Setting proper speed limits
This is old news at this point but it's important enough that I want to post it anyway.
An article written by Brian Lee appeared in the T&G on January 30th 2007. The article addressed speed limits being updated on a section of Rt 20 in Charlton. My condensed version of what the article stated and why what MassHwy did was sooooo wrong follows.
The section of road in question has been reconstructed and it can now clearly handle higher speeds. At the urging of John F. Carr, a Massachusetts resident and member of the National Motorist Association a traffic study was performed. The resulting engineering study "recommended a speed limit of 60 mph or 65 mph on the divided stretch of road, and 55 mph on the undivided stretch in Charlton." However due to political pressure MassHwy rejected the engineering study and approved a increase from 50 MPH to 55 MPH over the entire stretch.
Where did the political pressure come from?
"Memos were received by the Board of Selectmen’s office and Charlton police in August, a town official said". Charlton Police Chief James A. Pervier was quoted saying, "the problem is that motorists tend to drive above posted limits, and since the safety improvement project was finished, there has been an increase in speeding motorists and red-light running."
Of course drivers are driving faster than the under posted speed limits and naturally the speeds increased because the road has been improved. The chiefs statements are misleading and as a public safety official he really should have a better understanding how roads and traffic work.
Accept please, the fact that motorists (at least the vast majority of us) aren't looking to get killed on the road. That's why we drive at speeds that are "reasonable and prudent". And that's why the accepted method of setting speed limits is to set them to the 85th percentile, the speed that 85% of drivers are at or below. The traffic study recommended that the limit to be set to either 60 or 65 MPH indicating that the 85 percentile is between those speeds, and that's what the limit should be set to.
Drivers aren't speeding because they're driving too fast. Rather, they've been turned into speeders because the limit posted is too low. More drivers are now speeding because the difference between the posted limit and what's reasonable and prudent is now even greater.
Oh, by the way, Federal Highway Administration studies show that when speed limits are increased by 15 MPH, (the speed recommended by the study) average speed increases by a modest 1 to 2 MPH. That increase is of course caused by the small percentage of motorists that drive at the speed limit rather than at the speed of traffic. The lame claim frequently cited that we can't post the correct limit because drivers will go that much faster is just so much bs.
What about the chiefs assertion regarding increased red light running?
Well that's a result of under posting limits. Engineers calculate the duration of the yellow light at traffic signals using formulas that include the posted limit. Calculating yellow duration on limits under posted by 10 MPH is a recipe for increased red light running.
MassHwy messed up big time by succumbing to political pressure on this one.
An article written by Brian Lee appeared in the T&G on January 30th 2007. The article addressed speed limits being updated on a section of Rt 20 in Charlton. My condensed version of what the article stated and why what MassHwy did was sooooo wrong follows.
The section of road in question has been reconstructed and it can now clearly handle higher speeds. At the urging of John F. Carr, a Massachusetts resident and member of the National Motorist Association a traffic study was performed. The resulting engineering study "recommended a speed limit of 60 mph or 65 mph on the divided stretch of road, and 55 mph on the undivided stretch in Charlton." However due to political pressure MassHwy rejected the engineering study and approved a increase from 50 MPH to 55 MPH over the entire stretch.
Where did the political pressure come from?
"Memos were received by the Board of Selectmen’s office and Charlton police in August, a town official said". Charlton Police Chief James A. Pervier was quoted saying, "the problem is that motorists tend to drive above posted limits, and since the safety improvement project was finished, there has been an increase in speeding motorists and red-light running."
Of course drivers are driving faster than the under posted speed limits and naturally the speeds increased because the road has been improved. The chiefs statements are misleading and as a public safety official he really should have a better understanding how roads and traffic work.
Accept please, the fact that motorists (at least the vast majority of us) aren't looking to get killed on the road. That's why we drive at speeds that are "reasonable and prudent". And that's why the accepted method of setting speed limits is to set them to the 85th percentile, the speed that 85% of drivers are at or below. The traffic study recommended that the limit to be set to either 60 or 65 MPH indicating that the 85 percentile is between those speeds, and that's what the limit should be set to.
Drivers aren't speeding because they're driving too fast. Rather, they've been turned into speeders because the limit posted is too low. More drivers are now speeding because the difference between the posted limit and what's reasonable and prudent is now even greater.
Oh, by the way, Federal Highway Administration studies show that when speed limits are increased by 15 MPH, (the speed recommended by the study) average speed increases by a modest 1 to 2 MPH. That increase is of course caused by the small percentage of motorists that drive at the speed limit rather than at the speed of traffic. The lame claim frequently cited that we can't post the correct limit because drivers will go that much faster is just so much bs.
What about the chiefs assertion regarding increased red light running?
Well that's a result of under posting limits. Engineers calculate the duration of the yellow light at traffic signals using formulas that include the posted limit. Calculating yellow duration on limits under posted by 10 MPH is a recipe for increased red light running.
MassHwy messed up big time by succumbing to political pressure on this one.
posted by noway @ 2/18/2007 10:20:00 AM
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