New Speed Limit Turns DC Into Giant School Zone
Cash-starved DC has come up with another boneheaded revenue scheme
Cash-starved DC has come up with another boneheaded revenue scheme — set the city speed limit to 20 miles per hour. Which is practically cruising speed.
The new law takes effect June 1.
7/ The new speed limit will go into effect this Monday, June 1st. 20 is plenty. pic.twitter.com/EHgpa2ktm1
— Mayor Muriel Bowser (@MayorBowser) May 29, 2020
DC is starved for cash and figures drivers are an easy target. You have to try hard to keep your car from going over 20 miles an hour. https://t.co/4438EHFx7I
— Legal Insurrection (@LegInsurrection) May 29, 2020
DC traffic is already horrid. This is going to make things exponentially worse.
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Taking your foot off the brake and letting the car coast will result in going faster than 20 mph on most roads.
But this is nothing new.
When I was training in Quantico and had to go past DC, they had a 6-lane interstate highway in good condition. The posted speed limit? 55 mph. Everybody did at least 70. They did it so they could set up speed traps at the end of every month so they could fill the hole in their budget.
Same bullshit. They need money and don’t care how they get it.
Oh, and DC made big bucks on speed cameras in the city. They will be rolling in cash now.
SMDH. I am so glad I don’t live in that area anymore!
My city has a decades long history of doing that setting up of speed traps. The latest is dropping the limit to 55 on a Federal interstate through the city.
That type of blatant cash grab has been around forever. It’ll take forever, but there may be recourse through the Feds +/or the State. How does a locality get the authority to change a limit on an Interstate highway? It’s owned by the State, or should be.
Slowing the tourists down to running speed so criminals on foot can rob them with less risk.
The criminals in suits have other means.
Part of an equal opportunity program, no doubt.
Not your Father’s “Double Nickel” (55MPH), but the “Double Dime”. Inflation…
Can you imagine the backlog in the DC Traffic Courts if people decided to contest every ticket? They’d be backed up to the next millennium.
Because DC has solved all of its problems already.
They don’t have a hair on their ass if they don’t take it down to 15 miles an hour.
I’m sure that means something. Just not sure what.
“You ain’t got a hair on your ass if you don’t…” Southern colloquialism that equates hairiness with masculinity. IOW, you’re a pussy if you don’t do whatever.
Are you sure that’s real? A similar joke has been making the rounds that if everyone really wants to be safe, we should lower the speed limit to five miles per hour.
Over two is too much. (/sarcasm)
How does awareness correlate with speed? Over a sort span? Over a long span? As a progressive condition?
From experience, the slower the speed limit on a wide open interstate, the more my attention drifts off the road. At 90- I have to pay attention. At 55… on roads designed for 90 with 1960s technology- 55 is sleep inducing.
In good weather, driving long stretches of highway designed for 90 MPH with 1960s cars at 55 or even 65 leads to serious attention lapses. At 80+ one has to pay attention to the road. You always need to pay attention to other drivers, but if you’re drifting off because of sheer boredom, it gets harder.
Here in NY, on the Thruway speed limit 65, I’ve never followed a car with NY State Assembly or Senate plates (yes, they have their own) at less than 90 MPH. Apparently assemblymen and senators are capable of driving that fast safely, where as us mere peons aren’t. I’ve never seen one pulled over. Nor anyone keeping up with them…
Hopefully it will also apply to bicycles, and other less four vehicles.
Back in the previous century McMinnville, Tennessee had speed limits of 24 and 34 on Hwy 411. They’ve rounded them off now, but we’re still pretty careful going through. Benton is another one. I’ve had cops tailgate me through town, I guess hoping I’d speed up.
My Georgia town has a general speed limit of 30 which is pretty hard to keep. Fortunately, they don’t enforce it strictly.
There used to be a couple of towns in E. Texas that had low speed limits and not only enforced them strictly, but would confiscate cars and their contents for even a 1 mph violation – which is well within speedometer error. I think the state finally shut them down, but it’s still not a good idea to get careless in small towns.
Bet you up front that not a single congressman nor senator, along with their staffs and higher ranking bureaucrats will pay even the slightest attention.
Old cartoon, two snails on the back of a turtle: “Ready? Here we go!”
Because of traffic, you can’t go over 20 in DC anyways.
There is no middle class in DC: just swamp rats robbing us blind or corrupting our government on the top, and the rest of the population (that elects crackheads as mayor).
Who are they going to collect the fines from??
? Bahh- apologies. Need to put my thumb on a fitness plan &!get my cracked phone screen fixed.
I really wish they’d put that Reply button somewhere else instead of abutted to the Downvote button.
Bring it up at the Sunday on-line meeting. ;-{)}}}
Why not 4 mph ? — Sen Guy KnowsBetter
https://youtu.be/eXWhbUUE4ko
It took DC 50 years to recover from the last DC riot. Apparently this is more important.
Remember that scene in American Graffiti (yes, I’m dating myself, recently graduated from official geezer to official codger) when the cops took off in pursuit of the teen flipping them off? Surely some enterprising young soul could recreate it.
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Portland has been on a “20 is plenty” kick for about a year. The next move is to close off sections of streets to make room for outdoor dining areas. Hmmm, guess what kinds of streets that restaurants are located on. Is there a level beyond full-retard, because Portland is heading there.
Antifa will have no-go zones, paid for by Bezos.
D.C., like virtually ALL Blue Cities, is BROKE. Lowering the speed limit to 20MPH, monitored by those ever-present speed cameras is a pretty poor way to raise funds (which will likely go to some safe off-shore bank account owned by one of the many corrupt gubmint satraps).
At least now, D.C. will be safe for bicyclists to ride the streets.
At least now, D.C. will be safe for bicyclists to ride the streets.
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Since 2017, Boston is having none of this 20 mph nonsense. Their bold leadership reduced it from 30 mph to 25 mph. Now THAT’S progressive!
What pissed me off about driving in Boston is just about every intersection has a “no right turns on red” sign. It totally screws up the flow of traffic and unnecessarily causes huge backups at every intersection.
Wouldn’t 2 mph be more efficient? That way, police would walk alongside the vehicle while writing the ticket…fight global warming, doncha know….
…but Mayor Bowser will get reelected anyway.