4 ms·

> I wonder if we'd see speed limits increase if everyone followed them as-posted? Yeah, "speed limits" are primarily a political game, not anything based in re

> I wonder if we'd see speed limits increase if everyone followed them as-posted? Yeah, "speed limits" are primarily a political game, not anything based in reality. Roads designed for 55 get labeled 45 (in 1990) then 40 (2000) then 35 (2010) and then "road dieted" to 25 (2020). Everyone's "speeding" on paper, but not in reality -- they're going the speed they're were always supposed to go. But politically, people just decided slower=nicer for their particular stretch of street (they already live there, so 'walkability' is just fine for them, strip out all the lanes, throw garbage into the street, whatever) without really caring about how badly it would impact public transportation for everyone in general. It's a textbook "tragedy of the commons" problem. If you enforce this by vehicle, everyone's going to flip out (because the fake-posted-speed-limit is way below what any sensible person is actually safely driving) and you'll see a significant number of people instantly jailbreak their cars to fix it.

piva00 4y ago
> Yeah, "speed limits" are primarily a political game, not anything based in reality. This is utter absurd, it's definitely based in the reality of 1/2 m*v^2. Decreasing the speed decreases the kinetic energy of impacts, decreasing injuries and deaths. That's the reality. The fact that American roads were designed as the beastly stroads and 6-lanes inner city avenues that are present all around doesn't mean their speed limits should follow that design, the speed limit should follow what utilisation occurs around the road. You might be right that in some places speed limits can be a political stunt of sorts. Basic physics and the examples of multiple Western countries which achieved a less deadly traffic by implementing stricter speed limits (among other measures) should show you part of the reality you feel is lacking. Look at Norway, Sweden, the Netherlands and so on. USA's road fatalities per billion km-vehicle are on average double, you can do better and kill less people, in total amount of road fatalities the USA is only behind Brazil. No road in a city centre should allow for faster than 40 km/h traffic around people. A road (non-motorway) with major separation between automobiles and people in a city shouldn't exceed 60 km/h. Traffic even flows better with larger windows for smart traffic control, lower the speed, lower the average travel time.
- landemva 4y ago
  I lived and drove up and down Europe, though not Norway. Roads there are designed to be less injurious, and speeding fines can be very high. There is also little tolerance for any drinking and driving. USA infatuation with left turns across roads posted at 45 mph or higher lead to deadly T-bone collisions. European roads often have roundabouts which naturally slow traffic and a collision would be a glancing side kiss. USA foot gun left turns kill people by design.
  - dieselgate 4y ago
    Agree with this and the left turn dangers. I’ve heard EU countries among others are also much more strict than the US in terms of DUI punishments - license revoked for life.
leetcrew 4y ago
yes and no. I do suspect that limits are often adjusted for reasons that have more to do with revenue than safety. but at the same time, the designed speed of a road isn't always appropriate for the surroundings. 55 could be an reasonable limit for a country road at the time of construction, but way too high when a bunch of shops and homes are built around it later on. ideally the road itself would be modified to reflect that, but there isn't always money for these types of projects.
- MandieD 4y ago
  There are a lot of roads around Austin that are FM (some number). The “FM” means Farm-to-Market, and they literally were built from little farming towns through miles of fields into larger towns. Some of those little farming towns are now rapidly frowning suburbs, teeming with housing tracts, and those fields are now shopping center upon shopping center.
- deleted 4y ago
  [deleted]

piva00 4y ago

> Yeah, "speed limits" are primarily a political game, not anything based in reality. This is utter absurd, it's definitely based in the reality of 1/2 m*v^2. Decreasing the speed decreases the kinetic energy of impacts, decreasing injuries and deaths. That's the reality. The fact that American roads were designed as the beastly stroads and 6-lanes inner city avenues that are present all around doesn't mean their speed limits should follow that design, the speed limit should follow what utilisation occurs around the road. You might be right that in some places speed limits can be a political stunt of sorts. Basic physics and the examples of multiple Western countries which achieved a less deadly traffic by implementing stricter speed limits (among other measures) should show you part of the reality you feel is lacking. Look at Norway, Sweden, the Netherlands and so on. USA's road fatalities per billion km-vehicle are on average double, you can do better and kill less people, in total amount of road fatalities the USA is only behind Brazil. No road in a city centre should allow for faster than 40 km/h traffic around people. A road (non-motorway) with major separation between automobiles and people in a city shouldn't exceed 60 km/h. Traffic even flows better with larger windows for smart traffic control, lower the speed, lower the average travel time.

landemva 4y ago
I lived and drove up and down Europe, though not Norway. Roads there are designed to be less injurious, and speeding fines can be very high. There is also little tolerance for any drinking and driving. USA infatuation with left turns across roads posted at 45 mph or higher lead to deadly T-bone collisions. European roads often have roundabouts which naturally slow traffic and a collision would be a glancing side kiss. USA foot gun left turns kill people by design.
- dieselgate 4y ago
  Agree with this and the left turn dangers. I’ve heard EU countries among others are also much more strict than the US in terms of DUI punishments - license revoked for life.

leetcrew 4y ago

yes and no. I do suspect that limits are often adjusted for reasons that have more to do with revenue than safety. but at the same time, the designed speed of a road isn't always appropriate for the surroundings. 55 could be an reasonable limit for a country road at the time of construction, but way too high when a bunch of shops and homes are built around it later on. ideally the road itself would be modified to reflect that, but there isn't always money for these types of projects.

MandieD 4y ago
There are a lot of roads around Austin that are FM (some number). The “FM” means Farm-to-Market, and they literally were built from little farming towns through miles of fields into larger towns. Some of those little farming towns are now rapidly frowning suburbs, teeming with housing tracts, and those fields are now shopping center upon shopping center.
deleted 4y ago
[deleted]