Stupid Speed Limits...

[Roopull]

It has long been my position that speeders do not cause accidents. Slow drivers in the fast lane, erratic and careless lane changers, and tailgaters cause accidents. When was the last time you had to change what you were doing on the interstate because of a fast driver? How about a slow driver... like the old fart going 50 in a 65 zone while cruising one lane over from the fast lane. It's the speed differential that kills. The world would be a better place if every interstate had signs that said, "Keep Right Except To Pass," and those signs were backed up by laws & cops who were willing to pursue the offenders in court.

I digress. In fact, that paragraph I just wrote barely has anything to do with this story... sue me. In my ongoing drive to bring you worthless, yet entertaining news, I give you...

Proof I didn't make this up!
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The sign says 65 m.p.h.? Go 70!

January 29, 2007

You're tooling down the freeway at 70 m.p.h., keeping an eye out for cops because signs say the speed limit is 65.

Relax! You're driving perfectly legally. It's one of the state's best-kept road secrets that the signs are wrong, and no cop is going to stop you.

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Hundreds -- possibly thousands -- of signs still say 65 on I-94, I-75, I-96 and even I-696, the state's busiest expressway. But despite what they say, the 65 m.p.h. speed limit on freeways is pretty much dead.

Last fall, lawmakers expanded the number of freeways where you can drive 70. The exceptions are areas where Michigan State Police and the Michigan Department of Transportation agree a lower speed is necessary for safety reasons -- like around busy cities.

But the Legislature didn't provide money for MDOT to upgrade signs. Changing thousands of signs will cost $1.2 million, and in an economy like Michigan's, that's not chump change.

So it will be months -- probably late June -- before all freeway signs statewide reflect the law, MDOT said.

You don't have to take my word for it.

First Lt. Thad Peterson, commander of the Michigan State Police traffic services section in East Lansing, said the Legislature in November made three significant changes in freeway speeds to encourage uniform traffic flow.

On freeways where cars can travel 70, lawmakers raised the speed limit for big rigs to 60 m.p.h. from 55. They also raised the minimum speed for all expressways to 55 m.p.h. from 45.

Less publicized was the part about 70 m.p.h. becoming the de facto speed limit on all but a handful of stretches of expressways. The exceptions include 55 m.p.h. limits posted on parts of I-75, I-94, I-96 and the Lodge Freeway in Detroit, Peterson said.

In November, he notified State Police post commanders across Michigan to make sure their troopers enforce the speed limit at 70 m.p.h., not 65.

But drivers like Rod Sibley of Oak Park still have questions.

"Now that the speed limit on the section between Southfield and I-94 has been raised to 70 m.p.h., when is the state going to change the signs ... so that you can drive the new limit without worrying about getting a ticket?" Sibley asked me about I-696 in an e-mail.

That's where the money issue comes in. State officials couldn't immediately say how many signs have to be changed or how much each signs cost. But MDOT spokesman Bill Shreck said signs on freeways in some outstate areas are already updated, and the new signs will start popping up in metro Detroit by spring.

So what's a driver to do in the meantime?

Peterson told me Friday he believes most law enforcement agencies are aware of the change, so it's highly unlikely drivers will be ticketed for doing 70 m.p.h. in a zone marked 65.

"If they were to be ticketed for that, it not would not be a legally defensible ticket, and the driver would have a valid defense, because the law says the speed limit is 70," Peterson said. "It's just a question of catching the signs up to the law."

But in 55 m.p.h. zones, stick with what the signs say!

Contact MATT HELMS at driving

 

[90K]

If the law didn't deviate in the courts about wording it would be easy to enforce the posted speed limits. Except in rare cases most every place in this country you can get by going 5 miles per hour over the posted limit. In many places it is up to nine miles an hour over. About jerk offs in the left lane, or the over taking lane or the HOV lane, or the fast lane. Well if I were a copper I'd use that push pad on the front of the cruiser to move slow ass drivers trying to either make a statement of defiance or just forgot that Americans who have taken drivers ed clearly states that the left lane is for overtaking or passing and slower car are to be in the right lane. After I moved said car over I'd give them a ticket for impeding traffic.
Actually if we as drivers did as we should it wouldn't be an issue but everyone including myself feel they have to make a statement when driving at times. So ultimately it sucks to live in Detroit.

 

[gabosaurus]

Don't do the crime if you can't do the time.

 

[90K]

Don't do the crime if you can't do the time.

Hey I've heard that before on a very old TV cop show back in the 1970's
Another area is multi tasking behind the wheel which causes distractions

 

[gabosaurus]

Slow drivers are irritating. But unless there is a posted minimum speed, they are not breaking the law. Exceeding the speed limit is against the law.
My favorite moments are when I see cars that passed me at 80 mph pulled over a few miles later.

 

[90K]

only place I know of no known posted rules or speed limits is in parking lots! Besides stop signs and arrows that nobody follows there are no rules or speed limits.

 

[Gurdari]

how do the germans or whomever make it work?

 

[gabosaurus]

Germany makes it work because the drivers understand how to adapt their driving habits to road conditions. The passing lane is actually respected as the passing lane.
I was in Germany last summer to visit relatives. Some friends drove me from Munich north to the Wacken Festival. Some of the speeds are frightening. But the Germans are, overall, very good drivers.

 

[90K]

you have to make it work when you are hauling ass, less reaction times. People drive good road worthy cars over there as well.