DawgTalkers.net Forums DawgTalk Tailgate Forum Bill Would Raise Ohio's Top Speed Limit To 70 MPH

It's about time!

Won't this use more fuel though

Bill Would Raise Ohio's Top Speed Limit To 70 MPH
Tuesday, May 19, 2009 4:26 PM
Updated: Wednesday, May 20, 2009 11:00 AM

Print Story
E-mail Story
COLUMBUS, Ohio — Ohio lawmakers planned to begin debating a bill on Wednesday to raise Ohio's speed limit to 70 mph on certain roads.
If passed, Ohio would join 32 other states that have raised the speed limit to 70 mph or higher, 10TV's Kevin Landers reported.

The plan faced opposition from the Ohio State Highway Patrol, which helps police the nation's fourth-largest interstate system. Ohio also has the seventh-largest highway network in the U.S., according to the state Department of Transportation.

DISCUSS: Is Raising The Speed Limit A Good Idea?

"Year after year, the No. 1 contributing factor in fatal crashes continues to be people driving too fast for conditions or excessive speed," patrol spokesman Lt. Shawn Davis said. "This bill would allow them to go even faster."

Ever since Congress repealed a national speed limit law in 1995, the trend has been for states to keep pushing speed limits higher, said Russ Rader, a spokesman for the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety. Texas and Utah have an 80 mph limit on some roads.

Last year, when gas prices soared toward $4 a gallon nationally, lawmakers in some states, including Connecticut, proposed ratcheting down speed limits to help reduce fuel consumption. But those efforts didn't gain traction.

Rader said studies have shown that most people drive 5 to 10 mph above the posted speed limit - a threshold they think will allow them to avoid getting a traffic ticket. So when states raise the top speed to 70, they actually increase the speeds people travel to 75 or 80 mph, he said.

"And the fact is you can't have police officers everywhere at all times," Rader said.

The Ohio bill would allow the state Transportation Department to determine which roads would make the jump to 70 mph, although the intent is to raise speed limits mostly in rural areas where traffic isn't as heavy, said state Rep. Timothy DeGeeter, a Parma Democrat who is the bill's other main sponsor.

DeGeeter said he doesn't believe a 70 mph speed limit would pose a significant safety risk because cars are safer and other states have made the increase, Landers reported.

"It's just five miles per hour," DeGeeter said. "Most people travel 65 to 70 mph for the most part, so it's not that big of a difference."

10TV News learned that DeGeeter has been stopped three times, including once for driving 77 mph in a 60 mph zone in 2007 and once in Cleveland in 2005 for traveling 78 mph in a 60 mph zone.

"People will say, 'Here's a guy who likes to speed and wants to raise the speed limit," Landers said.

"No, I've paid that ticket," DeGeeters said. "I was caught, and deserved the ticket."

Beginning July 1, the speed limit for trucks in Ohio will be raised from 55 mph to 65 mph.

Of states that surround Ohio, only Pennsylvania has kept its speed limit at 65. Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, and West Virginia all raised their limits to 70 on certain roads.

Stay with 10TV News and 10TV.com for more information.

Of course the new cars you'll be forced to buy won't go 70... but congratulations anyway.

lol...maybe that's why they are finally doing it!

Yay! I'll be able to go 80!!

Wait, it isn't 70 already?

I'm not slowing down to 80 for anybody

Id be curious to see the numbers of other states with similar topography, climate, traffic and overall condition of the road (smooth/bumpy/potholes) as Ohio's ,with a 70mph + speed limits, and compare highway mortality rates.

Florida interstate speed limit is 90, well it's posted 70, but only the tourists from Ohio and Michigan actually follow that suggestion.

WOOHOO the gray hairs may speed up to 40 on the highway

Down here in TN the speed is 70 and noticed not much of an increase of gas usage. In Ohio people are already going way over 70 anyways.

I-75 is 70 MPH when you cross over from Toledo into Michigan. I believe 23 is, too.

fuel efficiency at speed is just how much horsepower it takes to move you and how much fuel the injectors pump while your doing it.

My Saab is most fuel efficient doing about 55mph but most speed limits around in Texas are 60-75mph. The GTO is actually most fuel efficient I've found around 70mph because its only spinning like 1700rpm in 6th gear and can maintain it easily.

Quote:

---

Of course the new cars you'll be forced to buy won't go 70... but congratulations anyway.

---

20 years ago, it was unthinkable that you could get 700 HP out of a 6 Cylinder built for the road, yet a guy in my car club has one that has more HP than that.. (at the crank of course)

So to automatically assume that a new, stronger, improved engine can't be designed, built and tested in the next several years is probably folly. In fact, I'd bet they have already been working on it for years...

It's probably not altogether good thinking to assume we can't find lighter weight and stronger materials to use to build cars (as we've and the other car makers have done over the last 20 or so years already).

