Lack of Speed Limit Signs Troubles Drivers

[Chuck]

...drivers should be aware that they can still be stopped for speeding even if there are no posted limits.

Tammy Mutasa - MSNBC - May 18, 2012

Anyone seriously believe a sober, competent holder of a driving licence does not know the maximum speed in north Texas is 70? Anyone? --Ed.

Drivers on the eastern extension of the President George Bush Turnpike are concerned that the roadway has no posted speed limit signs between state Highway 78 in Garland and Interstate 30 in Rowlett.

"It's dangerous and not fair if they pull you over for speeding and you don't know it's not posted,” said Garland resident Heather Trisko.... [Read More]

[diamondlarry]

They would be totally lost here in Indiana then. Around here (on the county/country roads), if there is no speed limit sign, the maximum speed is 55 mph.
EDIT: This is stated right in the Indiana Driver's Manual.

[Chuck]

I wonder how many drivers are clueless of the speed limit when a very prominent state trooper's car is pacing?

[ALS]

Originally Posted by diamondlarry

They would be totally lost here in Indiana then. Around here (on the county/country roads), if there is no speed limit sign, the maximum speed is 55 mph.
EDIT: This is stated right in the Indiana Driver's Manual.

Same here in Pennsylvania 55 mph unless otherwise posted.

Reminds me of my only speeding ticket back 1984. I'm driving across the Walt Whitman bridge out of Philadelphia over to New Jersey at 2:00 AM and I get nailed for doing sixty in a forty five mile per hour zone.

One hundred yards before the bridge on the Pennsylvania side there was a posted speed limit sign for fifty five miles per hour.

Once on the bridge the speed dropped to forty five miles per hour. They put the "Bridge" speed limit sign up in the rafters or metal super structure of the bridge. Unless you were looking up instead of at the road in front of you, you would never see it. There was no lighting or illumination on said speed limit sign. Classic New Jersey speed trap if I ever saw one. Yes it was a New Jersey State Trooper that stopped me.

[shiNIN]

I've never been in the US so I will talk about Europe and mostly about Hungary, okay?
I'm usually lost in Austrian towns... If I overlook a table because I just forgot to search for it in the end of the town, I can't know if the speed limit is 50 or 70 kmph or what. It's much simpler in Hungary, town and villages have a speed limit of 50 kmph unless it's specified differently.
In Hungary, more exactly, around here... I usually simply disregard signs with a too small number on them. There are several very very easy simple turns on national ways that have a 40 kmph sign. Without any reason for it. I usually glide down to PSL so it would mean very much extremely low riding, my trips would lose most of its joy and it would have not recognisable effect on safety. If the traffic heavy enough, it would even do bad to safety, extremely few car drivers go that slow without a reason (I don't know about other countries, traffic is usually somewhat above PSL everywhere here (especially in towns) and several cars have a much higher speed than PSL, the latter ones always must pass me, it depends on the first case, I can accept the safe, just legally slightly too much common speed if there's heavy traffic and impatient drivers passing me could easily use accidents).
So, here, I focus on safety, the rhythm of traffic, my joy and my FE... I try to respect speed limit signs but it feels terribly silly and illogical sometimes so I can't help, they kind of lose.
Hardcore hypermilers must do their choice at some cases... For example, when they take a turn and suddenly face a village (speed limit is 50 kmph by default, there are ones with a 40 sign that no one respects) while riding at 90... Even if there are time and space to brake yet because the village starts on the end of a steep slope I wasn't happy. Well I braked there, of course. It's not even a really painful loss (just in my silly hypermiler mind), my tanks can handle one or two hard brakes without too much damage, a lively wind ruins them waaaaaaaaay more. But it's quite likely I rode a bit faster than normally in the very beginning of the village, a gliding motorbike loses speed quite quickly and the beginning and end of villages often are pretty empty.

[chilimac02]

Most Texans just drive 80 or 90 unless the see a police car. That's why its hard to hyper mile here. Driving he psl is like asking for a middle finger salute.

[wick1ert]

In DE, it's 55 on highways unless otherwise posted (there's 2 other roads it's 65, and one is a changeable speed zone). It's actually spelled out in the DE drivers manual what the maximum speeds are based upon area, I believe. To be honest, I haven't seen a DE manual since I got my license when I was 16 (14 years ago). When you renew, you pay your fee, get a new picture, and off you go, provided you're not one of the few "randomly" selected to re-take the test. I can pretty much guarantee you that most people don't know what the limits are if there's no sign posted. Heck, even I don't know them, other than the highway one.

[WriConsult]

Standard speed limits here are 20 in business districts, 25 on residential streets, 30 on two-lane arterials, 35 on multilane boulevards, 55 on rural 2-lanes and urban freeways, 65 on rural freeways.

Under our state laws you cannot be fined for violating a regulatory sign that isn't there. If no speed limit is posted, then you are subject the numbers above. And of course the Basic Speed Law also still applies.

BTW: one quirk (which I despise) of our state's signage is that our signs do not include the word "LIMIT". So the signs read "SPEED 65" or "SPEED 25" instead of "SPEED LIMIT 65" or "SPEED LIMIT 25" as in every other state I can recall driving in. The lack of the word limit just reinforces the idea that the speed limit is a normative speed rather than a maximum. And since the majority of native Oregonians have never been required to take drivers ed, a lot of people probably actually believe that.

[herm]

I was thinking that California should impose a state wide temporary speed limit of 55mph, until the emergency is over on Nov 6. It would reduce CO2 pollution, save oil and increase revenues. Perhaps it would stick and some people would continue to moderate their speeds afterwards. 75mph on the HOV lanes to promote fuel efficient vehicles.

[ItsNotAboutTheMoney]

Originally Posted by diamondlarry

They would be totally lost here in Indiana then. Around here (on the county/country roads), if there is no speed limit sign, the maximum speed is 55 mph.
EDIT: This is stated right in the Indiana Driver's Manual.

Originally Posted by Maine Motorist Handbook and Study Guide

Maximum speeds in Maine, unless posted otherwise, are:
45 Miles per hour outside any business or residential or built-up area of Maine.
25 Miles per hour in a business, or residential district, or built-up area of the state.
15 Miles per hour when passing a school during recess, or when children are going
to or from school during the school’s opening or closing hours. It is difficult to know
just when these periods are. When in doubt, use extreme care. A fine twice that
of the usual fine is imposed for exceeding the posted speed limit in a school zone.