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Speed limit
A road speed limit is the maximum speed allowed by law for road vehicles.
Ignoring countries without a speed limit, the highest speed limit is 160 km/h (100 mph), experimentally posted on selected test stretches in Austria and the United Arab Emirates. Very few public roads have no speed limit.
The first speed limit was the 10 mph limit introduced by the Locomotive Act of 1861 in the United Kingdom (automobiles were in those days termed “light locomotives”). In 1865, the revised Locomotive Act reduced the speed limit to 4 mph in the country and 2 mph in towns. The 1865 Act is also referred to as the "Red Flag Act": the law required a man with a red flag or lantern walk 60 yards ahead of each vehicle, enforce a walking pace, and warn horse riders and horse drawn traffic of the approach of a self propelled machine. The replacement of the "Red Flag Act" by the Locomotive Act of 1896, and the increase of the speed limit to 14 mph has been commemorated each year since 1927 by the London to Brighton Veteran Car Run.
Some roads also have minimum speed limits, where slow speeds are considered to impede traffic or be dangerous.
North America
United States
American speed limit signs usually read "SPEED LIMIT XX", such as "SPEED LIMIT 50" for 50 mph (80 km/h). A minimum speed sign reads "MINIMUM SPEED XX", such as "MINIMUM SPEED 45" for 45 mph (70 km/h). Speed limits on United States roads are usually:
- 25–30 mph (40–48 km/h) on residential streets
- 35–45 mph (56–72 km/h) on urban arterial roads
- 50–65 mph (80–105 km/h) on major highways inside cities
- 45–65 mph (72–105 km/h) on rural two-lane roads
- 55–70 mph (88–112 km/h) on rural expressways
- 65–80 mph (105–129 km/h) on rural Interstate highways
Canada
Since 1977, Canadian speed limits have been in km/h - they were previously in mph. A sign reads "MAXIMUM XX", such as "MAXIMUM 80" for 80 km/h. A minimum speed sign reads "XX MINIMUM", such as "60 MINIMUM" for 60 km/h. Typical speed limits are:
- 30–50 km/h (20–30 mph) within school and playground zones
- 40–50 km/h (25–30 mph) on residential streets within cities and towns
- 60–70 km/h (35–45 mph) on major arterial roads in urban and suburban areas
- 80–90 km/h (50–55 mph) on highways outside of cities and towns and urban expressways
- 90–110 km/h (55–70 mph) on freeways and rural expressways
Note that where more than one limit is given per road, it usually indicates a difference between provinces; however, within provinces, different roads of the same classification have different speed limits. For example, in Alberta and Nova Scotia some freeways have a limit of 100 km/h, while others have a speed limit of 110 km/h (70 mph). In Ontario, all freeways have a maximum speed limit of 100 km/h unless there is a lower posted limit. Speed limits are generally lower in Ontario and Quebec on comparable roads than in other Canadian provinces, except perhaps British Columbia. Examples of this disparity include rural two-lane highways in Ontario which have a standard speed limit of 80 km/h, while comparable roads in other provinces have standard speed limits of 90–100 km/h. In rural western Ontario, however, some two-lane roads have speed limits of 90 km/h.
In British Columbia, a review of speed limits conducted in 2002 and 2003 for the Ministry of Transportation found that posted limits on investigated roads were unrealistically low for 1309 km and unrealistically high for 208 km. The reports recommended to increase speed limits for multi-lane limited-access highways constructed to high design standards from 110 km/h to 120 km/h. As described in that report, the Ministry is currently using "...Technical Circular T-10/00 [...] to assess speed limits. The practice considers the 85th percentile speed, road geometry, roadside development, and crash history."
In Canada, as in most other locales, speed violation fines are double (or more) in construction zones.
See Also
