I'd heard they'd clocked giant spiders in Wisconsin doing at least 35.
Posted on 07/15/2005 4:10:58 PM PDT by Diana in Wisconsin
People could legally drive 75 miles per hour on Wisconsin's freeways and expressways under a plan pending in the Legislature.
State Sen. Tom Reynolds, R-West Allis, the lead sponsor of the bill, said the move would save drivers time, save some drivers money on speeding tickets and bring Wisconsin's limit in line with a third of the nation's states that already have the higher limit.
"Cars are engineered these days in a way which can better handle a little higher speeds," Reynolds said. "It's a slowly emerging trend."
Wisconsin now has a 65 mph limit on freeways and expressways, which typically are four-lane divided highways with limited access points.
Reynolds says he does a lot of driving in other states, having taken his family all over the country during the last 11 years in an effort to climb the highest peak in each state.
He said traffic seems to flow more smoothly in states with higher limits.
"You just see there is a distinct advantage," he said.
While the state Department of Transportation has not yet taken a formal position on the bill, Dennis Hughes, Wisconsin's chief of safety policy analysis, said there are concerns associated with higher speeds.
Higher speeds reduce driver perception and reaction time, he said.
"When crashes do happen, they are going to be more violent," Hughes said.
But Eric Skrum, communications director for the National Motorists Association, a Wisconsin-based group that advocates for and against certain laws affecting driver rights, said raising the speed limit was a wonderful idea.
"This is going to make the roads safer," Skrum said, adding that some people drive 75 mph already.
Raising the speed limit will mean that more people will be driving the same speed, he said.
"You will have less tailgating, less weaving in and out of traffic and because the majority of the traffic is going roughly the same speed, you won't have big differences in the speeds people are traveling," Skrum said. "Speed doesn't kill. It's the speed differential that causes accidents."
It really won't effect my driving habits much, because I'll be in the "slow lane" doing 72 in a 65, LOL!
I drive that way all the time! Like you said, it won't change my driving habits one bit, except when I see officer friendly approaching will I then take my foot off the gas for a second. LOL
Out state, all would be well (except for those with IL plates, who should be limited to 55, if allowed in the state at all).
If he gets a faster car, he could be pushing 80 or 90.
Reporting from Idaho. I-84 is like that for quite a long way - a few hundred miles - across the big, open country from the Oregon border down to the Utah border (except for the Boise area). It's a joy to drive, actually, if your car is up to it, and if it isn't there are plenty of people who simply drive 60 anyway. That area has the advantage of a low population density, so whether this would be good for you I'd leave an open question. When I'm driving down there I stick it on 80, ease the seat back, and watch the sagebrush fly by.
"If he gets a faster car, he could be pushing 80 or 90."
My sister just bought a used Jetta. When she was test driving it, she was doing 90 (out in the country) before she knew it.
I've owned a Jetta, too. Those Volkswagons are FUN to drive. (My Dad has owned/fixed up and sold 17 of them over the years.) Got to drive a Golf on the Autoban when I was stationed in Germany; 110 was like you were standing still.
It was during the Nixon administration.
I've never forgiven Nixon for that....
The only logical exception in WI is from Hudson to Madison @ 70 MPH and La Crosse to Madison @ 70 MPH. Maybe, Madison to Beloit @ 70 MPH and Madison to Milwaukee @ 70 MPH.
Otherwise forget it. I drive these lanes all the time and don't even about giving motorists an extra 10 or 20 MPHS. They take them anyways.
That, and the EPA, and wage & price controls, and visiting China, and the Watergate cover-up, and stupidly recording everything in the oval office, and...
Contrast that experience to today, with lower speed limits (although they are creeping up from the Carter-era limits, especially in rural areas). I'm now driving (and many others are, as well) a smaller, tighter, sharp-handling German automobile, equipped with all active and passive safety items imaginable (including superb brakes), and yet I'm typically limited to 65 mph on interstates around here. My car is rock-solid and comfortable at 110 (ummm, so I'm told), and has a computer-limited top end of 140-something. Thank God for radar/laser detectors.
I'm all in favor of speed limits on rural freeways being raised. But I'd keep non-limited access highways at 55. That would encourage more drivers to use the interstates, which (I'm guessing) are safer, in terms of deaths per driver-mile, at 75 than 2-lane non-limited access highways are at 55.
That stretch is bad enough now as it is. I can't imagine what it was like back then. 80-85? Whew..especially just before and after the NC/Tenn line. Here in eastern NC there are more than a few roads that could use this speed increase
You're right. Got the decades of my youth mixed up. The Carter Years were when Dad was b*tchin' about putting on a sweater and turning down the thermostat, LOL!
The 75 mph speed limit works great in West Texas where the main driving hazard is falling asleep on those long, straight, empty highways.
We ALL are. He was charged with 19 FELONIES in 2002. Since then, he's been allowed to retire and is STILL living off of the Wisconsin Taxpayer's dime.
I hope they lock him up and throw away the key...but of course, this is Madison and he IS A Democrat. He'll skate.
"Dane County Circuit Judge David Flanagan this weekcalled Oct. 31 the "most likely possibility" to start the trial of Chvala, who retired from the Senate last year - two years after he was charged with 19 felonies after a wide-ranging investigation into Capitol corruption.
The criminal complaint accuses him of demanding campaign donations in exchange for Senate votes; misconduct in office; and filing false campaign-finance reports. Several former Senate aides and high-profile lobbyists are expected to testify against him.
If the trial cannot begin Oct. 31, it would be postponed until February, Flanagan said."
http://www.jsonline.com/news/state/apr05/317877.asp
...under which "65 mph" would be posted.
The Tennessee State Troopers would drive I-40 between Newport and Knoxville at 83 mph or so, and create a logjam because nobody would dare to pass them.
"Montana had night-time speed restrictions but no restrictions on day-time speeds"
At one time (over 50 years ago) there was a speed limit sign in Canada that read "100 mph, Fords do your best".
Junior high and High School years for me. My folks paid cash for a car for the first time rather than pay 18% interest with perfect credit. Those years were something alright. Disco, Carter and bad television.
It was in west texas - the cop even admitted he just wanted to check out the car.
He gave me a warning for 82 in a 75, and we spent a good hour crawling around the mustang, oowing an awwwing at it.
Speed limits are a joke.
"My folks paid cash for a car for the first time rather than pay 18% interest with perfect credit."
We escaped inner-city Milwaukee for the Suburbs in 1970. I remember Grandpa bankrolling a home loan for Dad (who had just gotten his first Really Big, Important Job) because home loans were in the stratosphere those years, too.
My Dad did the same thing for me when I wanted to buy my first house because interest rates in the early 80's were still at 10-12%. Hopefully we can help out our son in the future, too, but if rates stay low for the next five years, he's on his own, LOL! :)
Sounds good But we need to make sure there’s no Trojan Horse seat belt use hidden in it.
Unless it repeals there mandatory use.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.