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Texas Expands 80 MPH Speed Limit

Texas Expands 80 MPH Speed Limit
Texas toll roads to post 80 MPH speed limits.

Roads nationwide are getting faster. States around the country have been experiencing record low fatality rates, despite posting speed limits, in some cases 25 MPH faster than the Double Nickel limit imposed in 1975. That has encouraged jurisdictions to continue boosting the legal maximum.

Currently, the top speed crown belongs to Texas and Utah, each of which post 80 MPH on select highways. The Lone Star State adopted the top limit in 2008, but only on rural sections of Interstates 10 and 20. Last week, the Texas Transportation Commission decided that speed studies justified raising the limits on fifty-six miles of the State Highway 45 and State Highway 130 toll roads near Austin.

"The Texas Department of Transportation [TxDOT] has conducted the prescribed engineering and traffic investigations to determine reasonable and safe prima facie maximum speed limits for those segments of the state highway system," the commission order stated.

The new speed takes effect once updated signs are posted. The National Motorist Association has been lobbying lawmakers to boost their limits to better reflect speed at which drivers are traveling. There has been no downside to changing the number on the sign upward.

"The trend by several states to raise selected speed limits recognizes the proven engineering principle that the safest, most efficient patterns are established by letting traffic flow freely at its natural pace," NMA President Gary Biller told TheNewspaper. "Despite drumbeat calls by insurance industry backed groups to lower the speed limits back to 55 MPH, our highways have never been safer. The national highway fatality rate has declined by more than 36 percent, according to NHTSA."

TxDOT's contract with the Spanish and US companies that own the toll routes presumes the higher limit will make the road more attractive and valuable. Had the limit not been raised, TxDOT would have had to lower the speed limit on I-35 near where it runs parallel to SH130 or face an significant financial penalty (view contract excerpt). These non-compete provisions are designed to keep bondholders happy at the expense of other motorists. Following the same principle, the Maryland Transportation Authority is currently conducting studies to raise the speed limit on the Inter County Connector toll road.

USA - Red light camera link to higher fatalities

Peer Reviewed Study Questions IIHS Red Light Camera Report
Florida Public Health Review finds insurance industry study actually proved increase in fatalities in red light camera cities.

The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) grabbed headlines last February with a self-published study claiming installation of red light cameras nationwide would have prevented 815 deaths. The Florida Public Health Review, a peer-reviewed journal, published a systematic critique yesterday that found the methods used in the IIHS report were sloppy and inconsistent, reflecting a bias towards the insurance industry that IIHS serves.

University of South Florida Professors Barbara Langland-Orban, Etienne E. Pracht and John T. Large noted that IIHS did not study individual intersections that had cameras but rather used city-wide data that ignored other engineering variables that could have explained increases or decreases in accidents from year to year. Worse, the study did consider variables such as "land area" and "persons per square mile" which have never been shown through scientific research to have any correlation to motor vehicle crashes. The way these unexplained variables were used introduced other difficulties in the IIHS report.

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USA - CAMERA BAN: A ban on red light and speed cameras has passed an Iowa House subcommittee

USA - IOWA

A measure banning red light and speed cameras in Iowa has been approved by a legislative panel.

The Associated Press is reporting a subcommittee has passed the bill on to the House Transportation CommitteeLaw enforcement and city officials against the legislation testified the cameras are helping to reduce crashes, but Rep. Walt Rogers questioned their effectiveness. He says the cameras violate civil liberties and he thinks the ban could be approved this year.

The city of Des Moines released information Tuesday on the first six months of its red light cameras. Data shows accidents in the five intersections with cameras were reduced by 33-percent.

Gov. Terry Branstad has said if the bill is passed in the legislature he will sign it. It would take effect July 1st.

USA Iowa Constitutional Amendment Would Outlaw Traffic Cameras

Iowa Constitutional Amendment Would Outlaw Traffic Cameras
State lawmaker wants Iowa voters to amend constitution to ban the use of photo enforcement.

Lawmakers in Iowa are kicking off the new year with a serious attempt to end the use of red light cameras and speed cameras in the state. A half-dozen cities use the devices even though the legislature did not grant local jurisdictions the authority to allow for-profit companies to issue traffic tickets through the mail. Instead, the Iowa Supreme Court in 2008 declared such systems could be used (view ruling).

To undo that ruling, state Representative Jeremy Taylor (R-Sioux City) on Wednesday introduced what would be the country's first-ever state constitutional ban on the use of cameras. The measure would have to be enacted by two consecutive sessions of the legislature before being placed on the ballot for the approval of a majority of Iowa voters.

"Automated traffic law enforcement systems shall not be used to enforce the provisions of law relating to traffic on the public roads of the state," House Joint Resolution 2003 states. "For purposes of this section, 'automated traffic law enforcement system' means a device with one or more sensors working in conjunction with an official traffic control device or signal or a speed measuring device to produce recorded images of vehicles being operated in violation of traffic or speed laws.

Taylor has the support of Governor Terry Branstad (R), who blasted the use of cameras at a Sioux City Rotary Club meeting Thursday. While taking questions from the audience, Branstad said it was "wrong" for Sioux City to borrow against future red light camera revenue and that he saw a problem with not allowing vehicle owners to face their accuser. Though the governor plays no role in the process of amending the state constitution, his position could create a hurdle for legislation passed by the House last year that authorizes cameras with $50 red light camera tickets and photo radar tickets of up to $625 each.

In 2010, red light cameras operating in five Iowa cities issued 56,312 tickets worth $5,475,092. The Dutch company Gatso and the Australian company Redflex Traffic Systems also issued a total of 87,828 speed camera tickets in the cities of Cedar Rapids and Davenport. The foreign companies each pocketed about 40 percent of the amount of revenue generated by the program.

To get around this, some state lawmakers introduced proposals to reduce the financial incentive for cities to set up automated ticketing programs. House File 612 requires "one hundred percent of the fines collected" be spent on road construction or maintenance. House File 105 requires camera revenue be directed to lowering property taxes.

A copy of the proposed constitutional amendment is available in a 40k PDF file at the source link below.

Source: House Joint Resolution 2003 (Iowa General Assembly, 1/11/2012)

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Government's revenue-raising justifications should never trump safety considerations.

Red-Lighting Photo Traffic Enforcement

By Ross Kaminsky on 1.20.12 @ 6:08AM

Government's revenue-raising justifications should never trump safety considerations.

BOULDER, Colo. -- Colorado State Senator Scott Renfroe is introducing a bill to ban photo traffic enforcement, including both speed and red light cameras, statewide. Sen. Renfroe frames it properly: "People need to be held accountable for their actions, but government should be about safety not revenue."

Many people are sympathetic to red-light cameras, assuming they cause fewer people to run red lights, a behavior especially dangerous to others. But that assumption also assumes that fewer red light scofflaws equates to fewer accidents at intersections. Perhaps surprisingly, a raft of studies appear to show that red light cameras may actually be increasing the number of traffic accidents: People afraid of the cameras often stop short, including when the light is yellow, causing the driver behind them also to brake suddenly, occasionally unable to do so in time and rear-ending the camera-fearing driver in front (and causing the same problem for the third car in this line of traffic). To be sure, those in favor of cameras have a couple of studies they quote supporting increased safety due to cameras.

I've never been sympathetic to speed cameras for a simple reason: Both here in Boulder and around where I used to live in Australia, speed cameras are put in places where there is little safety justification but where people are likely to be exceeding the speed limit, though not enough to have any implications for safety.

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