You know that when its rainy, snowy, or icy, you should drive more slowly. But for the knuckleheads who can’t figure that out, the Department of Transportation wants to offer some guidance and enforcement.
DOT has requested Senate Bill 21, which expands the state’s ability to declare temporary variable speed zones on I-29 and I-90.
Currently, the Secretary of Transportation can establish limited speed zones through work areas on the state trunk highway system. SB 21 would extend that slow-down authority to periods of bad road conditions on our Interstate highways, “based upon monitored traffic, weather, or road surface conditions.”
SB 21 would allow the Secretary of Transportation to set lower speed limits for “different times of day, different types of vehicles, varying weather conditions, and any other factor that has a bearing on a safe speed.” SB 21 would require that any temporary reduced speed limits be “conspicuously posted on appropriate fixed or variable signs.”
Hmmm… might protestors driving out to stop Keystone XL find themselves Rosco P. Coltrane’d by some loyal Noemist HP punching the button on those SB 21 variable signs?
Is this really necessary? What is reckless or careless driving for? Isn’t there one something like “overdriving road conditions?”
Personally I think they should take another look at the 80 MPH limit regardless of the weather. No one needs to drive that fast even if we don’t have a lot of traffic and the roads are clear.
Debbo is right, people should know enough to slow down if it is icy etc. Also, as rapidly as conditions can change in SD, who will have time to be out changing speed limit signs anyway??!!
Doesn’t the interstate system have a 45 mph as the minimum speed regardless? No matter the posted limits, even in bad weather, you have an accident you will get ticketed for some damn thing or another.
IMHO, We need to reduce and enforce the speed limit for the 18 wheelers. As they cause way more road damage than 4 wheelers.
My 2 Cents
Sounds like a significant revenue opportunity for Daktronics.
Are the regulators going to have meetings every 20 minutes to figure out what the speed limit needs to be for the next 3 hours?
After last weekend, I think it’s a fabulous idea due to this
https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=2455107554804079&id=1508693082778869
and all the accidents by the Flandreau exit including one that resulted in a death. Not everyone on the interstate understands winter driving.
I see how it could be abused, but I’m sure a lot of these wouldn’t have happened had (people stayed home) the speed limit been lowered.
Also, too many people aren’t slowing down enough near accidents regardless of weather or road conditions.
Variable speed limits have been in effect in the Rockies for decades, especially during snow events. It’s determined by computer algorithms now but before computers it was the Highway Department having meetings every 20 minutes to determine the speed limits for the next three hours, Mr. Klein. That’s their job, they do it well and they save lives when the weather gets nasty.
Or, we could have at least 1 mile of high speed rail. Gwaaaad we’re sad sacks. Trillions for failed war and natta to improve schools and the rest of our infrastructure.
“BEIJING – China plans to build 3,200 km of new high-speed railways in 2019, with the total length expected to exceed 30,000 km, the country’s top railway operator said Wednesday.
The 3,000-plus km of high-speed railways are part of the planned development of 6,800 km of new railways for the new year as the country will keep fixed-asset investment on railway on a large scale, Lu Dongfu, general manager of the China Railway (CR), told a work conference.”
Mike, the minimum speed on South Dakota Interstates is 40 mph, per SDCL 32-25-5.
Interesting suggestion that this problem regulates itself, in Darwinian fashion.
SDCL 32-25-3 says that, in addition to having to follow the posted speed limits, cops can ticket us for overdriving the conditions: “It is a Class 2 misdemeanor for any person to drive a motor vehicle on a highway located in this state at a speed greater than is reasonable and prudent under the conditions then existing….” I suppose one could argue that SB 21 removes the subjectivity of the overdriving statute—HP in Moody might think the conditions warrant busting drivers breaking 65, while HP in Brookings thinks the same conditions warrant keeping it under 55. But judgment of local conditions by local officers might be better than blanket judgment made by one bureaucrat in Pierre.
Hmm… since SB 21only applies to Interstate highways, might this bill just be a way to allow the DOT to use the electronic boards along I-29 and I-90 to announce the bad-weather speed limit reductions that officers would be enforcing anyway?
I think this is an unnecessary law. Corey is right that SDCL 32-25-3 covers the issue pretty well.
I was in fire and medical first response for over 40 years and have watched the following;
1. Ignore the move over law.
2. Speed through construction zones in areas where workers are present.
3. Drive the posted speed limit regardless of the road conditions.
4. I’ve got 4 wheel or all wheel drive so I can go anywhere. (Tow truck drivers love these drivers.
They get lots of business from them.)
5. Speed through accident sites despite emergency responders trying to slow traffic down.
I once witnessed a driver ignore traffic control at an accident scene and strike an HP Patrol
Car resulting in minor damage. The driver told the HP to get the patrol car out of the way
because they didn’t have time for his crap. They were still there an hour later waiting for the
accident investigators to complete their investigation.
I doubt another law will have much effect. I have seen many cases where the road conditions are bad in a limited area. It would make more sense to put up the portable message signs advising of things like “black ice next ten miles” or other conditions requiring reduced speed.
I think a better revenue stream would be to require everyone who hasn’t taken a driving test in 10 years to be re-certified. It would also be wise to raise the fee for speeding to $1000 vs. $100. For some people $100 is a drop in the bucket and so they never learn a lesson. Unfortunately this bill, while well intended, still won’t keep people from speeding and over driving conditions.
There’s little (if any) enforcement of our current “suggestions.”
Why bother ??
Save the state some money by greatly reducing the road salting so that road conditions are bad much more often. The idiots will learn to drive on poor roads and to be careful one way or another.
Maybe the savings could be applied to more DOT people stopping trucks and checking for overload. That would do the state highway system the most good. Ditto on the lowering of the I state speed limit as well. The idiots seem to think that 90 is OK on the I state and slowing to 80 is OK once you get on the two lanes.
This is what even the poorest English speaking rural white folk call, “a duplication in government” (where a newly proposed law duplicates the same function as a currently existing law).
You ALREADY can’t over-drive road or traffic conditions without punishment of law.
This new variable speed limit proposal is stupid. Country folk love to entertain ridiculous ideas to distract from any sort of prudence – like rotten teenagers reaching for excuses to procrastinate growing up.
Country folk hate duplication in government, right up until one proposal to do it takes everyone’s attention off the lush fields of feral welfare queens America now cultivates throughout most-all of its rural soil.
So, let’s talk about the increased revenue that variable speed limits could generate! Maybe it could help fend off the inevitable income tax Democrats are continually trying to force through the South Dakota state legislature! Yeah, maybe that makes perfect sense!
Would any new speed limits apply to Kristi Noem? The old ones certainly didn’t!