Drivers on Ohio's interstates will drive a little faster if two state legislators get their way.
Ohio's 65 mph speed limit slows drivers passing through the Midwest where the majority of states allow a 70 mph speed limit. State Representatives Dan Dodd's, D-91, and Timothy DeGeeter's, D-15, recently sponsored a bill that would raise Ohio's speed limit to 70 mph on major interstates and eliminate the difference.
Thirty-two other states have done this
Dodd said. None of them have sought to move it down so it must be working.
Indiana lawmakers changed the state speed limit to 70 mph several years ago and have not had any serious problems, said Sgt. Brian Olehy of the Indiana State Police.
Over the last four or five years fatalities due to car crashes have gone down each year statewide Olehy said. It's only a five mph increase. It's not a huge change.
A recent vote to increase the speed limit for trucks from 55 to 65 mph spurred the bill, Dodd said.
There has always been an offset between cars and trucks on Ohio highways
he said. I believe that it is unsafe for trucks and passenger cars to be traveling at the same speeds so an increase in passenger speeds is necessary.
Ohio State Highway Patrol Lt. Jeff Skinner said that keeping passenger car speeds higher than trucks would not necessarily keep the roads safer.
It's statistically proven that the major cause of crashes are unsafe speeds
Skinner said. I don't support anything that is going to potentially raise the level of crashes.
Skinner said that the Ohio State Highway Patrol will strictly enforce speed limits if the bill passes.
Jennifer Martin, a sophomore studying restaurant, hotel, and tourism who takes I-71 home to Cincinnati, shares Skinner's concern for the increase in speed.
Instead of drivers only going 70 or 75 and thinking they can get away with it
they will now go 85 or faster and cause more deadly accidents
Martin said. It's not a good idea.
Chris Sasileo, a freshman who travels from Athens to New Jersey via I-77 and I-70, said he sees no problem with the increase in speed.
There's a little bit of danger in everything
Sasileo said. If everyone drives safely
there shouldn't be any problems.
The transportation committee did not vote on the bill when DeGeeter and Dodd introduced it on May 20 because Chairman Robert Hagan opposed it, Dodd said. The two legislatures plan to re-introduce it soon, he added.
The closest interstate to Athens that would be affected is I-77. The speed limit on State Route 33 would not change.
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