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No, a lot will happen. Excessive speeding will become the norm and accident rates will stay high. People will continue to have the attitude, "It will not happen to me", until it inevitably does. You're absolutely crazy to even ponder the reality of no speed limits ACROSS American interstates. First off, your idea does not take into account all of the vehicles that have to share the road and you assume driver skill will just magically increase. Plus, most roadways are not safe enough to have cars going 90 mph on them regularly.
You obviously didn't pay attention to when Montana removed daytime speed limits. The fatality rate on Montana highways in the final five months without a speed limit were lower than after speed limits were reinstated. Why? Some of that could be linked to drivers on roads with no speed limits pay greater attention to what's happening on the road and spend less time worrying about speed traps and staying within a certain speed limit. People tend to drive where they are comfortable at and on interstates that tends to be about 80-85 mh regardless. It's very similar on the autobahn, average speeds are not excessive.
And technically, if you removed speed limits, then there is no such thing as "speeding." Certainly no such thing as "exessive speeding" as both require limits to be in place to judge from.
Heck look what's happening on the interstes with speed limits that were raised to 80-85. There's very little "speeding" on them, as people in general are already going where they are comfortable. Traffic fatalities in the U.S. have been edging lower in recent years. According to preliminary data, an estimated 32,310 people died in vehicle accidents last year. That's the lowest level since 1949.
F*** no. They need that money though. I wonder what cities would do without the revenue. It's a brilliant idea and whoever thought of speed limits as a method of revenue generation was a clever boy. I'll still spit on their grave but they were clever.
It purely is revenue generation in some jurisdictions.
Take the example I posted earlier of St. Ann, Missouri...how is 61 mph significantly more dangerous than 60?
Also, why do they continuously need 4 or more patrol cars on a 2.5 mile stretch of I-70 at all times?
The $275.00 fine for just 1 over is also outrageous. In most places if you're even ticketed for < 5 to 7 over the fines rarely crack $100.
I have tried driving the speed limit. It's not safe for me so I do not bother. I will ignore it if avoid having vehicles lined up behind me and having others attempting to take out my front bumper to get in front of me.
Speed Limits do not guarantee my safety. They are not set by engineers but people who are not familiar with the road. I feel much safer driving at similar speed of most drivers than to be the only person following the speed limit like a drone.
Having done research for my boss when he was fighting a speeding ticket (I worked for an attorney at the time so the research was more extensive than it usually is), here, at least, the speed limits ARE set with the assistance of engineers and are based on a lot more than just "revenue generation" which is the cry of those who don't like the laws and thus get lots of tickets. His goal was to show, not that he wasn't speeding, but that engineers were not used for the particular stretch of road where the ticket in question was received, as is required; it turned out to be a goal that could not be attained because he was wrong. I developed a lot more respect for speed limits and how they are set after doing that research (which is not to say that I never speed, but I don't pretend it's somebody else's fault when I choose to do so).
-I drive the speed limit in city limits. Maybe 1 or 2 mph over at the most.
-I drive within 5 mph of highway speed limits
-I drive with the flow of traffic on freeways. If the average speed is 75, that's how fast I drive. I'm not the guy on the bumper of the car ahead of him in the left lane because 90 just isn't fast enough. I'm in the right lane keeping 15 cars of distance between my car and the one in front.
-Construction zones I drive exactly the speed limit.
Yes within 5 miles over. However they are now posting ones too high-so I go 10 under. Sorry but asking em to go 75 on a rural highway I have never been on is not a safe thing to me. Whoever made that decision to raise speed limits here should be fired.
On the highways I follow the "9 your fine, 10 your mine" as far as how far over the speed limit I go, most of the time. Sometimes I am just in the right lane at the limit doing my own thing. Thats why there are passing lanes for those who want to go faster. I do not clog up the "fast lane". In towns and slower areas (under 45 MPH) I am usually at the speed limit. Sometimes in towns themselves I am slightly below the speed limit. All this depends on driving conditions too. I try to be a safe driver.
I follow that rule too. I usually do 5 over just about every where except the freeway because in my drivers training course we had a cop come in to talk to us about different laws and stuff, and he said "You will never get pulled over for doing 5 over, and if you get a ticket for 5 over, you were doing more than 10 over."
I am all for pack driving. If I'm the fish that got caught though, then so be it. But if there's a huge pack of cars that are doing 15+ over, and I've got a decent drive ahead of me, I'll most definitely be right in there with them.
Some more food for thought to stir the pot. Let's look at life before the oil crisis of the early 70s.
On Dwight D. Eisenhower's National System of Interstate and Defense Highways (pre-oil crisis), speed limits averaged 75mph. Rural highways in some western and midwestern states enjoyed no speed restrictions. Very important that you keep in mind that this is the 50/60s. Why? Engineering. Roadways and cars 60 years ago were deemed safe to travel at 75mph.
Fast forward to the present. Cars, trucks, motorcycles, steering wheels, axles, tires, bicycles, helmets, skateboards, roller blades, air bags, roads, signs, etc. etc. are over-engineered for safety. Obviously engineering and design has advanced beyond our wildest dreams in the last 60 years. My vehicles will do 150mph, and comfortably. Roadways will permit that type of speed. They will permit that type of speed safely.
I will throw out a question and hypothetical situation. If America ended speed restrictions on it's interstates, what do you wager will happen?
I'd say not much. Crashes might increase for a period of time until driver training and skill increases. Travel times will drop. But, for the most part, things would probably go unchanged. Like stated all over the place, people travel at speeds they are comfortable with. Couple that with the fact that most urban traffic does not permit speeds much faster than 85-90mph anyway.
I can think of plenty of roads in the country that could probably safely lift their speed restrictions. i5 in California through the central valley for sure, definitely Highway 66 in Arizona too. I also fail to see why Texas placed a speed restriction on 130.
To say that speed restrictions don't exist for revenue is naive. Just like saying speeding is dangerous is also naive. It's just been pounded into our heads by politicians to justify speed traps and low speed restrictions. Most people haven't bothered to challenge it.
There was a study down that said something like 80% of the driving population wouldn't feel comfortable driving over 90mph. So if the speed limit was 90mph there would be almost no speeders.
I drive according to conditions, not so much according to the speed limit. If it's an active construction zone, I'll obey the limit. If the construction crews are off duty, I'll ignore the limit. If I'm on a side street with a 25 MPH limit, but there's cars parked densely on either side and houses everywhere, I may drive slower than the limit. If it's an interstate with little or no traffic, good weather and visibility, I may drive much faster than the limit. If it's a twisty, two road in a rural area with a 55 MPH limit, I may drive slower because I feel the twisty road warrants a slower speed. Acceptable speed, IMO, is all about the specific road and circumstances. As others have pointed out here, a large reason for the existence of speeding tickets is revenue generation, not safety. If the authorities were truly concerned with safety, speeding tickets wouldn't be their main focus. They would focus on enforcing lane discipline - keep right except to pass!, use of turn signals, texting and other things that cause accidents.
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