Although many Georgians have recently joined a discussion that is sprouting some interest concerning the maximum speed limit in Georgia, the clear majority of people expressing their views publicly seem far from opposed to leaving the Georgia law exactly where it is.
That is at 70 miles per hour, a speed at which it has stayed consistently since 1995, when the federal government relinquished authority over road speed limits to the states.
The prevalent view among most interested people in the state is that a faster maximum speed limit will lead to, well, speeding, and that is something that should be avoided.
Many people note the higher speeds west of the Mississippi River, but point out that much of the terrain out west is flat, straight and decidedly rural, unlike many of the roads in Georgia. Kansas, for example, became the 14th state recently to raise its maximum speed limit to above 70 mph. Many western states are already at 75, and Texas has upped its maximum limit on certain roads to 85 mph.
There seems little legislative impetus to raise the limit in Georgia, although there is a bill being considered that would require slower motorists to yield to faster moving vehicles in the left lane. The legislation was authored by Rep. Keith Heard, D-Athens, who is also co-sponsor of a bill that would add a $200 surcharge for people receiving "super speeder" tickets (see our July 1 blog post).
Harris Blackwood, director of the Governor's Office of Highway Safety, says that comparing Georgia roads to roads out west "is akin to comparing apples and oranges." Blackwood says to leave the speed limits alone, noting that excess speed already factors into more than 30 percent of Georgia roadway fatalities.
Related Resource: Online Athens, "Georgia not rushing to boost speed limit" July 5, 2011
