A bill to increase the top speed limit in Wisconsin to 70 mph got a boost Tuesday when the state Assembly signed off on it, sending it over to the state Senate.
The bill would only increase the speed limit to 70 mph on the state’s four-lane highways, up from 65 mph. The current speed limit was established in 1973 when the federal government forced states to decrease their speed limits due to fuel shortages. That regulation was lifted in 1995.
The bill’s author, Rep. Paul Tittl, R-Manitowoc, said in a statement that Illinois, Iowa, Indiana and Utah all found a decline in traffic fatalities after their states increased the speed limit.
“With people choosing to live further from their jobs, this bill will get them home a little sooner and just as safely,” Tittl said. “However, this change is not primarily about getting from one place to another faster. It’s about safety.”
Wisconsin is the only state in the Midwest to have a highway speed limit as low as 65 mph.
The bill would bring Wisconsin to the same limit as neighboring states, which Rep. Scott Allen, R-Waukesha, said will help Wisconsin’s tourism and road safety.
“Wisconsin has a huge tourism industry, and the increase in the speed limit will allow for quicker trips to peoples’ cabins and bring more tourism into Wisconsin,” Allen said.
Allen said the state’s Department of Transportation would have the authority to pick which highways would see its speed limits increase.
But American Automobile Association spokesperson Nick Jarmusz said an increased speed limit might cause more car accidents and fatalities for Wisconsin drivers, with those accidents causing fatalities rather than minor injuries.
Jarmusz said the increased accidents that could happen could also lead to more fatalities as opposed to minor injuries, with people driving faster under higher speed limits.
“When people drive at higher speeds, there is more chance to lose control, and if you add speed to other bad driving habits, the risk to drivers compounds,” Jarmusz said.
Jarmusz also raised concerns over the impacts the proposed speed limit increase would have on truck drivers. The bill would result in an increase in semi-truck stopping distance up to one hundred extra feet, he said.
That stopping distance, he said, could increase fatalities not among the truck drivers, but those in other cars.
Allen said skeptics’ concerns are based more on fears than numbers, but Jarmusz said Wisconsin highways’ good reputation could be tarnished if the speed limit increases.
“In 2014, Wisconsin highways had fewer than five hundred deaths, the lowest since World War II,” Jarmusz said. “We are proud of Wisconsin highways and we are concerned this may be a step in the wrong direction.”
The Department of Transportation estimates the total amount to update highway signage is $238,663.36 to replace speed limit signs and add new warning and advisory signs.
The Assembly passed the bill on a 76 to 22 vote. The Senate would need to pass it before it eventually reaches Gov. Scott Walker’s desk.
