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.