Having lived in Texas, and knowing what kind of POS cars I see on the roads there, I should have considered the mechanical issue. There are cars on the interstate not capable of doing 85 MPH, so if you acknowledge the difference in speed is a safety issue, that would mean we would have to set speed limits to the lowest common denominator, being the cars that barely pass the Texas state inspection and can therefore legally drive on the interstate.
I am often amazed at what is legal in Texas. For example, you can drive with a severely cracked windshield that would be illegal in most every other state, and the lack of good mass transit everywhere except the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex means there are a lot of cars on the road that look quite scary.
I completely agree with the idea that one number cannot be applied across the board.
However, I don’t believe that you can discount the risks completely of higher speed under certain conditions. For example, that 80 mph across Iowa on a straight, flat road? Well, that may be every bit as safe as 50 mph in New Hampshire. But is it as safe as 70 mph in Iowa? No, I do not believe so. However, as I stated earlier, I can’t tell you how much higher the risk really is. I can tell you that you simply can’t anticipate everything happening around you, and sometimes things are completely random.
For example, I’ve hit an opossum that jumped out on the road in front of me from behind a bush while I was doing 35 on a city street. No damage to my vehicle, though the opossum wasn’t so lucky.
I’ve also been driving along one of those wide open flat roads in the middle of nowhere at 65 mph only to have a hawk swoop down and smack into the front wheel well of the car. I didn’t see it coming at all, and that car was NOT easy to control at 65 mph. I’m not sure 80 mph would have been controllable at all. I believe at 30 mph the hawk never would have hit the car. That’s a one-in-a-million example, but that just goes to my point - accidents are almost guaranteed to increase , though I can’t tell you by how much.
I’d wager that there would be fewer accidents on the Autobahn than there are if they were all going 50 mph instead of 80 (the recommended top speed in the “limitless” areas. I’d also wager there would be more accidents than there are if they were all going 120 instead of 80. And I’d wager that there would be a LOT fewer accidents in the US if we were as skilled of drivers, kept our cars in as good of shape, and the roads were maintained as well as they are in Germany, but kept the same speeds we currently have.
If you remember your high school physics class, you know that the distance(S) required to stop is half the deceleration(A in m/s^2) multiplied by Time(T) squared. (S = 1/2 * A * T * T)
It is the “times squared” part of that equation is the scary part. Your brakes (pretty much a constant, but it can get worse when the road is slick) can only stop you so fast but if you don’t pay attention, you lose time and thus your brakeway will be larger by a squared proportion.
Long story short: Keep your distance and pay attention.
The risk would be further lowered if we set the national speed limit at 35mph. There would be even fewer accidents if we banned driving altogether. It’s a sliding scale. Life involves risk, and one failing of American culture is that we have this crazy idea that any slight risk should be eliminated (but only in certain areas, which is why they wait to install a stop sign until a kid gets run over).
It’s not as though we’re discussing 80mph on residential streets or twisty mountain roads here - we’re talking about wide open spaces on straight roads through desert and plains. In such cases, 80 is just as safe as 70 provided the car is in good shape and the driver is paying attention.
Regarding the Autobahn, you might want to do some reading on that. It’s not terribly uncommon for people tooling along at 80 or so to be passed by an exotic doing double that. The trick is that everyone on the Autobahn knows to stay the hell out of the left lane unless you’re passing and there’s literally nothing in the left lane behind you.
Exactly.
So let me add to my statement: Keep your distance, pay attention and stay out of my left lane.
Seriously, driving in Germany is actually quite an experience. You think you’re moving well at maybe 100 and some guy passes you like you’re standing still.
Of course, their roads are excellent. Not at all like I95 anywhere near where I live.
When I consider the hours and hours spent by many driving in rat race traffic to and from a job I congratulate myself for returning to the rural south and working 10 to 12 hours a day in my own business. The long hours at work were for me much more pleasurable and rewarding than working 8:00 to 5:00 with a 2 hour commute each way. It’s good that some people are up to it. For those of you who fight that nightmare every day my hat is off to you. I hope your efforts bring you the success and happiness you deserve. But as for speed, errors are inevitable and as speed increases errors increase and the mayhem that results from errors increases.
