Raise the speed limit a little more, and maybe we can travel back in time… [source: SDHP trooper Jerry Skubic, Sisseton, circa 1984]The number of speeding tickets issued by state troopers has risen sharply since the new speed limit went into effect. In the nearly two years before the speed limit increase, troopers wrote 12,585 speeding tickets on interstates and state highways. In the same period following the April 1, 2015 increase, they wrote 18,227 citations, according to an… analysis [by that Sioux Falls paper] of speeding data….
Nationally, highway traffic deaths were up in 2016 for the second year in a row, according to the National Safety Council. But South Dakota has gone the other direction, even with the increase to 80 mph on much of the state’s interstate system. Fatalities last year were down to 115, the lowest since 2011 and the second lowest since 1960. As recently as 2003, there were more than 200 reported fatalities in the state [Jonathan Ellis, “Speeding Tickets Surge After Change to 80 MPH Limit,” that Sioux Falls paper, 2017.03.24].
So maybe 80 is o.k…. or maybe I’ve just adopted Brian Gosch’s own bias as I enjoy the three-hour run from Aberdeen to Sioux Falls. But keep your eyes on the road, if not for me, then for Smokey and his itchy ticket finger!
An extra 5 mph is less relevant to the number of traffic fatalities than poor decision making. You are more likely to survive regardless of speed if you choose to wear a seatbelt and don’t get thrown from the vehicle in a crash.
Before the speed limit change I set the cruise at 79 and hoped not to get pulled over. Every now and then I would get pulled over for 79. Now I set the cruise at 80 and don’t worry about getting a ticket. Win-win.
Michael Hanson
I would be interested to see a data correlation between the number of traffic deaths related to texting vs. speed. My guess is that there is a direct link to distracted driving & fatalities due to the fact that people who are distracted have a slower reaction time to an issue, thus causing higher speeds at impact. I doubt that the extra 5mph is causing the increased fatalities. Finally, on a personal note, I’m happy to see smokey out there pulling folks over (so long as it isn’t me hahaha).
Chip
I wonder if there has been any economic benefit to our gas stations in helping drivers empty their tanks a bit quicker as they drive down our interstates?
Darin Larson
I was not a fan of the way Mr. Gosch went about obtaining his 80 mph speed limit, but it has turned out ok. I was initially worried that the 80 mph speed limit would result in too many people going 85 mph, as everyone drove 5 over the speed limit when it was 75. I am happy with the way it has been more strictly enforced by law enforcement.
The speed difference between a vehicle going the minimum and another vehicle going the maximum has been exacerbated and probably contributes to a few more accidents. Anecdotally, it seems that there are less and less vehicles going 40-60 mph, so the number of accidents caused by speed differential is shrinking overall. Also, public campaigns against drinking and driving continue to pay dividends.
As far as the crash data goes, we are continuing to make cars safer and safer, so the natural progression of the data is going to be less deaths if all other things remain constant. Not all things are constant, obviously, as the amount of highway miles driven could vary from year to year.
The laws of physics tell us that the speed of a vehicle that gets into an accident will have an effect on the severity of the crash. However, it is interesting to me that a 5 mph increase from 55 to 60 is going to cause more of an increase in crashes than an increase from 75 to 80. So a small increase from a slower speed has more of an effect than a small increase from a faster speed.
Darin, thank you for that explanation of alternative factors!
Chip, you pose an interesting question, to which the Energy Information Agency may offer an answer. Gasoline rack sales volume (can anyone tell me what part of the market “rack” is>) by refiners peaked in 2000 and 2001 at 1.1 million gallons per day. There are gaps in the data during the Bush 2 Administration, but each year since 2007, that volume has held within 45K gallons of 1,000,000 gallons per day. In 2014, refiners sold 1,004,400 gallons per day. In 2015, which gave use nine months of 80 MPH, they sold 1,017,400 gallons, a 1.3% increase… but a difference that might be explained entirely by really low gas sales in summer 2014 and higher sales in summer 2015 (better Sturgis rally?). 2016 sales increased only 0.06% over 2015.
