Best speed limits in states you've driven in

[kphoger]

Many of the school zones in New Mexico have a 15 MPH speed limit, including on the numbered highways. 

Oh yeah, here's my favorite:  Des Moines, with a 15mph school zone on a four-lane US highway.  The high school in town serves grades 7—12, and had a 2018 total enrollment of 48 students.  (Freedom School, originally just a homeschool and later incorporated as a satellite private school for low-income children, hasn't been in operation since 2002.)

Also..... Arrow FAIL.

[JoePCool14]

Also..... Arrow FAIL.

Ironically, it's pointing to the post office.

[oscar]

I don't feel that I've done enough driving west of the Mississippi to be able to have a valid comment about states there, although I liked having 65-mph speed limits on two-lane roads.

You'll like even more 75-mph speed limits on many two-lanes in Texas (even some in east Texas near the Louisiana border), as well as many rural freeways. Oddly enough, I find the 80mph limits on some west Texas Interstates less helpful, too much truck traffic (except on I-10 east of the I-20 split) for you to maintain 80mph+ speeds. As for 85mph on part of TX 130 ... been there, done that, not going out of my way to experience it again.

[TheHighwayMan3561]

I found 80 was so brutal on my gas mileage that it started to be not worth it. I also think my car really tops out at 75 in terms of performance and 80 felt like it was a struggle for it.

[Ketchup99]

The reason I like 80 limits isn't that I actually want to maintain 85 all the time, but rather that if I need to go fast for whatever reason, or just feel like it, I don't have to be on the lookout for little cars between the trees in the median every second. Usually I'm happy cruising at around 80, but even that, with PA's 65-70 limits, is pushing it a little.

[doorknob60]

The reason I like 80 limits isn't that I actually want to maintain 85 all the time, but rather that if I need to go fast for whatever reason, or just feel like it, I don't have to be on the lookout for little cars between the trees in the median every second. Usually I'm happy cruising at around 80, but even that, with PA's 65-70 limits, is pushing it a little.

Right, I usually keep it about 80-82 on highways with a speed limit of either 75 or 80 (and some 70s). But if the limit is 80, that's completely stress free and I don't have to worry about cops at all. I'm rarely pushing 85-90. But I occasionally will and it's nice to be able to without too much risk.

[1995hoo]

The reason I like 80 limits isn't that I actually want to maintain 85 all the time, but rather that if I need to go fast for whatever reason, or just feel like it, I don't have to be on the lookout for little cars between the trees in the median every second. Usually I'm happy cruising at around 80, but even that, with PA's 65-70 limits, is pushing it a little.

Right, I usually keep it about 80-82 on highways with a speed limit of either 75 or 80 (and some 70s). But if the limit is 80, that's completely stress free and I don't have to worry about cops at all. I'm rarely pushing 85-90. But I occasionally will and it's nice to be able to without too much risk.

I wish more people thought this way, regardless of what the posted speed limit is. I can think of any number of times on I-66 between Haymarket and Linden, which is a segment with a 70-mph speed limit, when I've been doing 70 mph and have actually been going somewhat faster than most of the other traffic around me, and then everyone else slams on the brakes when they see a cop. I don't hit the brakes. Why should I, if I'm going the speed limit?

I suppose there would be some validity to the idea that if I find I'm going a bit faster than most of the other traffic, then there's a chance my speedometer might be reading a little low such that I'm actually going above 70 mph. Every time I've passed one of those "YOUR SPEED" signs the number displayed has agreed with the speedometer, though. Of course those things may not be calibrated properly either, but the odds that every one of them would be off by the same amount, such that if my speedometer is inaccurate they would also be inaccurate by that same amount, seem very low.

[ethanhopkin14]

The reason I like 80 limits isn't that I actually want to maintain 85 all the time, but rather that if I need to go fast for whatever reason, or just feel like it, I don't have to be on the lookout for little cars between the trees in the median every second. Usually I'm happy cruising at around 80, but even that, with PA's 65-70 limits, is pushing it a little.

Right, I usually keep it about 80-82 on highways with a speed limit of either 75 or 80 (and some 70s). But if the limit is 80, that's completely stress free and I don't have to worry about cops at all. I'm rarely pushing 85-90. But I occasionally will and it's nice to be able to without too much risk.

I wish more people thought this way, regardless of what the posted speed limit is. I can think of any number of times on I-66 between Haymarket and Linden, which is a segment with a 70-mph speed limit, when I've been doing 70 mph and have actually been going somewhat faster than most of the other traffic around me, and then everyone else slams on the brakes when they see a cop. I don't hit the brakes. Why should I, if I'm going the speed limit?

I suppose there would be some validity to the idea that if I find I'm going a bit faster than most of the other traffic, then there's a chance my speedometer might be reading a little low such that I'm actually going above 70 mph. Every time I've passed one of those "YOUR SPEED" signs the number displayed has agreed with the speedometer, though. Of course those things may not be calibrated properly either, but the odds that every one of them would be off by the same amount, such that if my speedometer is inaccurate they would also be inaccurate by that same amount, seem very low.

Maybe all those "YOUR SPEED" contraptions got together and decided they would all read the same amount wrong! 

Yes, that drives me crazy all the time.  The hitting the brakes.  Makes me think something is wrong but its just because a bozo thinks the cop will give them a ticket for driving the speed limit. 

Another note, I drive a 5.0 Mustang that actually does better on gas the higher the speed, so 80 mph is not a problem for me.  I also drive an RV that tops out at 77 mph so I always know when I get on a highway with an 80 limit, I can't speed even if I wanted to.  Very comforting. 

[Ketchup99]

I've always wondered how much leeway cops do give in 75 and 80 zones. I'm only familiar with 55/65/70 (general rule in my experience: 55 could mean anything, 65 and 70 mean 80). If I drive past a cop at, say, 84 in a 75, or 89 in an 80 (or 94 on that toll road in Austin), how will that play out?

[Roadgeekteen]

Yikes I haven't been to many states with good speed limits. Maine is decent I guess.

[michravera]

I've always wondered how much leeway cops do give in 75 and 80 zones. I'm only familiar with 55/65/70 (general rule in my experience: 55 could mean anything, 65 and 70 mean 80). If I drive past a cop at, say, 84 in a 75, or 89 in an 80 (or 94 on that toll road in Austin), how will that play out?

My experience in Arizona, Nevada, New Mexico, and Texas is that speed enforcement is rare because reasonable people mostly follow reasonable laws. They are mostly into dumbass enforcement. The same basically goes in California, especially in the east. As a good rule, you are safe from speed enforcement at less than 10% above the posted maximum speed. Hotpencil Hannah, a traffic officer with the Sacramento City Police back in the 1970s, told me that anyone cited for less than about 7 MPH over the posted speed limit should take it to court. He regularly set the RADAR to beep at 10MPH above the posted 35MPH limit in front of my parents' house, but didn't stop everyone even then. The street may have been slightly underposted at 35MPH, so he wanted to make sure that people were actually violating the law before he stopped them.

[corco]

I'd echo Texas because the limits are actually reasonable limits as opposed to some arbitrary driving speed that many will exceed. Wyoming isn't bad either now that the better two lanes are 70.

Montana sets blanket speed limits by state law and requires a heavy burden of proof to modify them, so you get silly things like a 70 MPH speed limit on top of the Beartooth Highway that don't provide any guidance on what would conceivably be a safe driving speed, and that seems dangerous.