Winslow, a Republican of Norfolk, testified Tuesday on behalf of a bill he’s sponsoring to raise the maximum speed limit in Massachusetts from 65 miles per hour to 70 miles per hour on parts of the Pike, I-91. and I-95.
“Our roads are designed for 70. Our cars are designed for faster than 65,” Winslow said at the hearing, according to the State House News Service.
“By having a law that’s on the books that’s not being enforced, we actually incur sort of a lawless approach to driving in Massachusetts, which makes it all the more fun,” Winslow continued. “But my hope is that we can at least join the majority of states by having the maximum speed be 70 rather than 65.”
So, are we really all that slow? It turns out that 11 other states share our same maximum speed limit, eight of them in the northeast, according to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety.
The rest of the country is split about half-and-half between 70 and 75 miles per hour.
That’s not nearly as brisk as one stretch of highway in Texas, where the speed limit is 85 miles per hour — the fastest road in America.
The only state with a lower maximum speed limit than Massachusetts? Hawaii, which maxes out at 60 miles per hour.
Slowpokes.
