speed limits increased compared with the three previous years. On sections where the speed limit was raised to 65 mph for trucks (primarily the interstates), truck-involved crashes more than doubled.

In response to this study, ODOT is already taking some safety measures after PSU's analysis.

https://trec.pdx.edu/news/higher-speed-limits-lead-increase-serious-crashes-eastern-oregon