Should the ATL lower speed limits? (floor, safer, rail)

[samiwas1]

Originally Posted by cqholt

I am shocked that with the rising death toll of road deaths and distracted driving, that people are advocating for higher speed limits... Oh wait, autonomous vehicles will fix everything in 5 years.

Motor vehicle deaths are down around 10,000 in just the last ten years, and more than 20,000 in the last 40 years. That's with the same amount of miles driven as ten years ago, and more than twice as many as 40 years ago. Where are you getting "rising death toll"?

Originally Posted by magusat999

Oh God I pray the ATL slows speeds - by HALF. I mean not just the streets but on the highways too. Maximum speed limit on thoroughfares like 75. 20, 285 should be 50mph - I'd actually want 40mph but that won't happen... well neither would 50 but whatever...

40 MPH on interstates? Are you high!?

Originally Posted by cqholt

Which is exactly why I asked if surface streets or freeways. Freeways should stay 55 mph and above, the dynamic speed limits appear to not work and yet again another waste of money by GDOT. Which if MARTA would have done a wasteful project like this, the local news and conservative leaders would be having a witch hunt.
Surface streets in denser parts of the metro would benefit from lower speeds. A road like Peachtree should not be above 35mph.

Peachtree being 35 seems reasonable. I think a 40MPH speed limit on larger separated roads (center lane or median) is reasonable. And 25 would be only on tiny residential roads. Every time I drive down Peachtree Battle, which is a heavily-used road, I want to rip my steering wheel out of the column when someone is obeying the 25 MPH speed limit.

But what drove me craziest was in Cleveland, OH. A road called Chester Ave. is a six-lane, median divided road with wide lanes, and buildings set far away from the road (or just empty fields), and the speed limit is 35 MPH. And everyone obeys it, because they have speed cameras all along it. Ask me how I know. 35 MPH for a six-lane, median-divided road is extremely unnatural.

I don't think speed limits are too high. Quite the contrary, actually. I think we just have really bad drivers who need education.

[mattee01]

We dont have a speed problem, we have an idiot drivers/pedestrians problem.

Drive with traffic, nobody likes Mrs. Daisy/grandma and its YOUR responsibility to look both ways before crossing.

[Pemgin]

Originally Posted by mattee01

We dont have a speed problem, we have an idiot drivers/pedestrians problem.

Drive with traffic, nobody likes Mrs. Daisy/grandma and its YOUR responsibility to look both ways before crossing.

So, drive fast like everyone else and yield to cars if walking?

[arjay57]

I am in favor of anything that will slow people down.

[roadtrip75]

Originally Posted by samiwas1

I don't think speed limits are too high. Quite the contrary, actually. I think we just have really bad drivers who need education.

We need better pedestrians and bikers. Those people are insanely casual with their own lives. It's very common to see people jogging on a street rather than the sidewalk. People walking or biking on the road or walking their dogs after dark without lights or reflectors. Jaywalking at night while wearing dark clothes.

Given the safety of today's cars, speed limits are actually way too low on surface streets.

The people pushing these plans just don't have common sense. They don't understand the stress imposed on drivers by the "traffic calming measures". Or perhaps they do understand, feature not a bug . . .

[toll_booth]

Originally Posted by cqholt

The wouldn't the drivers who are driving aggressive be the ones creating a dangerous situation?

Yes, and this doesn't get talked about enough. Aggressive driving does not just mean driving at a higher speed, but also tailgating and weaving between lanes. In fact, weaving between lanes is a risk factor for causing a wreck.

[roadtrip75]

Originally Posted by jsvh

Problem is road design, not speed limits.

We should be focusing more on decreasing the design speed such as reducing width and number of lanes to naturally slow cars down & make drivers more aware.

Why 12-Foot Traffic Lanes Are Disastrous for Safety and Must Be Replaced Now

http://nacto.org/docs/usdg/lane_widt..._petritsch.pdf

^^^ this is a really good look into the mindset of a social engineer

Let's make the roads more dangerous so that we can scare drivers into driving more safely!!!! This is America of the last 50 years in a nutshell.

[atltechdude]

Absolutely not. Life is too short to drive in the slow lane.

[toll_booth]

Originally Posted by roadtrip75

^^^ this is a really good look into the mindset of a social engineer

Let's make the roads more dangerous so that we can scare drivers into driving more safely!!!! This is America of the last 50 years in a nutshell.

By all means, don't let road safety get in the way of your constitutional right to drive as fast as you want.

[Pemgin]

Originally Posted by roadtrip75

We need better pedestrians and bikers. Those people are insanely casual with their own lives. It's very common to see people jogging on a street rather than the sidewalk. People walking or biking on the road or walking their dogs after dark without lights or reflectors. Jaywalking at night while wearing dark clothes.

Given the safety of today's cars, speed limits are actually way too low on surface streets.

The people pushing these plans just don't have common sense. They don't understand the stress imposed on drivers by the "traffic calming measures". Or perhaps they do understand, feature not a bug . . .

Will someone please think of the drivers?!

The safety of today's cars? Physics doesn't change when the new models arrive on the showroom floor. People still die in automobiles. Automobiles still cause a lot of death and injury and property damage. The greater the speed, the greater the amount. Why would we want to greatly increase the speed limit on surface streets?