We have a section of highway around here with a ridiculous 35mph limit (55 on the opposite direction of the same section). It has never been observed or enforced (I have done it at 55 with a police cruiser right next to me many times), but I always fear that some cop with a score to settle (or a budget deficit to resolve, as we are now) could start ticketing right there and make a killing in fines or make a mess of traffic while people slow down to 35 in the middle of the open road.
Where would one go to have a speed limit changed?
(Although I am in Puerto Rico, I will take any US answer as useful and any other as entertaining)
The first step is to find out which jurisdiction set the limit. Highway limits are probably set by the state, but the US federal government has often used money as an enticement to get states to certain certain kinds of limits. City street limits may be set by a city or even a county.
Once you know who set the limit, start writing letters and making phone calls.
In most cases, a lower-than-logical speed limit is a result of somebody along that stretch petitioning (and pestering) the governmental body that controls that area. In the US, outside of city limits, the body would be a county council. Perhaps there were some bad accidents, or some child got hurt.
If you, in a friendly manner, chat with some county officials, maybe you could find out why and when the limit was changed. That will give you an idea how much resistance a higher limit might meet.
You have the same right to petition for a speed limit change. If you’re going to persuade the government body, you might have to gather signatures of folks who agree with you.
I don’t know much about the customs of Puerto Rico, and I don’t mean to cast “nasturtiums;)” on anybody’s ethics. Do governmental relations require a bit of bribery?
Youd have to make a pretty damn convincing case with all manner of statistics. No offense but I trust traffic engineers a lot more than “angry guy with a lead foot.” One of my pet peeves is the backseat traffic engineer. People think streets with 100 driveways should be 55mph. People think they could time the lights better, etc. Guess what, you probably cant and your layman’s understanding of this stuff is extremely limited.
Its kinda a minor miracle that the streets (at least around here) can handle so much traffic and so many horrible mindless drivers. How about we cut these engineers some slack?
Over here it is more an issue of who you know over how much you can afford. Still, I don’t think it is anyone pulling strings. We are talking about a highways in the middle of nowhere with no housing right next to it, no towns, no nothing around. As I said, that same stretch on the opposite direction has a 55 limit (the standard here).
There are several cases of this, btw, but they are all due to removed tolls. The tolls are gone and the speed limit stayed. This one in particular, though, was not the site of an old toll.
I meant to add a disclaimer to this issue on the OP. I do understand that speed limits are set by people who know what they are doing and I defer to their judgement. It is not rate to see me driving under the speed limit anyways.
This one, though, makes no sense whatsoever. It is a comparatively flat and straight section through a non populated area built with the same materials as the rest of the highway. Again, the same section in the opposite direction has a higher limit. I cannot think of a logical explanation for the discrepancy of speed limits between the two directions of the same tract.
Minor hijack, I (and several people I’ve talked to about it) suspect that excessively low speed limits in certain patches of freeway, in high-crime areas (e.g. The patch of the I-880 that goes through Oakland,CA and is a 55mph zone, where the entire length of the freeway is 65mph), are simply there so police can pull over pretty much however they want, as EVERYONE is going way faster than the posted speed limit.
I’d like to hear general dopers opinion on the subject, and more concrete cites than “I just kind recon’” which is all I got…
Is it possible that the speed limit sign is simply the wrong sign? I.e., a typo?
In my city I’d call the public works dept with a question about the sign to make sure it’s correct, and then they could point me to whoever would be the appropriate party to complain about said limit.
Actually, the state has very specific regulations on when the normal speed limit of 55 mph can be assigned to a freeway. My guess is that the section you mention fails that set of tests.
Something like that has actually happened near my office. There was a 35 MPH sign that got damaged. It somehow got replaced with a 30 MPH sign. Someone must have noticed, because about a week later, that got changed back to a 35 MPH sign.
Decades ago in small towns in what was called back then the “deep south” this sort of thing was to generate revenue. Could the sign be a leftover? Is the traffic one way the state and the other way local as often happens in small towns? Could the sigh be out of date or some high school prank? In any case you must learn who has jurisdiction.
HorseloverFat and DSYoungEsq, I’ll grant that I don’t know the criteria and tests for setting speed limits, but we’re talking about DIFFERENT LIMITS ON THE SAME STRETCH OF ROAD (e.g., eastbound 35, westbound 55). Did you not see that in Sapo’s posts? Or can you educate us as to what criteria or tests might result in such a thing on an isolated, flat, straight highway?
There’s no reason to assume that speed limits should generally be the same in both directions on any stretch of road. There may be junctions or entrances on one side of the road and not on the other. Lines of sight are completely different depending on the direction of travel. If people going in one direction are approaching a hazard – e.g a dip creating a blind spot - the people going in the other have already passed it. And so forth.
Sapo sees none of these factors present here. I’m not familiar with the highway, so I don’t know whether he (she?) is correct, and the 35mph limit is anomalous, or whether there is a relevant factor which she (he?) is overlooking. I’m just saying, though, that as a general proposition different speed limits for opposing directions on the same stretch of road is not in itself indicative of an anomaly.
Sapo: find out what governmental authority is responsible for the highway, and write to them suggesting a change. They’ll either change it or refuse, and if they refuse they’ll probably tell you why. You might not agree with their reason, but at least you’ll know what it is.
There was recently a proposal in a city in my area to raise the speed limit on some roads, and the 85 percentile rule was cited as the main justification. They did have actual measurements to back up this claim.
There are many valid criticisms for this rule though. For one thing, it assumes that most drivers know how fast they can safely drive on every road, but in reality, many drivers may be unaware of many risk factors that are present. Also, it assumes that people drive at the speed they feel is safe, regardless of the current posted speed limit. In reality, the 85th percentile speed depends on the posted speed limit and on how strictly speed limits are enforced in that area.
No. I’m sorry, by highway I meant limited access expressway. I forgot that highway is used in some parts to refer to roads with intersections and all that. This is something that looks like an Interstate. Two lanes on each direction with a wide grass divider, wide shoulder on both sides, metal railings all along. Exits every 2-3 miles.
This stretch (as most highways here) is policed by the State police. Not the Municipal (town) police. Should a regular cop know who to talk to? (I have a neighbor who is a state cop, we are not close but she has been friendly before).
