Have you ever driven on the Garden State Parkway and felt like it’s the last lap of the Daytona 500?
With help from the Wall Township police, News 12 measured the speeds of 43 cars on a section of Route18 where the limit is 55 mph. The average speed of those 43 vehicles was 63.5 mph.
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A proposal to change those speed limits to an average of what you’re driving could become a reality on our major highways and interstates.
State Sen. Declan O’Scanlon wants to see the speed limits on limited access highways, like the Garden State Parkway and Route 18, adjusted to what we’re driving.
“My bill would take the setting of speed limits out of the hands of senators and into the hands of traffic engineers and set speed limits based on sound engineering criteria which is you go out and measure free flowing traffic and set the speed limit at or below at what 85% of the people are traveling,” said Sen. O’Scanlon.
With help from the Wall Township police, News 12 measured the speeds of 43 cars on a section of Route18 where the limit is 55 mph. The average speed of those 43 vehicles was 63.5 mph.
Our News 12 field crew then entered the Garden State Parkway, set the news truck cruise control at 65, and watched traffic blow by.
Drivers at the Judy Blume Rest Area in Wall had mixed reactions to the senator’s proposal.
“I think it’s a bad thing because if you change it to 75, you’ll have guys going even higher. An accident, God forbid, at 65 is bad. 55 is too slow, 65 is a very good number,” said Alan S., of Passaic County.
“I think it’s a good idea. Most people are careful but sometimes you get the fast ones, but an average speed is an average speed,” said Mary Debellis, of White Plains.
“I definitely think they need to do a study. For sure. And we didn’t see any cops really, the whole way down even coming back,” said Kristi Razi, of Westchester County, NY.
O’Scanlon says the biggest issues happen when flowing traffic doing 75 all of a sudden slam on their brakes when they spot police and the speed changes could go in either direction.
“It’s whatever people are driving naturally. You want to gravitate the speed limit towards that again so you don’t have the disparity in speeds,” said O’Scanlon.
The senator says his bill has already been introduced, and he hopes to gather more support. He also says slower drivers need to be reminded to stay to the right and is open to including minimum speed limits to the bill as the discussion moves forward.
