Step on it! Virginia raising speed limits to 70 mph!

[brian]

March 4, 2010: Virginia to raise interstate speed limits!! Virginia will raise speed limits on certain interstate highways from 65 to 70 mph starting July 1, 2010, following a traffic engineering study. Virginia joins 32 other states with limits of 70 mph or higher. To compare speed limits in all states, go to And from the Insurance Institute of Highway Safety site on the page Maximum posted speed limits as of March 2010:

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Related stories:

From Virgina DOT site: Variance in Speed, Not the Speed Limit, Poses Greatest Risk on Interstate Roads which includes: Crash risk does not necessarily increase with an increase in speed, but is likely to increase with an increase in speed variance; Speed variance increases when the speed limit is set substantially below the design speed; And, higher speeds can increase the severity of an accident.
From Utah study: Utah DOT: No Downside to 80 MPH Speed Limit Increase which includes: Speed limit increase to 80 MPH on Interstate 15 in Utah results in no change in highway fatalities
From FHWA: The Safety Impacts of Differential Speed Limits on Rural Interstate Highways, FHWA-HRT-04-156