Conflict of Interest 3174

On Sun, 20 Nov 2005, Daniel W. Rouse Jr.

Actually, there's a very *good* reason shown by the large gap between posted and actual speeds: Most people get safely where they're going, despite prevailing traffic speeds being higher than posted limits. That is prima facie evidence that the speed at which traffic flows, even though it is higher than the posted limit, is a generally safe speed. That being the case, every driver is forced to make a hobson's choice: Maximize their safety by going with the flow of traffic (but exceeding the posted limit, risking a ticket) or minimize their risk of a ticket by adhering to the limit (but endanger themselves and others by becoming a rolling roadblock).

Your reference to "top speeds" in the neighborhood of 100mph is disingenuous. No serious discussion on the topic includes those exceeding the 85th percentile speed, since those are the individuals who really *do* have zero regard for any kind of speed limitations (posted, common sense, flow of traffic, or any other kind). Those, in fact, are some of the individuals upon whom speed-related enforcement should be targeted, because they represent a large speed differential relative to the speed at which most traffic is flowing. Of course, the other group upon whom speed-related enforcement should be targeted is the rolling roadblocks, for the same reason (large speed differential relative to the speed of traffic flow).

Sure. No limit at all is going to affect those people. So what? Freeway speed limits should still be set based on V85, because that realistically addresses the behavior of the vast majority of road users. Six decades' worth of real-world experience and research, all over the world, shows us that is the *ONLY* way to set freeway speed limits that minimize the frequency and severity of crashes.

Nobody's suggesting looking at "averages".