Free Republic

OKLAHOMA CITY — The Oklahoma Turnpike Authority on Tuesday will consider raising the maximum speed limits to 80 mph on rural portions of some turnpikes. The current maximum speed limit is 75 mph. Among the areas proposed for the change is a 13-mile stretch of the Turner Turnpike in Creek County, from milepost 203 to milepost 216, within the newly constructed six-lane section that extends from Sapulpa to 6 miles east of Bristow. The recent passage of House Bill 1071 set the stage for statewide studies on potential maximum speed limit increases to 80 mph on rural turnpikes and 75...

<p>Here in Middle America, there are small towns where going a couple of miles per hour over the speed limit will get you stopped by the town’s lone police officer. These “speed traps” are dotted throughout the region as, many times, a significant portion of a town’s revenue comes from issuing these tickets.</p>

Germany’s parliament, the Bundestag, has voted against a bill proposed by the Greens that would have introduced a speed limit of 130 kilometers per hour (80 miles per hour) on the nation’s highways. Out of the 631 votes cast on Thursday, 498 voted against the proposal. All members of the far-right AfD and the business-friendly FDP parties rejected the bill, and just two members from each of the center-left Social Democrats (SPD) and conservative parties voted for the proposal. There were only a handful of abstentions. “You’re defending a transport policy from the day before yesterday,” said Cem Özdemir, Green...

Senator John Moorlach (R- Orange County) introduced SB 319 on Friday. If it passes, it would require the Department of Transportation to built two additional traffic lanes on northbound and southbound Interstate 5 and State Route 99. Those new lanes would have no maximum speed limit. The other lanes of traffic would still ban drivers from going more than 65 miles per hour. According to the bill language, traffic congestion causes the vehicle to idle longer and that leads to more greenhouse gas emissions. California did pass the Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006 which requires the State Air Resources...

Legacy Parkway in Davis County is a different sort of freeway. It bans trucks. The speed limit is just 55 mph. Its mere two lanes in each direction have rubberized pavement to dampen sound — all designed to help adjacent wetlands and wildlife. But that could change dramatically in a little more than a year, on Jan. 1, 2020. That is when a 15-year deal expires, initially drawn up to end lawsuits by environmental groups against the highway. The truck ban will disappear that day, and the state is then free to raise the speed limit or look at widening...

Most newer concrete beams that hold up Utah highway bridges are around 145 feet long. But the Utah Department of Transportation is about to place six that are 40 percent longer — 203 feet — to help widen Interstate 15 in Lehi. They are longer than the iconic Cinderella’s castle in Walt Disney World (189 feet) is high, or the leaning tower of Pisa (185 feet). They also will be the third-longest single-component beams in the United States, slightly shorter than two in Orlando, Fla., and Seattle, said Lee Wegner, with Forterra Structural Precast, the West Valley City company that...

The U.S. is seeking to forcibly limit how fast trucks, buses and other large vehicles can travel on the nation’s highways. A new proposal Friday would impose a nationwide limit by electronically capping speeds with a device on newly made U.S. vehicles that weigh more than 26,000 pounds. Regulators are considering a cap of 60, 65 or 68 mph, though that could change. Whatever the speed limit, drivers would be physically prevented from exceeding it.The proposal, which comes from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, does not force older heavy vehicles to add the...

Trucks and buses in the United States may have to be equipped with devices to limit their speed under a proposed rule issued on Friday by the U.S. Transportation Department which said the move could save both lives and fuel. The department will weigh setting speed limits at 60, 65 or 68 miles per hour for heavy commercial vehicles, but said it will consider other speeds based on comments from the public.

A new survey published on Thursday shows that a majority of Germans are in favor of speed limits on the Autobahn—the country’s highways, which until now have been famously limit-free. The number of countries with no nationwide speed limit on highways is vanishingly small. Other members of the club besides Germany include Afghanistan, North Korea, and the Isle of Man, a British dependency in the Irish sea. Now pollsters from YouGov have found that 56 percent of the public would be in favor of a nationwide speed limit of 150 km/h on Germany’s 12,950 kilometers of motorway—but that lower limits...

Ford is to sell a car that can read road signs and adjust its speed accordingly to ensure the vehicle is not driving too fast. The speed-limiting tech can be activated via the steering wheel and briefly overridden by pressing firmly on the accelerator. The car company suggests the facility will help drivers avoid fines and could reduce the number of accidents. However, one expert said the innovation might only serve as a "stopgap". "There's a plan for speed restrictions to be beamed to your car's computer systems and controlled from there, rather than requiring street sign visual recognition systems,"...

