What would you guess is the fastest speed limit in the United States? If you picked 85 miles per hour, you are correct! There is a road from San Antonio to Austin, Texas that allows vehicles to legally travel at 85 miles per hour.
However, this is an exceptional circumstance. Only a few states even have laws that allow cars to travel 80 miles per hour nowadays, and Nevada just entered that club, which includes South Dakota, Wyoming, Montana, Idaho and Utah. Roughly 130 miles of Interstate 80 in Nevada will now have a speed limit of 80 miles per hour after a law that was signed into existence 18 months ago finally took effect.
Now, while this isn’t a story that relates to the state of Georgia or the city of Atlanta, it is still important. This is an example of how this speed limit is creeping into more and more states. It may take many years, but it is highly likely that more states will start adopting 80 miles per hour sections on their roads.
While the problem isn’t increased accident risk with the raising of the speed limit — there is no data suggesting an 80 mile per hour road has more accident fatalities than a 75 mile per hour road — the speed very much is. Vehicles traveling at faster speeds are more likely to cause more serious, catastrophic or fatal injuries because of the inherent nature of speed. The faster things go, the more momentum they have, and the more momentum you have, the more of an impact any collision has.
Source: Associated Press, “Nevada joins handful of states with spans of 80 mph driving,” Scott Sonner, May 13, 2017