John
5 miles per hour yet to go. The interstate highways, even those ‘curves and hills’ are designed for sustained speeds of 85 miles per hour for passenger vehicles. Trucks should be governed at 65 miles per hour. Of course, speeds on any roads are subject to road, driver, and vehicle condition. That is why may agencies electronically post speed limits they adjust to the road conditions.
Adam
Speed limits are set with the least competent amongst us in mind. Not everyone can handle learning high performance driving techniques and many people barely pass the test at the DMV to get their drivers license renewed.
Bottom line, when you see a speed limit sign that says 55mph, it means that any half witted, lame brained, slow thinking, dull reactioned person can do it safely at that speed. Some people should be allowed (or certified) to drive faster than others.
Wayne, according to Ellis, “While the vast majority of tickets were written to motorists on Interstates 90 and 29, the number of tickets written on back roads and state highways more than doubled since the speed limit increased to 80 mph.”
Jana
If I remember correctly the SDHP lobbied against raising the speed limit.
Wayne B.
Thanks Cory,
So are our law enforcement officers just being more strict everywhere, or are we getting lead feet because of the 5 mph speed increase?
I think a lot of people have a hard time with county highways being 55mph. I use a couple daily for my commute; set the cruise to 55 and get passed like I’m standing still.
Adam
I really believe that if a guy can pass a professional driving course, he should be allowed to go 20 mph faster than most handicapped people, elderly and teenagers.
Some people better drivers than others and one speed limit for all doesn’t reflect that.
Speed limits are just revenue generators for law enforcement (kind of like weed being illegal) as we can’t be raising taxes every time law enforcement needs more money.
Get the Highway Patrol on this guy’s tail. He looks pretty suspicious to me. Make sure to get tape on him. Gorilla tape for his mouth is a must.
Adam
Speed limits are tools to let law enforcement compensate for temporary budget shortfalls – allowing them the opportunity to pit the letter of the law against the spirit of the law – when they really need the money.
It’s just about money, not morality.
Be sure to FULLY STOP at every empty intersection, because if a cop witnesses a “California Stop” (as they call the ‘rolling stop’ out here) from any distance, your ticket/fine just helped pay his salary. Enjoy giving your money away for nothing – because if cops don’t abuse the letter of the law, someone else will – and if have to have armed authoritarians amongst us, then let them be law enforcement and not Wild West rancher farmer cowboys.
![Raise the speed limit a little more, and maybe we can travel back in time... [source: SDHP trooper Jerry Skubic, Sisseton, circa 1984]](https://dakotafreepress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/Skubic-SDHP-300x214.jpg)
An extra 5 mph is less relevant to the number of traffic fatalities than poor decision making. You are more likely to survive regardless of speed if you choose to wear a seatbelt and don’t get thrown from the vehicle in a crash.
http://www.ksfy.com/content/news/Wagner-man-identified-in-fatal-Charles-Mix-County-crash-417124433.html
Before the speed limit change I set the cruise at 79 and hoped not to get pulled over. Every now and then I would get pulled over for 79. Now I set the cruise at 80 and don’t worry about getting a ticket. Win-win.
I would be interested to see a data correlation between the number of traffic deaths related to texting vs. speed. My guess is that there is a direct link to distracted driving & fatalities due to the fact that people who are distracted have a slower reaction time to an issue, thus causing higher speeds at impact. I doubt that the extra 5mph is causing the increased fatalities. Finally, on a personal note, I’m happy to see smokey out there pulling folks over (so long as it isn’t me hahaha).
I wonder if there has been any economic benefit to our gas stations in helping drivers empty their tanks a bit quicker as they drive down our interstates?
I was not a fan of the way Mr. Gosch went about obtaining his 80 mph speed limit, but it has turned out ok. I was initially worried that the 80 mph speed limit would result in too many people going 85 mph, as everyone drove 5 over the speed limit when it was 75. I am happy with the way it has been more strictly enforced by law enforcement.
The speed difference between a vehicle going the minimum and another vehicle going the maximum has been exacerbated and probably contributes to a few more accidents. Anecdotally, it seems that there are less and less vehicles going 40-60 mph, so the number of accidents caused by speed differential is shrinking overall. Also, public campaigns against drinking and driving continue to pay dividends.
