Big news for those who like to get places quickly: On Aug. 1, the maximum interstate speed limit in North Dakota is going up to 80 MPH, a modest increase from the previous maximum of 75 MPH. While an extra five miles per hour doesn’t sound like a massive increase, it means more drivers can continue their habits but be within the letter of the law.
See, there’s this guideline in road planning called the 85th percentile rule, or the speed which 85 percent of drivers are travelling either at or below. As the Federal Highway Administration states, “Motorists traveling above the 85th percentile speed are considered to be exceeding the safe and reasonable speed for road and traffic conditions,” which makes sense. Setting speed limits at the 85th percentile means the overwhelming majority of drivers aren’t breaking the law, a sensible standard.
While the speed limit increase in North Dakota effectively only applies to interstates, in this context, an 80 MPH speed limit makes perfect sense. For one, North Dakota isn’t exactly the most densely populated state in the Union. Roughly 10.73 people per square-mile means there’s space for decent speed, and 80 MPH is decent indeed. In fact, it’s slower than what some European countries like France and Italy have as divided controlled-access multi-lane highway speed limits by roughly one MPH. It’s also perfectly aligned with the maximum speed limit in neighboring state South Dakota.
At the same time, this maximum speed limit increase has been paired with increasing the minimum speed ticket cost on interstates in North Dakota to $20, with an addition five-dollar penalty for every mile per hour beyond four miles per hour over the posted speed limit, and another $20 for speeds greater than 15 MPH over the posted speed limit. While not hugely punitive, greater fines could compensate for lost revenue by going after those seriously flouting what, by all accounts, is a fairly sensible speed limit.
This change in law means North Dakota will be the sixth state to have an 80 MPH maximum on select stretches of interstate, and while that’s still a fairly small number of jurisdictions, it means we’re a long way from the days of the double nickel. How’s that for progress? On a properly divided controlled-access highway without sharp bends, especially one that’s away from built-up areas, 80 MPH seems reasonable and prudent given advancements in vehicles over the past few decades, particularly better brakes, vastly improved tire compounds, and the mandatory implementation of electronic stability control. If a significant chunk of drivers are already going that fast, why criminalize it?
Top graphic credit: Deposit Photos
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80 is fine, 85 would be better. This isn’t the 70’s anymore, cars are faster, safer and more aerodynamic (mostly). Time has a value.
I grew up in Nodak. I remember when limits were raised to 75 mph and everyone was stoked.
Then I remember SoDak bumping up to 80 mph, but as a deeply red state, also raised their gas tax in conjunction? Something that definitely fell under the radar.
I’m now a proud MN resident who has lived here longer than I did in ND, and raising gas taxes here is a forbidden topic it seems.
This should make it easier to flee the interview. I just want to be in compliance.
Meh. South Dakota has been 80 for at least 15 years. The first time I drove across it I was actually surprised how few people exceeded that speed significantly. At 5 over you were passing about 95% of the other traffic on the road.
I don’t know if that’s still true though because these days I’m towing my trailer and don’t go much over 65 in the interest of not prematurely expoding my garbage trailer tires.
The highest speed limit in my state is 65, set your cruise control to 75 in the right lane, and traffic still blows past on the left like you’re standing still. Except on one particular bridge, where all 3 lanes always seem to inexplicably slow to 45 despite the speed limit staying exactly the same, not sure why everyone does that, but as someone who typically crosses that bridge several times a day, it gets annoying
Parts of I-15 in rural Utah are signed at 80mph as well.
And there you are, tooling along at 80mph+, when a semi-truck going 66 mph decides to pass a semi-truck going 64mph… on an uphill grade.
Happens.
Every.
Time.
This should be illegal
And yet it’s not. Dangerous, stupid, irritating, but sadly not illegal provided there’s nobody in the left lane when the trucker starts to move. Even knowing several UHP officers I don’t think any of them have ever pulled a trucker for making that move, pulled me for the dealership thinking there wer 30 days in February when I bought a car so put the expiration on the temp tag as such, but not the truckers at least if they can help it.
