Speed Limit proposals - a mixed bag

I saw this in the Argus. My view on speed limits is the same as my view on profanity. Time, place, and manner.

From the Argus

Road officials and advocates for construction workers fear a plan to increase speed limits on state and county roads could further endanger road crews.
Legislation introduced in late March would prohibit speed limits to be lowered more than 10 mph below the normal limit, with the total limit no lower than 30 mph, in local construction zones.
On expressways, the speed limit could not be decreased to lower than 60 mph in construction zones unless workers were in close proximity to barrel lines or not protected by barriers under the proposal.
The construction-zone component is one of many in the bill package, which also would create a maximum 80 mph speed limit on rural expressway segments.
State law currently enforces a 55 mph speed limit on unposted county roads. That would increase to 60 mph on unposted county roads under the bills.
If the proposed rules were in place last year, the speed limit could only have been reduced to 50 mph at Grand River Avenue and Burkhart Road in Howell Township during emergency repairs, noted Mike Craine, Livingston County Road Commission managing director.
 “There’s no freaking way that we could have let people go through there at 50 mph, which is what this law would seem to require,” Craine said.“It doesn’t really address the full range of conditions that road construction’s likely to present for safety of the motorist and safety of the worker,” he added.

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My attitude regarding construction zone is this. Are people working at the site? If nothing is going on there and no people are there, I don't see a problem going 65-70. If there's work being done at the site, then going 60 is crazy. The other question is what is the definition of "close proximity?" 

I fully support 80mph on rural expressways in good weather.

As far as unposted county roads, that needs to be time/place, and matter. A road like D-19 or Chilson is one thing, but Cunningham Lake is another. I grew up on Cunningham Lake near the old Brighton Recreational Area on an rural unposted county road. The speed limit on that dirt road is currently 55. That's insane. Making it 60 is more insane. One of my complaints about the paving proposals from Genoa Township was the speed increase. Going 60 on that road is a good way to hit a deer, turkey, crane, dog, cat, hunter, jogger, walker, someone's grandkid, or another pedestrian.  During the last snow dusting, I saw the mailbox post get smashed due to a car hitting it. It was probably a total job or close to it. Hopefully the driver wasn't hurt too badly. 

I support this, although will this get rid of the 0 point 5 over tickets on the expressway when the cop gives a driver going 84 a semi-break?

The bills also would prohibit speeding tickets for driving 5 mph or less over posted limits.

Jones said there are several roadways statewide with low speed limits intended to catch motorists as they exit higher speed zones. The end result is often a costly ticket for the average commuter, he said.
“That’s just horrible, because what you’re doing is you’re writing a ticket for the average guy trying to get to work. His auto insurance goes up for three years,” he said.
“We’re trying to clean up the abuses,” Jones added.
Speed limits in Michigan are set based on the speed that 85 percent of traffic moves on a given road. The idea is to promote smooth traffic and target the 15 percent of motorists who drive too fast.

I like a lot of the IDEAS here. I despise speed traps as much as the next person, but not every speed limit drop is a speed trap. That's why I mentioned time, place, and manner.

Granholm wants to lower the speed limit? Go to Hell!!!

In the words of Sammy Hagar, "I can't drive 55". Here's another idiotic idea from the "Matt Millen" of governors.

From Gannett/Argus

Gov. Jennifer Granholm suggested today that Michigan might want to consider enactment of slower speed limits on some state highways as a means of reducing costs in an era of high fuel prices.

“I think it’s something we might want to take a look at,” Granholm said in response to a question at a roundtable meeting with reporters to unveil a new state, Web-based service designed to help Michigan residents save money on housing, health care and gasoline.

Granholm said lower speed limits are “not a proposal,” but should be considered in light of the significant reduction in fuel consumption that results from reducing speed, and as one of many steps that could be taken to decrease demand for energy resources as the state and nation move toward alternatives to oil and gas.

First off, this won't help much. Very few drove 55 anyway when it was the speed limit thanks to the democrats of the 1970's. That law was broken by most of the population because it was a bad law unworthy of being followed when the expressways were built for 70 MPH speed limits. All this does is feed disrespect for the law.

Another reason this is bad is that it costs the state more money to replace all those signs changing the speed limits.

Another reason this is bad is that this creates bottlenecks. Some go 90MPH and some go 40 - look at US-23 for a posterboy of that right now. I hate bottlenecks with a passion and will go 80MPH (and be tailed by those going 90MPH) to pass cars just to get around wolf packs so I am not close to a chain of cars and can be as close to lone wolf as possible on the freeway. After than I go with traffic around 74-75MPH. Space between cars is good. It avoids tailgating (and me tapping my brakes if you do tailgate me). It causes less accidents as it increases reaction time in many situations (unless a deer crosses your path).

People who want to drive slower to reduce costs have several options without government pointing a gun at their heads. They can go 55 in the Right Lane. That's what the slow lane is for. They can drive on other roads besides the expressway. I often avoid US-23 myself when I go to Ann Arbor, Brighton, or the Detroit suburbs. I take fewer trips myself. I go to Meijer (Screw Walmart) less often and go more often to the local Mom and Pop place 3 miles from me.

If Granholm REALLY wants to lower fuel costs, she can get the state to fasttrack approval on a new oil refinery. "Build it here and it is approved, no questions asked." It's not like we don't need the jobs here. That will even increase the tax base in this state. She can also stop the sales tax on gasoline costing us more money. That won't happen anytime soon. Government is addicted to money.