Highway speeds of 81 MPH - safe and sound or reckless and dangerous?




Actual Screenshot from the
Telegraph Article Online

  Speed limits are based on common sense, right? Well, not really. For example, in Rockbridge County, VA, the speed limit on the interstates has recently been raised to 70 MPH. What many people fail to realize is that any speed above 80 MPH in VA can and will be charged as reckless driving, a serious criminal offense that can result in thousands in fines, license suspension, and jail.

At 81 MPH, many drivers in the Lexington, VA area find out that they are one mile per hour on the wrong side of the law.  But a recent article on Britain’s speed limits caught my eye because it revealed that in Italy and France, the speed limit is 81 MPH. The UK is considering an increase to 80, and parts of Texas are 80 MPH zones. But while it may be perfectly legal to cruise through the Pyrenees Mountains at 81 MPH, it will get you a criminal record in the Blue Ridge Mountains.

One has to wonder where a person can find more wide open spaces – France, or Appalachian Virginia. I suspect that roads in Virginia are at least as safe for high speed travel. It just goes to show that Virginia’s reckless driving speeding law makes criminals of people who are just doing what most would consider inoffensive and safe driving.