In a press release sent out today from the offices of Oregon state Senators Jason Atkinson (R-Central Point) and Bruce Starr (R-Hillsboro), the two lawmakers say they want to raise Oregon’s speed limit.
They are looking to raise the speed limit on highways and interstates to as high as 75mph for passenger vehicles and 60 for commercial vehicles. The current speed limit on most highways is 55mph and 65mph on interstates, and these relatively low limits (when compared to other states), have long been a source of complaints from Oregonians and out-of-state drivers alike.
Starr and Atkinson plan to achieve the higher limit by amending a bill currently in front of the senate’s Business, Transportation and Economic Development committee.
๏ปฟโOregon is the odd one out when it comes to the nationโs speed limits,โ said Starr. โBy modernizing our speed limit we can increase the flow of traffic, lower commute times and fast track commerce through the state.โ
It will be interesting to see if drivers welcome the higher limits — should this pass — given that rolling down at highway at around 80, which would be where plenty of drivers would set their own limit, would make that $4-gallon gas disappear at an even higher rate.
This article appears in May 12-18, 2011.
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Ah yes, use more gas and have more accidents!
I find it perplexing that Dr. Kitzhaber, an MD whose profession is founded on the idea of basing policy on facts as opposed to conjecture, continues erroneously to believe that increased speed limits necessarily lead to increased accident frequency. All of Oregon’s neighbors have raised their limits with no safety consequence. The latest to do so, Utah, reported to the legislature, a year after enacting 80mph, that speeds stayed consistent, traffic flowed more smoothly (by allowing the law-abiding minority to catch up with the faster majority), and that safety did not suffer as a result – if anything, the opposite was true. All of these states have shown that limits can be raised safely, and Oregon can’t do the same? On what basis?
The preset speed limit is way out of date, todays cars and
trucks can safely operate at higher speeds. As for the fuel
that will be used at a higher speeds, If oregon drivers save fuel the oil companis will just ship any that we don’t use to
another state ware they already have higher limits.So we save fuel for utah, nev,ca,and others. Oregon drivers driving 55 or 65 can not save enought fuel to impact the world gas supply. Prices will continue to go up do to demand. Less time on the road sounds better to me. Oregon’s 55 mph limit in my opinion is just a revnue gathering tool for law enforcment. almost no one is driving the speed limit anyway, if you drive 55 you are in danger of being ran over, all trafic traveling at the same speed is much safer.
Finally! The studies I have seen point out that it is no more dangerous to drive at the higher speeds mainly because people tend to drive a set speed that they are comfortable with regardless of the speed limit. When the limit goes up the slower drivers speed up evenly with the faster drivers only speeding up slightly. You end up with all the cars on the road driving similar speeds. Its been proven that differences in speeds lead to higher number of accidents not speed alone. Also, this will reduce trafic fines so don’t be surprised that the tickets will cost more down the road.