I-71/75 get 70-mph speed limit
Years after other states have done this, Kentucky is increasing the speed limit on parts of its interstates:
I-71/75 get 70-mph speed limit
The faster speed limit will begin just south of the U.S. 42 exit on I-71/75 in Florence. Drivers will be able to go 70 mph on I-75 for 60 miles until the Ironworks Pike exit in Fayette County.
On I-71 drivers will be able to go 70 mph all the way from Florence to the I-265 Gene Snyder Freeway in Louisville.
In addition to I-75 and I-71, portions of other interstates including I-24, I-64 and I-65 will also have a 70-mph speed limit. The speed increases will make Kentucky one of about 30 states that allow drivers to go 70 mph.
This won’t affect my driving habits, and I wonder how much it will affect the habits of others. Apparently there hasn’t been an increase in accidents in the other states that have raised their limits, or if there has been an increase, it doesn’t outweigh the benefits of increasing the limit. Where will the increase stop, though? I remember when it was 55. It can’t increase forever…
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Jul 9th, 2007 at 10:16:19
Just curious, but what are the benefits of going 5 mph faster? Traffic is still going to bog down during rush hour, that won’t change. Also, you said there isn’t an increase in accident rates. I won’t dispute that (if you can show me the numbers), but was there a study done on the severity of the accidents before and after speed increases? The article also stated that police won’t increase the speed at which they give tickets just because the speed limit increases because they will give tickets at speeds they feel is unsafe. So now people will be getting tickets only going 4 mph over the speed limit, and they are just gonna gripe about cops even more even though they are the ones breaking the law…and all they are doing is trying to save lives. Of course, everyone knows where I stand on the speed issue anyway
Jul 9th, 2007 at 10:53:58
I don’t have any numbers about the accident rate - I said “apparently” there hasn’t been an increase in accidents, thinking that states wouldn’t be adopting a higher limit if the number of accidents increased greatly. But yeah, what’s the benefit of increasing it by 5mph? I’m sure someone in the state government has done studies on this…
Jul 10th, 2007 at 08:22:53
if it was a 10 mph increase, then i’d be impressed. 5 is nothing… and cops will do what they want to do. some give tickets for going over by 5 mph and some let you go when you are going 15 over. it’s totally subjective.
Jul 10th, 2007 at 09:31:44
You can get 5mph over tickets thrown out pretty easily if you go to court over them.
That way, those of us who do like to travel in the left most lanes won’t have to worry about slower drivers (therefore reducing road rage) and it forces passing on the left instead of the right.
I’m all for the speed increase, although I think speed limits should be handled differently, on a lane by lane basis. 65 or 55mph in the right lane due to merging and exiting traffic and thats where new drivers should go.
then bump up each lane to the leeft by 5 or 10mph
I also like how some other states have faster limits during the day and slower limits at night or in bad weather.