Ever find yourself driving down the road here in Ohio and realize you're quite a bit over the speed limit? Perhaps in realizing such you thought to yourself that you did not feel unsafe driving at that speed. If that is the case, an idea in the Ohio Senate might interest you.
With passage of House Bill 23, some in the state Senate would like to increase the speed limit from 55 mph to 60 mph on state routes and county roads. The plan would also allow the Ohio Department of Transportation to increase the speed limit on two-lane state routes to 65 mph, according to a report by WHIO.
Those of you who are cheering the idea may have been the recipients of some of those speeding tickets supporters of the bill say they'd like to reduce.
But there's another side to the issue. Drivers often exceed speed limits, anyway. When officials raise speed limits to match driver behavior, those drivers speed up even more.
"Higher speed limits cancel out the benefits of vehicle safety improvements like airbags and improved structural designs," said David Harkey, IIHS president. "The faster a driver is going before a crash, the less likely it is that they'll be able to get down to a survivable speed. …"
If simply reducing the number of speeding tickets is the only reason for such a change, it seems lawmakers might be wise to reconsider.