Increasing speed to be consistant with the flow of traffic actually reduces the liklihoood of an accident. A slow driver on a busy road creates turbulance, just as a rock creates turbulance in a flowing stream. The faster the water is flowing, the greater the turbulance, but in all cases most of the action happens in the turbulance.
CAUSE ?
No.
But any wreckcident at high speed will result in worse damage and injury.
Daughter’s learning about driving. I say ‘‘about’’ because she’s just 13 but we feel she needs to know the basics and have the ability should 911 not be available for medical emergencies. ( wife’s eyesight, my heart )
I have spoken to her about the Expedition and never swerving it…-- hit the dog !
She won’t be going that fast for three more years but the habitual response has got to be ingrained in her subconcious begining with the very first rolling of the wheels. ( her very FIRST time behind the wheel she kept it perfectly on the correct side of the barely marked rural road, cornered well and everything. )
And THAT is a huge part higher speed wreckcidents.
People don’t change their driving style to fit the speed. They just don’t get it. And even if they know it in theory, it’s not second nature so the mistakes are already made before they can do anything to correct them.
LEARNING TO DRIVE
includes appropriate driving styles for conditions ( speed, weather, vehicle type and condition, traffic, distractions ) and people just don’t go there when learning.
I agree. The area in the article is one of those landing strips. I see no problem with 80 mph limits, having driven on one of those landing strips in Texas from Wichita Falls to Dallas. When the conversation includes other’s thoughts who live in other areas who might take exception, it’s hard to reconcile. I live in Maine, and though we have our own landing strips north of Midway, 80 mph seems a bit excessive given the size and lack understanding of rights of way of our deer and moose. They aren’t that bright and still think their right of way supersedes ours. Go figure !
I didn’t know Texas was 80, I thought 75 like NM. ( shows how long it’s been since I’ve been that way )
Time savings for long trips ( it sure helps going 85+ to Albuquerque and back ).
Time savings for cops, not having to concentrate on those small offenders closer to the old limit.
Driver awareness. ( I know when I’m driving slower I DO tend to nod off from boredom. Faster means more to do and I do, in fact, stay more aware and attentive at higher speeds. You’ll want to argue that, but I’ve proven it to myself. )
Incentive to take that day trip ‘‘over there’’ 'cuz now it’s not going to take so dang long.
Yes, you might get there a little sooner, but if you can’t get there quickly enough going 80 MPH, I really have to wonder why.
Another issue is fuel cost. In my view, the amount of fuel used to increase speed from 80 to 85 MPH would be pretty costly.
I agree it would be nice to get there a little faster, but on a risk/cost vs. reward basis, I think 80 MPH should be fast enough to satisfy every reasonable person.
Another point is that almost everyone agrees the speed differential between cars creates danger. What if I don’t want to drive that fast in order to save fuel? If I drive 70 in an 80 MPH zone, there will be less danger than if I drive 70 in an 85 MPH zone, right?
And the other major speed differential will probably awlays exist ;
Heavy trucks and other haulers.
I seriously doubt that many of them can go 85 and many of those un-governed semis don’t want to for safety’s sake like fish tailing and object avoidence.
Other haulers like u-hauls, RVs, etc just don’t go that fast, ever, and would be dangerous if they did.
I like to go 85, but I don’t haul at 85.
Out here in the wide open spaces there’s plenty of room and less traffic to allow adequate passing so it should work out 'tween the two, but like everyone says, the differences in speeds can create problems and the faster drivers MUST be alert…but do we actually think they will be ?
I’ve seen too many 85+ers go zooming up to the turtle race they’re approaching ( slow truck passing a slower one ) only to brake hard…as if !
Those guys need to learn how to co-exist.
