Should West Virginia Have Posted Speed Limits Of 70 Miles Per Hour?

Driving on turnpikes, highways and interstates can be frightening and intimidating. Some major turnpikes in West Virginia have posted speed limits of 70 miles an hour. I’ve been driving for more than 20 years, currently living in an area of Maryland where the highway has frequent crossing traffic. This has limited the posted speed limit to 55 miles per hour. However, as soon as passing over the state line into Pennsylvania, the limit immediately increases to 65 miles per hour. Motorists in my area tend to drive much faster than the posted speed limit, which has resulted in several major accidents. Increasing the posted speed limits on major roads is dangerous. No matter what a driver’s experience level is, anyone can be impacted by the hurried carelessness of someone else. Higher posted speed limits lead to drivers’ actual traveling speeds being increased, which can and does have fatal consequences. Accelerated driving speeds, combined with inexperienced drivers and heavy traffic areas, all culminate into a recipe for disaster.

The posted speed limit is 55 miles an hour due to heavy cross traffic on a long stretch of the highway between the Pennsylvania state line and Frederick, Maryland. There are multiple places where the road’s curves make it difficult to see vehicles trying to turn into traffic, or cross over the highway to the other side. On average, during my commute to work, the flow of traffic is traveling 70 miles per hour. As soon as the state line is crossed, however, traffic speed increases to just below 80 miles per hour. If the posted speed limits were lower, this would force drivers to slow down to avoid being pulled over. Most drivers don’t go more than 15 miles per hour over the posted limit. Additionally, slower speeds would facilitate smoother merging and crossing busy highways, reducing fatal