What is the fastest speed limit ever posted in the U.S.? Not counting places that once had “no limit” or “resonable & prudent”.
IIRC some of the lesser populated western states (Montana and Wyoming, possibly Nevada come to mind) had a posted “daytime” speed limit of 75 mph before the first oil shock in the US.
Currently, on at least two Arizona highways (I-17 and I-10), portions of the highway have a posted speed limit of 75 mph. Makes the trip out to California or up to Flagstaff a lot quicker.
Fastest I’ve seen is 75 outside of Montana’s famous old “Reasonable and Prudent” speedlimit.
Prior to the 55 speed limit in 1974 the speed limit on the Kansas Turnpike was posted at 80. I think the limit there now is only 70 though.
Turnpikes in Oklahoma are 75 mph.
What’s the lowest speed limit?
I don’t know the lowest, but I have a picture somewhere of a speed limit of 12. Twelve? I actually got out and took a picture of it because I could not believe that they figured it out that precisely and planned to enforce it. FWIW, it was on a bridge in/around Pensacola,FL.
Twelve?
I don’t remember where but I also saw a speed limit of 12. I also saw a posted speed limit of 7. Who the heck came up with such oddball numbers? Have you ever tried to drive 7?
The idea of the oddball numbers it to catch your attention. If the limit was posted as 10 mph, no one would give it a second thought. But 12 mph, that gets your attention and hopefully you slow down.
It slowed Pilot141 down enough to stop him, so I guess it works.
Here’s a page with some pictures of “Speed Limit 5 MPH” signs:
http://images.google.com/images?hl=en&lr=&ie=ISO-8859-1&q="Speed+Limit+5"&btnG=Google+Search
I’ve seen posted limits of 8mph, but those were on pathways where people were cycling, rollerblading, etc. Occasionally, one sees a 5mph limit for cars, typically in loading bays, construction zones, parking lots etc.
At the same time, I remember being in Missouri and the speed limit was 80. This was where the roads were long and straight.
In Pensacola on one of the training facilities (at the time for helicopters) the speed limit was 5 MPH and they meant it. The CO was a real asshole. 
[sup]Boy! Did it feel good to say that.[/sup]
Montana is still 75 mph on the interstate, 70 mph daytime on two lanes.
“Reasonable and Prudent” was horrible. The grannies and Winnebagos still drove 55 mph while some folks were doing 90. Doesn’t work good with only two lanes.
Heck, I deliberately drove through Montana, just so I could reasonably and prudently punch it. It turns out my 1990 Camry has a speed governor at 115mph.
Hey, I did that too. In July of 1996. Turned out my '96 Grand Prix had a governor at only 105.
Your governor generally lines up with the speed rating of the stock tires…
Wyoming still has 75 mph on the Interstates and nearly all two lanes are 65 mph. It still takes too long to get from one end to the other.
I’ve posted before that I was a professional driver for 8 years. I’ve hit all 48 lower states and know some of these questions. A better question is the safety of split speed limits.
In Illionois it’s 65 cars / 55 trucks
In California the same
In the People’s Republic of Ohio, same
In Indiana, 65/cars, 60/trucks.
South Dakota: 75/ all vehicles
Wyoming: 75/ all vehicles
North Dakota: 70/ all vehicles
Minnesota: 70/ all vehicles (outside the Cities area bypass)
Where do you see most accidents involving Semi’s? Not only are they caused by passenger cars 90% of the time, they’re in split-zones.
Get people too involved in themselves and their lives driving around 40-ton vehicles trying to get to that all-important “date”, what do you expect?