It's simple to say,, Holy smokes,, if the adminstration gets it's way, we'll not have powerful cars,,, but it's not accurate..

My car has 288 HP after it was jazzed up a bit,, really fast little car man.. but I still get 27 miles per gallon... it's doable.. and with out sacrifice...

I do hope the state maintains the gap between cars and trucks.

I think all states should adopt a policy of setting truck speeds 10 MPH below cars on freeways.

I wish Tennessee and Georgia would. I don't think a truck should ever be legally allowed to pass a car unless the car is driving 10 mph under the speed limit.

I disagree here as a truck driver. One of the most dangerous things is the 10 mph difference between trucks and cars. All it does is ... people off in cars so they decide to ride your behind and other ecrazy antics like passing when no one in there right mind would think of.

Thank you for the information in response to my joke.

I think that they should raise the speed limit as such, while also making it illegal to ticket drivers whose speed is within 10mph of the posted speed limit. They should also repeal the law that gives people fines for not wearing a seat belt.

If you don't want to wear a seatbelt, you should not have to. Seat belt laws are stupid. I understand what seatbelts are for, but it should be up to me if I want to wear them or not----similarly to helmets for motorcycle riders.

Quote:

---

I think that they should raise the speed limit as such, while also making it illegal to ticket drivers whose speed is within 10mph of the posted speed limit

---

Then why bother setting a speed limit at all?

Most cops will give you a break if you're just a few MPH over the limit. they won't even bother with that, the vast majority of the time.
as for seat belts, I agree... except parents should make their kids buckle up and if not, they should get fined.

B/c you set the speed limit, then you ticket people who are legitimately bucking the law--not folks who just happen to have gone up past the speed limit by 5 or ten mph.

I very recently had to pay 160 bucks for going 7 over. That is ridiculous--and it really goes against the spirit of the law. Its just some idiot that wants to make some more money for the state.

I have no problem with ticketing someone going 15, 20, 30 mph over the posted limit. But harassing someone that had just happened to creep above the limit by 5 or so mph is ridiculous. That person is acknowledging the limit and staying within a reasonable proximity of the safe speed for the road. You can't stay exactly at 45, and the difference between 45 and 52 isn't a life or death infraction.

Quote:

---

Thank you for the information in response to my joke.

---

Hell man,, you are welcome.. Always glad to help

I understand where your coming from as I used to be the same way until I started driving truck. Its just a bad situation when you have people on the road that are so impatient they do crazy things to get around a truck whether its 2 lane 4 lane 6 lane etc.

I understand, but from my perspective, I like keeping you 10 MPH below my legal speed.

I rarely see trucks doing 55 around here...more like 65. Regardless, can you tell me why truckers hog the left lane when there's plenty of room for them to get over to the right? Are they really just being asses?

Most prob being asses lol or they know of something that might be coming up a couple miles down the road and decide to get over for it early whether its an exit or car on the side of the road etc. or even getting ready to go around another truck. I never realized how much people will ignore a trucks turn signal and not tlet them out because they dont want top get stuck behind a truck. So its easier if there is an opening to just get over when you can if you know you are gonna have to get over soon

I try to be courteous of trucks and for the most part I find they are courteous to me.. my only complaint is them passing each other when there are only 2 lanes, especially in more mountainous areas.. where one is going 58 and the other is passing him going 58 and a half... technically he's passing him but in reality, he should have just stayed behind him because it's going to take him 10 freakin' minutes to pass him.

and when that happens, don't you get the feeling the guy driving the passing truck is just manically laughing his rear off while he's doing 58.5!

You know I really don't. I get the feeling that he has his arm on the window, a smoke in his mouth, a cup of coffee in the cup holder, some tunes on the radio... and he could care less that there is a line of 10 cars behind him going 58.5 that are all itching to accelerate to 65 or 70 to pass them both....

I swear sometimes the truck driver in the left lane is watching a movie on the truck driver on the rights entertainment system.

I am one of those who likes getting behind a truck on a highway and staying put.
Feels safe there.

Quote:

---

I am one of those who likes getting behind a truck on a highway and staying put.
Feels safe there.

---

In racing lingo, isn't that called Drafting?

hahaha beats me, daman.

I only do that when it's not a divided highway. If some guy coming at me is trying to light a smoke and fiddle with the radio & loses control, I have a better chance of him plowing into the semi than hitting me, if I'm stuck behind the big rigs (and please no one make a joke about "big rigs"...

haha i know what you guys mean about that passing situation but a lot of that passing situation isnt always the drivers fault a lot of the trucks are governed anymore to save fuel so you might only be 2 or 3 mile per hous faster that the next truck which doesnt seem like much but if your driving your 11 hour day and you get paid by the mile thats adds up lol

Or the guy reading the paper.

You still got hair