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...

PORTLAND, Maine — Motorists driving stretches of the Maine Turnpike will be allowed to go 5 miles per hour faster starting Monday, the Maine Turnpike Authority has announced.The speed limit will increase on the turnpike from 65 mph to 70 mph with the exception of three areas, Executive Director Peter Mills said.They are: south of mile marker 2.1 on I-95 in Kittery, where the maximum speed will remain 65 mph; through Greater Portland from mile marker 41 in Scarborough to mile marker 53 in Falmouth, where the speed limit will increase from 55 mph to 60 mph; and on the...

BELTON, Mo. — As Missouri lawmakers return to Jefferson City Wednesday, one of many issues they are expected to consider is raising the state’s speed limit. Along Interstate 49 here, the speed limit is 70 miles an hour, but that could jump up to 75 if this proposal becomes law. A southwest Missouri lawmaker wants drivers in the Show-Me State to be able to go faster on rural highways. Rep. Mike Kelley from Lamar, further south on I-49, wants to raise the speed limit to 75 miles an hour on 4-lane highways away from the cities. Currently Missouri’s speed limit...

Despite 65MPH being popular among many motorists and the trucking industry, the proposal to lower speed limits along major highways in NY may move in the legislature because of ardent support from Gov. Andrew Cuomo and key members of the State Senate.

The speed limit on one of Britain’s busiest motorways is to be cut from 70mph to 60mph under a controversial plan to meet European Union pollution targets. The first ‘environmental’ speed limit is set to be imposed within months on a 32-mile stretch of the M1 – for seven days a week, from 7am to 7pm The limit will be in place for several years, and any driver caught breaking it faces a hefty fine and penalty points on their license.

BOSTON — Rep. Dan Winslow wants to raise the speed limit on certain stretches of interstate highways in Massachusetts from 65 miles per hour to 70 miles per hour. “Our roads are designed for 70. Our cars are designed for faster than 65,” Winslow told the Committee on Transportation Tuesday. If approved, the bill (H 3175) would increase the speed limit on parts of the Massachusetts Turnpike, Interstate 91, and Interstate 95. Newton resident John Carr, who told the News Service highway speeds have been “an interest of mine for about 15 years,” favors an increase in the speed limit,...

Drivers face having their cars fitted with devices that slam on the brakes if they go over the speed limit, under draconian new road safety measures being drawn up by officials in Brussels. All new cars would have to include camera systems that “read” the limits displayed on road signs and automatically apply the brakes. And vehicles already on the road could even be sent back to garages to be fitted with the “Big Brother” technology, meaning that no car in the UK would be allowed to travel faster than 70 mph—the speed limit on motorways. Transport Secretary Patrick McLoughlin...

MADISON – Lead-footed Wisconsinites are rejoicing over a new proposal to raise the speed limit on some Wisconsin roads from 65 mph to 70 mph. 70 or BUST?: Rep. Paul Tittl, R-Manitowoc, is proposing increasing the speed limit to 70 mph on Wisconsin’s freeways and expressways, following in the steps of the Badger State’s neighbors. Cautious drivers are not quite as enthused.And others are worried about the cost.A brief about Rep. Paul Tittl’s proposal prompted quite a bit of discussion Monday on Wisconsin Reporter’s Facebook page, with opinions across the spectrum.Among them:“With 95% doing 70 or more anyways, I say...

The speed limit on the Intercounty Connector was recently raised from 55 mph to 60 mph. Should it go even higher? The road—also known as MD 200—was designed for speeds up to 60 mph. But that's not stopping one Washington Post reader from insisting the state should turn the ICC into the American autobahn. The German highway allows drivers many long stretches of road without any speed limit. In his letter to The Washington Post, Bethesda resident Brian Moore says it's a concept Maryland should at least consider:

LAUREL, Md. - Since the Intercounty Connector opened, nearly 7,000 speeding tickets have been issued, according to documents obtained by WTOP. While most tickets are clearly violations, some raise questions for drivers. Police issued nearly 200 tickets to drivers going less than 65 mph in a 55 mph zone. On Oct. 6, 2011, a driver was ticketed for going 59 mph. "That's crazy. I've never heard of that before and I don't understand it," says Sergio Gutierrez of Laurel. He says it's confusing, especially with the recent story of Maryland State Police ticketing a woman for driving 62 mph in...