We asked drivers what they thought of a proposal to raise the speed limit from 65 mph to 75 mph on the Garden State Parkway. Stacey Barchenger/Asbury Park Press
A Lakewood man and a bunch of others who signed his petition want to raise the speed limit on the Garden State Parkway to 75 mph. What a dreadful idea, one I hope will never happen — at least not while I'm not still living in New Jersey.
Yes, on some stretches of the Parkway, particularly in northern Ocean County and southern Monmouth County, lots of drivers already are doing 75 mph or better. That doesn’t mean it’s safe, not with the cowboys who use it as a speedway during their daily commutes. Stub Hub recently ranked New Jersey drivers as the worst in the nation. Based on what, the indignant may ask? The criteria included using your cell phone while driving, speeding, accelerating aggressively, braking hard and turning poorly. Sounds about right to me.
High speed limits or no speed limits may work out West and on Germany’s Autobahn, but those roads are mostly two lanes and four lanes. It isn’t such a swell idea when you have four lanes or more in each direction, lots of exits and entrances where drivers don't understand the concept of "yield" and a hard-core group of drivers who are in a hurry and unconcerned about the personal safety of others. Unfortunately, that's a pretty large fraternity in New Jersey.
More: POLL: Should NJ raise the speed limit to 75 mph on the Garden State Parkway?
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I don’t buy the argument that the speed limit on the Parkway should be raised to 75 mph because most drivers are doing it anyway. First, not everyone is doing it – and many who are are simply trying to avoid being run over by people hugging their tails. Second, some drivers will regard an increase in the speed limit to 75 mph as a green light to do 80 or 85 mph without fear of getting a ticket. And third, there are many portions of the Parkway, particularly in Middlesex, Union and Essex counties, where the lanes are narrower, in which the limit should be lowered, not raised.
Studies can be found that argue both for and against raising speed limits. The one that resonates with me is the recent Insurance Institute for Highway Safety study, which reviewed auto fatalities in 41 states between 1993 and 2013. It found that for every 5 mph that a state increased its maximum speed, there was an 8 percent increase in deaths on highways and interstates.
For those who want to raise the limit to 75 mph on the Parkway, I ask, “What’s the rush?” Is the extra 10 mph really worth it?