What do you think of 80 mph interstate speeds?

tjv189

eric, I think it depends on where the 80 mph speed limit would be implemented. If it were out west as you stated, where the speed limits are usually already 75 mph, I don't think raising it to 80 would cause too much trouble because out there it is more open, and you can see much further all around you. So it wouldn't be too unsafe to have 80 mph speed limits some places out west.

However, where I'm at in Pennsylvania the maximum speed limits are 65 mph. Raising it to 80 mph HERE would be bad, because the weather is usually poor, visibility isn't too good due to the large numbers of hills and mountains, many of the roads are in bad shape (narrow, many bumps and potholes), and in PA, with its large population and how crowded it usually is on the roadways, there are too many other vehicles out on the roads to safely go 80 mph I think. Yes, there are definitely quite a few speeders in PA, and some of them are the same ones you hear about on the news injuring themselves or dying in a wreck because they lost control of their vehicle due to excessive speed in combination with some other things.

So what I think is it depends on where you are, whether or not an 80 mph speed limit would be safe. In some places, I feel it would be perfectly safe, but in others (such as PA) I feel it would be a bad idea.

The World Traveler

I agree with that guy who talked about location. Like i think its fine to go 80 in like those western states where there's no people and long open stretches of highway. But in many states especially in the Northeast its not possible. Because of the landscape, amount of other drivers, the design of the interstates (most dating back to the 50s and 40s). They weren't built for cars going that speed (there's more sharper turns, less lanes which is becoming a problem as the number of drivers increases and they're not maintained well enough). An example being North Carolina on I-95 in the summer time the speed limit is 70 and there's only 2 lanes on each side packed with cars and everyone is going 80mph and you're less than a car length from the car in front and behind you which is freakin scary because if that any of the cars had to break in an emergency it wouldn't be pretty. We passed a lot of accidents on that trip. In germany the autobahns (which i've been on) have really long turns and its well maintained so it can handle traffic which is going 80 to 100mph on average. So if these Eastern more populated states ever wanted to go up to 80+ as speed limits they would have to totally redo the interstate system. Which in today's economy ain't happening anytime soon.

Don

Speed limits are there to make driving safer. No matter how high the speed limit is you are going to have people driving much faster.
I don't know about Utah but in West Texas you have areas of hundreds of miles that have little or no interchanges. This makes it possible to increase the speed limit. In states that are more highly populated you may have interchanges as close as every mile. This would be very dangerous driving at very high speeds.

inspector speks

I usually end up going about 75 on the interstate in CT which has a 65 mph limit, sometimes I get up to 80 in the middle lane and still get passed on both sides. It often seems like nobody cares about speed limits. Whether you can go 80 is going to depend somewhat on your car too. My biggest fear in raising the speed limit is not so much that people would be going 80, it's that people would be going 95 mph now. And that makes it even more dangerous to merge into traffic or emergency stops.

Windowphobe

I drove the 80-mph roads in west Texas last summer, and traffic was moving at maybe 82, 83 mph tops. This was due, I believe, to two factors: lots of trucks, which aren't allowed to go that fast, and heavy patrolling.

I'm comfortable at that speed. I don't think I'd want to see it go much higher than that, though.

(I live in Oklahoma: speed limit is 70 on most free roads, 75 on turnpikes.)

ishootbirds2

80 is just right for me, but not everyone can do that. I personally know about 5 people who think 65 is their maximum speed, I know I can handle up to around 105. if there was a 80 mph speed limit everywhere, there'll be a lot more accidents, probably 90% of the drivers can go that fast, but 2% can't. the 10% who can't are the ones that would cause all the crashes and deaths. so unless they change the driving tests and training, a higher speed limit, while better for the majority, isn't a good idea since not everyone can do it and the ones that can't do it are the ones that are likely to get themselves or others killed.

but assume everyone can go 80, then I think 80 isn't fast enough. a freeway should have multiple speed limits, so say the freeway has 5 lanes per side, the outer most one maybe a 65 limit. the next two in perhaps up to 80, next lane up to 100 and the innermost lane no speed limit, like the German autobahn- for passing only.

Dan W

The trouble with higher limits is the slower traffic in the hi speed inside lane. The problem with a hi speed only lane like the autohahn is that you can not use the lane except for passing.

boyd j

out of all the accidents I've worked on.it's not so much the speed.k,watch this,if your doing 80,the cars two miles in front of you is doing 55,and traffic is heavy.at some point your going to meet that car."hope your ready for them"so in basic it's the gap in speed that gets people hurt.I wish it was illegal to drive under the speed limit.after a few times one dead body looks the same as another,but it gets old working overtime over stupied things people know not to do.

Poppy

Too fast for me(I'm a Texan) Reaction times needed to avoid obstacles are too fast. IE too hard to avoid a wreck at that speed.

dirtytricksracing@sbcglobal.net

I live in West Texas and that is to fast. Most people do not have cars safe enough to go that fast steady and most young drivers are not skilled enough even though I am sure they say they are.

Rudy H

I think it's too slow. Not kidding.

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