If most of the people are driving 70 mph, which is what the speed limit used to be, the 55 mph speed limit is the real problem. There’s apparently no geometric constraint to slow drivers down and signage just won’t do it. Study after study after study have proven that. Raise the speed limit back up so that there are no longer slower drivers that create the speed differential between slow and fast drivers and that should reduce the number of accidents. Take that advice from this retired highway engineer.
What do you do about the increasing number of elderly drivers who still utilize interstates but don’t feel comfortable driving at posted speeds?
Amen! I recently went to Charleston and from Spartanburg to Charleston the left lane was jammed with people who if you were lucky would go the exact speed limit and by the Eternal would not give up that lane if it meant a free ticket out of the flames of hell. I believe I passed more cars from Columbia to Charleston in the right lane than anywhere I have driven in the US with the exception of going to the Outer Banks in North Carolina.
My wife and I renamed the interstate between Columbia and Charleston the Highway of Death because we counted a good 20-30 cars on the shoulder abandoned or pulled over with car trouble. The only thing missing was them being torched and A-10’s buzzing us!