Should highways in desert states (CA, NV, AZ, NM, TX, etc) have speed limits?

[corco]

I'm in general always more comfortable with anything when I am in control.

Yep. I'm especially that way in snow. I'm totally comfortable driving myself at 60 MPH down a wide open but totally snow packed road (in otherwise good weather with  >1/2 mile visibility- lots of places like that in Wyoming especially), but if I'm riding with somebody else it's fucking scary.

I do tend to drive slower when I have someone else in the car with me.

Same, but as a consideration for the fact that I assume they're a bit more nervous because they aren't in control.

My Dad is very much that way- he's one of the worst control freaks I've ever seen. His solution on long road trips is to sit in the back seat if he's not driving- my mother is an excellent driver (not exaggerating at all, she is hyper-aware of her surroundings and controls a car better than just about anyone I've ever met), but he's scared when she drives just because he's a control freak. That works pretty well for him.

[vdeane]

Maybe the politicians should realize that drivers don't like to feel "comfortable".  The reason most people speed is because driving the speed limit feels like you're moving at a snail's pace.

I don't agree.  Perhaps our perceptions differ because Kansas and upstate New York have different approaches to setting speed limits, but I generally drive the speed limit around here (except when overtaking) and I am not overtaken that often.  I feel comfortable driving at the speed limit in fair weather and I don't want to drive at a speed high enough to cause discomfort either to myself or my passengers.

On the urban freeways around here (which generally have one-mile interchange spacing on their busiest lengths with speed limits of 60 or 65 MPH), I have noticed a tendency for speeds to cluster tightly within 2.5 MPH on either side of the posted speed limit, but I would say that the 85th percentile speed is rarely if ever greater than 5 MPH over the speed limit.  This suggests that the speed limits are appropriately posted and the vast majority of drivers are comfortable with them.

If the speed limits were still posted at 55 MPH, as they were in the mid-1990's before the NMSL was abolished, then yes, it would be a different story.  But that culture of underposting has been in decline even on the east coast.

That's probably a huge component.  Living in NY, it's difficult to tell that NMSL was ever repealed.  The only non-interstates with a 65mph speed limit feel like interstates.  If we had Kansas limits, I'd probably be happy with the limit too!

[kphoger]

Maybe the politicians should realize that drivers don't like to feel "comfortable".  The reason most people speed is because driving the speed limit feels like you're moving at a snail's pace.

I don't agree.  Perhaps our perceptions differ because Kansas and upstate New York have different approaches to setting speed limits, but I generally drive the speed limit around here (except when overtaking) and I am not overtaken that often.  I feel comfortable driving at the speed limit in fair weather and I don't want to drive at a speed high enough to cause discomfort either to myself or my passengers.

On the urban freeways around here (which generally have one-mile interchange spacing on their busiest lengths with speed limits of 60 or 65 MPH), I have noticed a tendency for speeds to cluster tightly within 2.5 MPH on either side of the posted speed limit, but I would say that the 85th percentile speed is rarely if ever greater than 5 MPH over the speed limit.  This suggests that the speed limits are appropriately posted and the vast majority of drivers are comfortable with them.

If the speed limits were still posted at 55 MPH, as they were in the mid-1990's before the NMSL was abolished, then yes, it would be a different story.  But that culture of underposting has been in decline even on the east coast.

And those days where the 85th percentile speed is higher on, say, I-135 are almost always holiday weekends, when many drivers are from out of town/state.  Or any given Friday around 4:30 PM.

[kphoger]

My opinion on the matter of higher speed limits in desert areas is that they shouldn't stray too far about 80 mph.  I say this not because I wouldn't like to drive faster (88 mph is my natural cruising speed), but because the pavement quality is simply not consistent enough.  Some vehicles are bouncier than others (believe me, I used to drive a cab-over Isuzu box truck), especially when they're loaded with cargo.  Hitting a poor section of roadbed is bad enough when you're going 77 mph, but how much worse at 107 mph?  If our freeways had roadbeds that were built to German standards, and surfaces that were maintained as often, then I might consider higher or even no limits to be more reasonable.

[vdeane]

I wasn't aware that a speed limit sign was supposed to replace a driver's judgement of what road conditions are like.  Why not post the entire northeast at 10mph because it snows in the winter?

[agentsteel53]

Why not post the entire northeast at 10mph

I'm surprised Mass. hasn't tried it.