Subject: Re: Speed limits side issue

From: [email-masked] (Michael D. Sullivan)
Date: 14 Jun 1995 01:02:13 -0400

A few thoughts regarding those yellow "recommended speed" signs on curves, 
hills, etc.:

1.  In many states, the yellow signs recommend speeds that are as 
discounted as the speed limit signs.  For example, the signs recommending 
25 or 30 mph on beltway exit ramps are ignored; the traffic goes 35-50 
mph when transitioning between beltway speeds (55-75) and principal 
highway speeds (posted 35-45, actual 45-55), given the curves, banking, 
etc.  

2.  West Virginia tends to be more realistic about both its speed limits
and its recommended speeds (with the exception of 55/65 speed limits on
interstates).  In most cases, both the speed limits and the yellow signs
are pretty realistic.  If the yellow signs on a curvy road say 45, that's
probably about the speed you will be doing under normal conditions (i.e.,
40-50).  And if the speed limit on a two-laner is 55, that's probably
about what you will do, given the topography.  They don't mark roads as 35
mph when most drivers will do 45; they mark them as 45.  As noted, the
principal exception is roads where the mean speed exceeds the number that
the state can put on the signs legally (55/urban, 65/rural).  But even in
these cases, the traffic goes about the same speed it would go elsewhere
under similar conditions (namely 10-20 mph over the limit).  (The one
exception I will note was the time I was going 80 in a 65 zone in WV and
got passed by a Bentley Turbo R going well over 110, which was probably
the right speed for the car.) In other words, WV engages in the fiction
other states engage in only on the interstates; elsewhere, it practices
truth in speed limits. 

-- 
 -------------------------------------------------------------------------
| Michael D. Sullivan | INTERNET E-MAIL TO:  [email-masked]         |
| Bethesda, Md., USA  | also [email-masked], [email-masked] |
 -------------------------------------------------------------------------