I recently drove on the part of that highway (130) that’s already open and posted at 80. It’s a toll road bypass around Austin’s congestion. In spite of the high speed limit, there’s very little traffic, since few people want to pay the toll. So passing and heavy traffic are not problems. On a map the road looks curvy, but the curves are so broad that they don’t cause any problem. I don’t generally drive over 70, but I went 80 the 10 miles I was going on this highway, and I found it to be perfectly reasonable. I also drive on the 80 mph stretch of I-10 with some frequency; it’s likewise lightly-traveled (going 70 there I get passed every 3 to 15 minutes), as well as very straight. 80 is a good speed there, too. Single car accidents may be more likely, but on these roads it’s hard to find someone else to run in to.
As for the difference between 80 and 85, it comes down to money. The new portion of 130 extending to I-10 is being built by a private company, and the concession agreement gives TxDOT more money if the speed limit is 80, and even more if the limit is 85 (the highest allowed under current law). The 85 mph speed limit is worth an extra $100,000,000 or an extra 6.4% of the toll revenue compared with a limit of 70.
This is more a matter of getting people to pay a toll by reducing concern over speeding tickets than getting somewhere faster. Going 85 rather than 80 on the privately run portion would save less than 2 minutes. Going 85 all the way to the north end at I-35 (86miles) would save less than 4 minutes. Along the 80 mph stretch (430 miles) of I-10 (the best road in my opinion for a speed limit of 85), the time savings would be about 19 minutes - reducing 5 hours and 23 minutes to 5 hours and 4 minutes.
Most of my freeway driving is on 65 mph roads, but the average speed is more like 50 mph due to traffic congestion. But sometimes I have occassion to drive on I80 across northern Nevada. It’s sort of like the German autobahn. The speed limit is 75 mph. And lots of cars seem to be going 80+. It’s pretty much straight and flat for the most part, and not much traffic, so you’d think 80 mph would be fairly safe. But I see usually see 6 or 7 cars off the side of the road, most of them crashed down into the barrow (sort of a depression for water drainage), and sometimes a 100 feet or more off the road down in the sagebrush, almost every time I do this trip, not badly damaged and I never say anyone injured, but just waiting for tow trucks to come help pull them out. I asked at a gas stations why this occurs on this road. They said it was mostly tire blow-outs and people falling asleep at the wheel. I’ve had tire blow outs of course, like anybody, and never had a safety problem from it, just an inconvenicne. But I guess a tire blowing out at 80 mph is a much big problem as it makes the car difficult to control at that speed.
Some German cars are designed to protect you during a high speed roll over. They have some of those type of crashes due to the speeds. Here in the U. S. the speed limits are highest where the traffic is light, so maybe we don’t have to worry about where our cars are made.
On our highway to and from nowhere in Maine, Rt. 95 between Orono (Bangor) and Houlton, we have a 75 MPH speed limit and there isn’t anything to run into except that MOOSE OVER THERE!!! There are plenty of bugs in the Alton Bog (Orono) but they’re frozen for half the year. The ditches are steep and some cars run right into the trees with only a little evidence left behind.
Be awake, be alert and don’t drive while texxxxxxxxxxx…
The article had a lot of “studies show”. My experience with studies, even government studies is that they always start with the conclusion and then hunt for the facts that support that conclusion. Someone has to pay for those studies and they always have an agenda.
Driving in Montana can be a very sobering experience. Where ever there is an accident with fatalities, the put up a post with a cross for each life lost on that post. You don’t see many on the freeways, but on the secondary roads, you hardly go a mile without seeing at least one post with multiple crosses. I don’t know haw far back they went in the records for these posts though.
Without a doubt, higher speeds will increase the accident rate on any road. as you go from a very low speed, the accident rate will be very low. As the speed goes up, the rate will also increase, but very slowly. At some point, a small increase in speed will cause a sharper increase in the accident rate. The accident rate will continue to rise increasing faster for smaller increases in speed past that point.