Posted on 02/20/2015 9:47:18 AM PST by Tolerance Sucks Rocks
The top speed on some Maryland highways could go to 70 miles per hour under a bill passed by the Senate Thursday.
The measure carried by a vote of 39 to 7, with dissenters warning increasing speed limits could cause more crashes and traffic fatalities.
Sen. George C. Edwards, a Garrett County Republican and the bill's sponsor, said the bill authorizes but does not require the State Highway Administration to raise speed limits on some interstates and expressways. Most interstate highways are built to handle vehicles going 70 miles per hour, he said, noting that neighboring Pennsylvania and West Virginia already have that as their top speed.
"Most people go what they consider a safe speed," Edwards said.
But Sen. James Brochin, a Baltimore County Democrat, warned that speed is often a factor in traffic crashes and fatalities. He argued that many drivers already go up to 75 or 76 mph now on highways with 65-mph speed limits, believing they can go that fast and avoid getting a speeding ticket. Raising the limit to 70 mph will encourage those drivers to go 81 or 82 mph, Brochin predicted.
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Maryland “Freak State” PING!
Well it’s a certainty that just as soon as it’s firmly in place absolutely no one will exceed that number. That’s how laws work. Right? Hello...................
Higher speed limits do NOT cause accidents.
Bad/inattentive drivers do....
Thanks for the post. I wonder where it will be permitted? Probably only in extreme western Maryland, where all those ‘weirdo Republicans’ live. (sarcasm, but location may be close to the truth)
Well, it WOULD make it more difficult for people to shave or put on eye makeup while driving, wouldn’t it?
11 MPH over the limit to give a ticket is arbitrary. This varies from country to country, and within as well. Recently heard of a country where just a couple over the limit results in a ticket.
In the dept of unintended consequences, higher margins promotes lawlessness in other areas. I'd rather see a reasonable limit, and that be enforced.
Repeat for illegal crimigrants.
I never saw any real difference here in Michigan. People were already running 80 mph so raising the limit didn’t mean much.
The faster the better.
Anything to get you out of Maryland.
Well, based on the times I’ve been in Maryland, the traffic is often bad enough such that hitting 50mph would be a luxury.
We should all bow down and thank our superior masters for allowing us this incredible privilege of driving faster!
I can testify to that. I’m sitting in a McDonald’s right now waiting for a tow truck. I was at a red light in the right lane with a semi on the left lane. Driver had no turn signal and made a right turn, basically removing the left side of my car.
Fortunately it was a rental company car.
Geez! I bet that was a fun experience. (Better Call Saul!)
....I’m sure if the speed limits would have been lower, it wouldn’t have happened! LOL
We lived in(were sentenced to) Maryland for 16 LONG years, and the legislature tried several times to raise the speed limit. If you come into Maryland on I-95, you have been gong 70+ mph for days, and holding speed down to 60 is very difficult. But the (democratic) governor always vetoed the bill because of donations from insurance companies. The tickets issued to drivers allowed them to raise the rates, even though there really was no added risk involved. Everyone was happy but the voters, and they never got it.
Not in this one. Witness corroborated that I was stopped and not at fault.
Brochin is wrong too. 80th percentile drivers should set speed limits. On 95, average speed is 75-80 now. It won’t change with new signs.
Overpatrolling by MSP may slow down a bit though.
New sheriff in town. R
Where are the global warming alarmists in Maryland, Pennsylvania and West Virginia?
Brochin is a tool.
He tried to market himself as a “conservative” last election.
When asked about repealing the draconian MD gun laws just enacted, he stated that he would not do so.
He’s as conservative as my whackjob lib SIL.
Rte 50 from the Beltway to Annapolis.
I-97.
I-95 above Baltimore.
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