18 hours ago, birdguy said:

https://www.speed-limits.com/newmexico

New Mexico Speed Limit - Residential Areas

The maximum speed limit on residential roads in New Mexico is 55 miles per hour. Residential roads have the most potential for speed-based accidents and collisions, so residential districts tend to have the lowest speed limits with the most strict enforcement policies.

Whoa, Nellie!!!  55 MPH in residential areas?  I guess it has to do having a lower population density.  Imagine the chaos here in San Francisco with a 55 MPH residential speed limit; we're talking about Mad Max:

 

 

 

Edited January 7, 20233 yr by Mike A

Residential areas is defined as a main highway going through a residential area.  Not city streets.

I-25 going through Socorro and Albuquerque is posted at 55.  Once you leave the city it will be posted at 65 for a few miles and then 75.

Noel

In  down under  oz  Residental speed limits  are  under  60 km  and  in   some  councils  30 km per  hour   and  on the  hwys   speed  range  from 100  to  110 km  per  hour so  there  is  a big  differance  🙂

On 1/7/2023 at 9:41 PM, Mike A said:

Whoa, Nellie!!!  55 MPH in residential areas?  I guess it has to do having a lower population density.  Imagine the chaos here in San Francisco with a 55 MPH residential speed limit; we're talking about Mad Max:

 

You should go to the UK and check out the crazy speeds on country lanes, Cotswold's etc. People walking, cyclists, animals, kids... and insane motorists at 60 mph. The road safety charity BRAKE has been trying to get something done for years, to no avail. There are idiotic, moronic drivers who think that if the speed LIMIT is 60 they are supposed to drive at 60. They think they are macho men if they can drive faster than everyone else on dangerous roads. 😡 

 

Quote

Per mile travelled, single carriageway roads (a.k.a rural roads) are the most dangerous roads for all types of road user. The default speed limit on rural roads is 60mph, a speed at which it is rarely safe to travel, on these often windy, narrow carriageways. We believe that speed limits should be based on the design of the roads and that's why, for rural roads we are campaigning for safe, not 60.

 

https://www.brake.org.uk/how-we-help/national-campaigns/our-current-campaigns/safe-not-60

Different where I live now of course. Our speed limits are 35, 25, 15 and 12 mph. Believe me, 35 mph is still fast given the narrow roads where barely two cars can pass, and numerous roads that are two way but single lane and rarely anywhere to pull over to let cars pass. Lots of cars have scrapes down the side, courtesy of granite walls and plenty of door mirror smashing action. 

Edited January 9, 20233 yr by martin-w

As a bit of contrast, Martin, our highway between Roswell and Ruidoso is 4 lane.  It's 70 mph until it drops into the Hondo River basin.  Then it drops to 60 with certain curves posted at 45.  But the traffic is so light you wonder why they made it 4 lane.  Even if I am driving 60 instead of the posted 70 in the section just outside of Roswell I seldom get passed because traffic is usually so light.  

Our main highways going north, west south and east are like that except there is a bit more traffic on the north-south highway.

We are almost 200 miles from the nearest interstate highway so unless people have a specific destination to go to in southeast New Mexico they don't use the highways here.

Most of the accidents on these highways are caused by drunk drivers...not speeders.  In town it's different.  Many drivers don't obey the posted limits.

Noel

 

Edited January 9, 20233 yr by birdguy

This is what I envisioned as being a residential area:

 

I just saw that movie a few evenings ago.

Streets in residential areas are posted.  The ones in my neighborhood are 30 or 35 MPH depending on how wide they are.  Downtown the speed limit is 25 MPH.  Some of the streets that come in from the farms and outlying areas are 40 to 45 MPH.

The link I posted were for highways.  When a highway that has a posted speed limit of 65 or 75 MPH enters a city or town limits it is considered a residential area and the speed drops to 55 MPH.  When you get closer to the center of some cities it drops to 45 MPH.

Once you enter the city limits the city law enforcement agency monitors the speed and write the citations.  Outside the city limits the state highway patrol monitors the speed and writes the citations but they can also cite violations of the main highways they patrol inside the city limits.

Once you approach a city or town and enter the city limits you are considered inside a residential area regardless of the type of highway you are on or what surrounds the highway be it fields and pastures, industrial buildings, or neighborhood homes.

I hope this clears that up.  

Noel

8 hours ago, birdguy said:

But the traffic is so light you wonder why they made it 4 lane.

Do you think it was originally because of the old missile silos which I see on the map?

No, Dougald, because they were made 4 lanes after I moved here and our local silo(s) (I've only ever seen one north of town when I flew over it) were gone by then.  There was another one that my wife's astronomy club used during their star gazing trips but I never went along.  There was a lot of highway construction going on after we moved here (about 26 years ago).

Noel

 

In Italy, it is the prices of petrol and diesel that take care of enforcing the speed limits on the motorways!

Petrol stations located along Italian highways have prices for a gallon (3.78 litres) of petrol, with the current Euro/US dollar exchange rate, about $8, while a gallon of diesel costs about $10.