Tilted Forum Project Discussion Community - View Single Post

joemc91 · 01-06-2005, 02:49 PM

I've noticed that in the real rural areas you get speed limits that make no sense. For instance at school there is a street that is "two" (three actually with the third hatched off) lanes wide that is really the same width as a two lane highway. It is perfectly straight for two miles with no residential areas on either side except for the last tenth of a mile. These residential areas are college apartment complexes, no one lives or goes near the street except when on the sidewalk, and even that is rare. The speed limit is set at a staggering 30mph! At home in MA the speed limit on Rt. 44 through residential areas while being only two lanes wide is 50mph. This makes a lot more sense than the 30mph speed limit.

I've read a bunch of articles on roadway construction and generally engineers say the speed limit should be set to the 85 percentile. They measure the speeds of people driving the road without a speed limit and set the limit to the speed that 85 percent of the people go slower than. These speed limits are almost never actually seen on roadways because the town sets them arbitrarily low. Now, in a neighborhood or a college campus I will not go over the limit because I can't stop fast enough.

Consider this, in New York and Boston the speed limit on busy downtown roads is 30mph. Yet in the downtown of little midwestern cities it's 20mph. Are the pedestrians stupid here or are the drivers worse? Also consider the speed limits on highways and the speed people actually drive on the highways in urban areas. On my way into Boston yesterday I was going 80mph and getting passed. If I went the speed limit (55mph) I would have been rear ended. No officer would dare pull someone over on that road unless they were driving recklessly, in which case I fully agree with them.

In any case, every time I've gotten a ticket I deserved it and haven't had a problem with any police. My problem is mostly with towns that treat tickets and speed limits as a way to make money and not as a way to make the roads safer. Case in point: New Rome. There are dozens of towns like this all around the US and generally situated in a rural area.

01-06-2005, 02:49 PM	#69 (permalink)
joemc91 Insane Location: Chicago	I've noticed that in the real rural areas you get speed limits that make no sense. For instance at school there is a street that is "two" (three actually with the third hatched off) lanes wide that is really the same width as a two lane highway. It is perfectly straight for two miles with no residential areas on either side except for the last tenth of a mile. These residential areas are college apartment complexes, no one lives or goes near the street except when on the sidewalk, and even that is rare. The speed limit is set at a staggering 30mph! At home in MA the speed limit on Rt. 44 through residential areas while being only two lanes wide is 50mph. This makes a lot more sense than the 30mph speed limit. I've read a bunch of articles on roadway construction and generally engineers say the speed limit should be set to the 85 percentile. They measure the speeds of people driving the road without a speed limit and set the limit to the speed that 85 percent of the people go slower than. These speed limits are almost never actually seen on roadways because the town sets them arbitrarily low. Now, in a neighborhood or a college campus I will not go over the limit because I can't stop fast enough. Consider this, in New York and Boston the speed limit on busy downtown roads is 30mph. Yet in the downtown of little midwestern cities it's 20mph. Are the pedestrians stupid here or are the drivers worse? Also consider the speed limits on highways and the speed people actually drive on the highways in urban areas. On my way into Boston yesterday I was going 80mph and getting passed. If I went the speed limit (55mph) I would have been rear ended. No officer would dare pull someone over on that road unless they were driving recklessly, in which case I fully agree with them. In any case, every time I've gotten a ticket I deserved it and haven't had a problem with any police. My problem is mostly with towns that treat tickets and speed limits as a way to make money and not as a way to make the roads safer. Case in point: New Rome. There are dozens of towns like this all around the US and generally situated in a rural area. __________________ I prefer desert wines to dessert wines. Dry and red