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That doesn't prove anything since we don't know what stretch of road they're talking about or what it looks like. I specifically said "unless the road is obviously hazardous at those higher speeds". For example, few people will drive 80 MPH on a hilly 2-lane even if the speed limit is set to 90 MPH. Most drivers have at least some sense of what's safe and what isn't. Since the average speed driven didn't change in this case, that tells me the State finally got the speed limit right. It in no way implies that all or even most interstates are signed correctly or that higher posted limits won't result in higher average speeds.That's not necessarily true and I can prove it. Here is a counterexample. Quote:
"GDOT officials are considering raising the speed limit to 70 in urban areas - or places with populations of 50,000 or more. The agency raised the speed limit to 65 mph along a 27-mile stretch of I-285 in November. Department records show that drivers traveled at 65.4 mph after the limit was raised, compared with 65.5 mph from before. The limit had been 55 mph."
My preliminary research suggests that raising speed limits on interstates, particularly rural interstates, can be a reasonable course of action (PDF). But raising speed limits on surface streets is not:
The results of the model estimations showed that, for the speed limit ranges currently used, speed limits did not have a statistically significant effect on the severity of accidents on Interstate highways. However, for some non-Interstate highways, higher speed limits were found to be associated with higher accident severities, suggesting that
future speed limit changes, on non-Interstate highways in particular, need to be carefully assessed on a case-by-case basis.
It all depends on what the limit was before the change. I can certainly show that 55 MPH was safer than the (mish-mash but) higher speed limits we have now. That's ancient history at this point. The percent of speeders was higher at 55 (because drivers knew it was low-balled) but the fatality rate was lower.
PS
Your own study proves my case. Average speeds all of them over the speed limit went up with higher speed limits:A survey of Indiana drivers in the fall of 2005 (a few months after Indiana Interstate speed limits were raised) found that under free-flow conditions, drivers reported driving an average of nearly 11 mph over a 55-mph Interstate speed limit, about 9 mph over a 65-mph Interstate speed limit, and less than 8 mph over a 70-mph speed limit (27).
55/66
65/74
70/77
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