Ridiculous Speed Limits

Now, by ridiculous, I mean absurd and meaningless.

The other day I was ticketed on Highway 59, driving out of Houston toward Beltway 8. I was going 79 MPH in a 60 MPH zone. Now, at first glance that may seem like excessive speed and maybe it was a little too fast, but the posted speed limit of 60 MPH is absolutely maddening!

First of all, this freeway is HUGE. 5 lanes wide, brand new as far as freeways go, and originally designed for higher speeds than 60 MPH (65 - 70 MPH). Since my ticket I've noticed that many speed traps are setup regularly on this stretch of highway. Every time I pass them now, I'm going, as well as everyone else, 70 MPH. I've discovered that the police will not bother with you if you are going only 70 MPH, even though it is 10 over the limit. I see many motorists that were pulled over like I was and I can't help but sympathize with them.

Now, the conclusion I have on this is that the cops understand that the posted speed limit is ridiculous. The freeway was designed for higher speeds and they know it too. That is why they will not bother with you until you've passed a threshold (I believe it is close to 73+ MPH).

Now, after receiving this ticket I did some research online to find out why the speed limit was set so low on this wide, straight, pristine freeway and I discovered that an environmental group was behind it (TCEQ - Texas Commission on Environmental Quality). Bottom-line, TCEQ pushed for the speed limit on all freeways in the Houston - Galveston area with 65 or 70 MPH speed limits to be changed to 60 and 65 MPH respectively, to "protect the environment" from American's evil SUVs and gasoline engines. In 2002, they convinced the Texas Department of Transportation to do this and didn't stop there, they pushed again to cap all speed limits in the area at 55 MPH.

Well, as you can imagine, there was such a backlash that the TCEQ relented and went back to their 5 MPH reduction scheme. Shortly thereafter, in 2003, the Texas Legislature prospectively banned environmental speed limits. Unfortunately for people like me, the wording of the bill allows environmental speed limits already in place to remain indefinitely; no new miles of roadway may be subjected to environmental speed limits, however.

In case you thinking, "Hey, lower speed limits are important for the environment," think about this:

Initial studies found that lower speed limits could bring the areas roughly 1.5% closer to compliance with the federal Clean Air Act. However, follow up studies found that the actual reduction is far less:

1. The emissions modeling software initially used, MOBILE 5a, overestimated the emissions contribution of speed limit reductions. Rerunning the models with the next generation software, MOBILE 6, produced dramatically lower emissions reductions.
2. Speed checks in the Dallas area performed 1 year after implementation of speed limit reductions show that actual speed reductions are only about 1.6 mph, a fraction of the anticipated 10% (5.5 mph) speed reduction.

With both of these facts combined, it is possible that the speed limit reductions only provide a thousandth of the total emissions reductions necessary for Clean Air Act compliance.

Isn't that worth reducing the speed limit and inconveniencing everyone?

Now, in case you are thinking, "Hey, lower speed limits are better for safety anyways, remember the National Speed Limit of 55? So let's keep them low!" Consider this:

It was believed that, based on a drop in fatalities the first year the limit was imposed, the 55 mph limit increased highway safety. Other studies were more mixed on this point, and a Cato Institute report showed that the safety record actually worsened in the first few months of the 55 mph speed limit, suggesting that the fatality drop was a short-lived anomaly that regressed to the mean by 1978. After the oil crisis abated, the 55 mph speed limit was retained mainly due to the possible safety aspect.

Furthermore, in 1986 The Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank, published a study claiming that the total fuel savings during the national speed limit was no more than 1% overall.

Other studies have shown that motorists generally pick reasonable speeds for conditions. For example, the 75 mph (120 km/h) speed limit in the U.S. State of South Dakota has good compliance: the average speed is less than or equal to the posted limit almost a decade after it was increased. When speed limits are set artificially low, tailgating, weaving and speed variance (the problem of some cars traveling significantly faster than others) make roads less safe.

Whew! Okay, I know this has been a long rant, but are you starting to get the point? I believe that a vast majority of the drivers on the road drive at a speed that they honestly believe is safe and comfortable depending on traffic, weather, and other driving conditions. Most people are smart and considerate in this regard. It is difficult for me to honestly believe that cops that pull people over for going 70 or 75 MPH on this stretch of the road because the "speed limit" is 60 MPH are making the roads safer. It seems to me that they are simply conducting revenue enforcement for the city. You want to ticket the really unsafe drivers? Ticket the ones that are tailgating, swerving and cutting, not using their blinkers, etc. Those are the truly unsafe drivers, not those going 75 MPH when everyone is going 70 in an absurd, artificially low, 60 MPH zone.

Now don't get me wrong, if the speed limit were say 70 MPH on this stretch of road (as I think it should be, or at least 65), and someone speeds by going 90, then yes, that is unsafe. The road was not designed for that speed and more than likely, neither was their car and the speed variance is too great.

Anyway, I'm done with my rant now.