Subject: Pre NMSL data, shows what people drove with NO LIMIT!

From: [email-masked] (Kevin Atkinson)
Date: 6 Aug 1995 19:07:06 -0400

Kenny Morse:

You are constanyly arguring that people drive 10 to 15 mph above the 
limit.  Well I hate to tell you this, your wrong.  Here is a post from 
Genie proving that very point!  Take a VERY close look at it.

Yes at the end he says that people may drive faster with better cars 
however he does not say that people will drive above the comfort level of 
the road.

Category 13,  Topic 3
Message 7         Sat Apr 24, 1993
D.GANOTE [DUKE.GANOTE]       at 17:38 EDT
 
Jim,

    Just to put the 85th percentile speed in perspective -- although you may
have already seen this stuff -- let me show most data "pre-NMSL".

The "Traffic Speed TrendS reports of the Federal Highway Administration 
(FHwA)
for the years just before the 55-mph National Maximum Speed Limit (NMSL) may
be of interest.

Two participating States had no speed limit, eight had 75-mph limits, 22 had
70-mph, two had 65-mph, three had 60-mph.

AVERAGE SPEEDS OF FREE-MOVING VEHICLES AND PERCENTAGES OF PASSENGER CARS
TRAVELING IN EXCESS OF VARIOUS SPEEDS:

ON LEVEL, STRAIGHT SECTIONS OF THE COMPLETED PORTIONS OF THE RURAL INTERSTATE
SYSTEM FOR 1973

(NOTE: speeds were measured in the summer, before the embargo and oil price
RcrisisS in the fall.)

STATE ---- Avg ---- %>55 -- %>60 -- %>65 -- %>70 -- %>75

(NO SPEED LIMIT)

Mont.     70.2 mph     93         85         68         48         26

Nev.      70.1 mph     97         92         78         54         28

(75-MPH)

Ark.      65.8 mph     93          82         60        26          8

AZ        69.1 mph     92          82         67        46         22

Iowa      67.0 mph     92          76         60        28         11

Kans.     69.4 mph     97          91         76        52         18

Nebr.     69.8 mph     96          89         75        51         19

N.D.      69.2 mph     95          86         69        47         21

S.D.      65.3 mph     87          72         50        26          7

Tenn.     62.0 mph     86          69         32        11          1

(70-mph) -- slowest, fastest, and Ohio speeds

Flor.     65.0 mph     93          80         53        23          6

Ohio      66.6 mph     96          89         63        31          6

N.Mex     69.0 mph     94          86         72        45         19

(65-mph)

Penn      61.8 mph     86          60         26         5          -

N.C.      65.4 mph     95          78         44         -          -

(60-mph)

Conn      65.6 mph    100          84         49        15          0

RI        62.7 mph     88          54         35        11          6

NJ        59.5 mph     85          56         12         3          1

I estimate the prevailing (85th percentile) speeds as following:

SPEED LIMIT      Prevailing speed        Average speeds

=============    ===================    =================

-NONE-               76- to 77-mph            70-mph

75-mph               72- to 76-mph (*)     65- to 70-mph (*)

70-mph               71- to 76-mph         65- to 69-mph

65-mph               66- to 69-mph         62- to 65-mph

60-mph               64- to 70-mph         60- to 66-mph

(*) ignoring Tennessee, which was the only State east of the Mississippi to
post 75-mph.

I conclude there's little point in a limit lower than 70-mph or higher 
than 75- mph.

People may feel more comfortable driving faster nowadays -- it was 20 years
ago this summer the speeds were taken.

-- 
* Kevin Atkinson, Clarknet I'net Serv., Maintainer of the Usenet Info Center *
*     Finger [email-masked] for more info on Usenet Info Center.         *
*    Or send mail to [email-masked]  with a subject line of HELP.        *
*  This is in its beginning stages and I could use any help I could get!     *