Speed Limit Legal Definition

These sample phrases are automatically selected from various online information sources to reflect the current use of the word “speed limit”. The views expressed in the examples do not represent the views of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us your feedback. National and local transport authorities recommend and set appropriate speed limits by conducting technical speed studies and following the guidelines set out in the MUTCD. Practitioners can also use a web-based tool called USLIMITS2, which provides objective second opinion and supports decisions to set speed limits. Sometimes authorities may need to implement speed management countermeasures to achieve the desired speed for a particular road (for example, in areas with high pedestrian and cyclist activity). Read the FHWA`s Speed Management Countermeasures: More than Just Speed Humps for more information on speed management countermeasures. States that rely solely on the basic rule, with no specific digital rural speed limit prior to the National Speed Restriction Act of 1974. [99] After the repeal of federal speed mandates in 1996, Montana was the only state to return to the basic rule for regulating rural speed in broad daylight. The Montana Supreme Court ruled that the ground rule was too vague to allow for the summoning, prosecution and conviction of a driver. The completion of the law was a violation of due process requirements set out in the Montana Constitution. [100] In response, the Montana legislature imposed a 75 mph (121 km/h) limit on rural roads in 1999. [101] In Germany, the first known experiments with variable speed limit signs took place in 1965 on a 30-kilometer German motorway, the A8 between Munich and the border city of Salzburg, Austria.

Mechanically variable message signs could display speeds of 60, 80 and 100 km/h as well as text indicating a “danger zone” or “accident”. Staff monitored traffic by video and controlled signage manually. [67] Beginning in the 1970s, other advanced traffic management systems were put into operation. Modern roadside control systems can operate without human intervention and use various types of sensors to measure traffic flow and weather conditions. In 2009, 1,300 kilometers (810 miles) of German motorways were equipped with such systems. [68] To be effective and respected, speed limits must be seen to be credible; They should be appropriate in terms of factors such as how the driver can see forward and sideways on a particular road. [22] Speed limits must also be consistent with road infrastructure, education and enforcement measures. [22] Prior to German reunification in 1990, accident prevention programmes in the East German Länder focused mainly on restrictive traffic rules. In the two years following reunification, the availability of high-performance vehicles and a 54% increase in motorized traffic led to a doubling of the annual number of road fatalities,[89] despite “transitional provisions that included maintaining the speed limit of 100 km/h (62 mph) on highways and 80 km/h (50 mph) outside cities.” An extensive program of the four Es (enforcement, education, engineering and emergency response) brought road fatalities back to pre-reunification levels after a decade of effort, while traffic regulations met Western standards (e.g., 130 km/h (81 mph) road recommendation limit), 100 km/h (62 mph) on other country roads). [90] Speed limits, and in particular some of the methods used to enforce them, have always been controversial.