[Proposed by the National Motorists Association, 1-608-849-6000]
To provide a fair and reasonable national standard for the setting of speed limits
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
(1) The national maximum speed limit lacks public support and is hindering the application of engineering based speed zoning practices.
(2) Federally sponsored studies have repeatedly proven that the safest and most efficiently enforced speed limits are those based on the `85th Percentile Rule'--a speed limit that reflects and considers legal actions of normally prudent and reasonable drivers.
(3) The setting of speed limits below those acceptable to responsible motorists leads to large scale noncompliance, misallocation of enforcement and judicial resources and safety problems caused by erratic traffic flow.
(4) National speed limit standards that encourage the use of proven traffic engineering principles will permit the States and their respective local units of government to accommodate their unique travel environments. The result will be greater efficiency, enhanced safety, fairness, economic progress, and better use of enforcement and judicial resources.
(b) 85 Percentile Speed .--The speed at or below which 85 percent of free flowing vehicles are traveling.
(c) 67 Percentile Speed .--The speed at or below which 67 percent of free flowing vehicles are traveling.
(d) State.--The term `State' shall have the meaning given it in section 401 of this title.
(e) Free Flowing Traffic.--Vehicular traffic unencumbered by congestion, inclement weather, construction or maintenance, or law enforcement activity.
(f) Secretary.--The Secretary of Transportation.
(b) No speed limit shall be set below, to the nearest five mile per hour increment, the 67 percentile speed of free flowing traffic.
(b) Individual streets, roads, or highways or segments thereof that exhibit traffic speeds significantly different from those specified by statute shall be posted with separate speed limits that reflect 85 percentile speeds of free flowing traffic.
(c) No street, road, or highway shall be posted nor have enforced a speed limit lower than the 67 percentile speed of free flowing traffic.
(d) Exceptions to subsection (c) shall include construction and school zones.
(b) With the exceptions noted in section 7(d) of this Act, the Secretary of Transportation shall not approve any project under section 106 of this title in any State which has a maximum speed limit less than the 67 percentile speed of free flowing traffic, as determined by established traffic engineering practices.
(c) Each State shall certify to the Secretary before January 1 of each year that it is enforcing all speed limits on public highways in accordance with section 5 of this Act.