As far as the crash data goes, we are continuing to make cars safer and safer, so the natural progression of the data is going to be less deaths if all other things remain constant. Not all things are constant, obviously, as the amount of highway miles driven could vary from year to year.
The laws of physics tell us that the speed of a vehicle that gets into an accident will have an effect on the severity of the crash. However, it is interesting to me that a 5 mph increase from 55 to 60 is going to cause more of an increase in crashes than an increase from 75 to 80. So a small increase from a slower speed has more of an effect than a small increase from a faster speed.
See http://www.20splentyforus.org.uk/UsefulReports/SWOVReports/FS_Speed.pdf
Darin, thank you for that explanation of alternative factors!
Chip, you pose an interesting question, to which the Energy Information Agency may offer an answer. Gasoline rack sales volume (can anyone tell me what part of the market “rack” is>) by refiners peaked in 2000 and 2001 at 1.1 million gallons per day. There are gaps in the data during the Bush 2 Administration, but each year since 2007, that volume has held within 45K gallons of 1,000,000 gallons per day. In 2014, refiners sold 1,004,400 gallons per day. In 2015, which gave use nine months of 80 MPH, they sold 1,017,400 gallons, a 1.3% increase… but a difference that might be explained entirely by really low gas sales in summer 2014 and higher sales in summer 2015 (better Sturgis rally?). 2016 sales increased only 0.06% over 2015.
5 miles per hour yet to go. The interstate highways, even those ‘curves and hills’ are designed for sustained speeds of 85 miles per hour for passenger vehicles. Trucks should be governed at 65 miles per hour. Of course, speeds on any roads are subject to road, driver, and vehicle condition. That is why may agencies electronically post speed limits they adjust to the road conditions.
Speed limits are set with the least competent amongst us in mind. Not everyone can handle learning high performance driving techniques and many people barely pass the test at the DMV to get their drivers license renewed.
Bottom line, when you see a speed limit sign that says 55mph, it means that any half witted, lame brained, slow thinking, dull reactioned person can do it safely at that speed. Some people should be allowed (or certified) to drive faster than others.
Actually, engineer Morgan Abbott says speed limits are set to reflect prevailing speed, the speed traveled by 85% of drivers.
Not that Brian Gosch sat down with any engineers to set our Interstate limit at 80.
The upper limit doesn’t help much when you’re limited to 65mph – the speed limit of the tires on your trailer. :-)
I do worry someone’s not going to be paying attention & rear end us, though.
I’m curious, are those 5,500 extra tickets purely written on our interstate highways? I doubt it.
I’d like to see a breakdown of just interstate citations pre/post 80mph change.
Wayne, according to Ellis, “While the vast majority of tickets were written to motorists on Interstates 90 and 29, the number of tickets written on back roads and state highways more than doubled since the speed limit increased to 80 mph.”
If I remember correctly the SDHP lobbied against raising the speed limit.
Thanks Cory,
So are our law enforcement officers just being more strict everywhere, or are we getting lead feet because of the 5 mph speed increase?
I think a lot of people have a hard time with county highways being 55mph. I use a couple daily for my commute; set the cruise to 55 and get passed like I’m standing still.
I really believe that if a guy can pass a professional driving course, he should be allowed to go 20 mph faster than most handicapped people, elderly and teenagers.
Some people better drivers than others and one speed limit for all doesn’t reflect that.
Speed limits are just revenue generators for law enforcement (kind of like weed being illegal) as we can’t be raising taxes every time law enforcement needs more money.
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/C7yh5-2UwAAykzc.jpg
Get the Highway Patrol on this guy’s tail. He looks pretty suspicious to me. Make sure to get tape on him. Gorilla tape for his mouth is a must.
Speed limits are tools to let law enforcement compensate for temporary budget shortfalls – allowing them the opportunity to pit the letter of the law against the spirit of the law – when they really need the money.
It’s just about money, not morality.
Be sure to FULLY STOP at every empty intersection, because if a cop witnesses a “California Stop” (as they call the ‘rolling stop’ out here) from any distance, your ticket/fine just helped pay his salary. Enjoy giving your money away for nothing – because if cops don’t abuse the letter of the law, someone else will – and if have to have armed authoritarians amongst us, then let them be law enforcement and not Wild West rancher farmer cowboys.