Utah was the first state to try a stretch of 80 mph interstate as a “trial” and I drove through there shortly after that took effect.
Note: Also neighboring state Montana has an 80mph speed limit too.
😮
They used to have no speed limit at all!
Do note that while the average pop density is 10 per square mile (a trivial statistic), I’m guessing the median is a lot lower than that. And that is a harder number to determine. The median county pop is 3800, and the density there is about 3 people per sq-mi. Only 14 of 53 counties have more than 10000 people. Point is, MOST of ND is sparsely populated. And, I’m guessing that in Fargo and Bismarck, the speed limit will be lower, cuz logic.
Also, I’d prefer that the speed limit be more variable due to weather. I mean, the August start for this new speed limit means only a week or two before the snow arrives.
Nice! It’s a bucket-list item for me to get my Geo Tracker somewhere where I can max out the 90-mph speedometer in relative legality, which really means at least an 80-mph limit. Nothing that high in Canada, and the closest I’ve gotten is ~81 mph in a 75-mph zone in Michigan’s UP
$20?!?!
Same as downtown.
My wife grew up in rural ND and for the longest time never let her car get below 1/4 of a tank of gas. In winter if you run out of gas in rural North Dakota before cell phones, you die.
I grew up in a rural area (not ND, though) and that 1/4 tank rule is very real. I still stand by it.
Yup. And I always keep a down parka and a blanket in my trunk during the winter (along with obvious things like tow strap, first aid, etc)
The wool blanket and winter coat and ice scraper never leave my jeep.
As far as a higher speed limit, I don’t Minot. Just don’t Fargo your inspection, a Grand Forks itself over pretty quickly to the mechanic if you’re Hettinger too hard on the highway. BOTTINEAU, you want to drive fast!
I Williston take your advice.
I recommend Autos von Bismarck on 4th Ave, he specializes in German stuff but will tackle anything.
I’d say that if you went over the 80mph Max on the Streeter in Towner, that would be rather Cavalier of you – You might just as well be doing the Cannon Ball.
North Dakota has a beauty of its own. Sometimes the highway is the only man made thing you will see. Also there is really only 2 interstate highways and one hugs the Minnesota border. At least now you can cut 16 minutes off the drive from Medora to Fargo.
Interstates in west Texas have a posted speed limit of 85mph but realistically the speed limit is typically whatever your vehicle can maintain. To be fair though it’s arrow straight with minimal elevation changes and nothing to see for miles. You might see a small scrub or cactus from time to time and there’s this yellow stripe you can look at along with a white stripe to stare at after you get bored with the yellow one.
On clear sunny days where the wind is calm (rare) it’s common for people to match or slightly exceed the limit on 94 and 29 through ND, on very windy days (more common than they should be) a lot of traffic tends to go 5 or 10 below. Fun side note, on those very windy days I’ve seen more than 30% drop in fuel mileage going into the wind at highway speed.
On one of my trips through west Texas I had a headwind, going up a slight inclination, and had a motorcycle in the back of my 4cyl Tacoma and couldn’t get anywhere near the 85mph posted speed. I felt like I’d been robbed!!!
They get enough cold for that to be a factor as well.
My truck’s usually good for 15mpg with the cruise set at 74. Its record low was going straight into ~45mph wind at -3 degrees. It wouldn’t reliably hold 74 in 6th gear, and scored right at 8.5mpg in 200ish miles. Unpleasant.
I drive a Wrangler. Driving in ND on a windy day SUCKS!
Not a big problem for me.
Seriously you’re just as dead in a wreck at 70mph as you are at 80mph.
OTOH, look up WKRG5.com. A semi hit a line of 3 cars stopped at a red-light a couple days ago. A dash cam caught it all. Just an unbelievable disaster, guy was doing an easy 55, never hit the brakes…2 dead, 2 critically injured. Hard to believe anyone survived. Truck driver is now in slammer charged with manslaughter, DA is looking to upgrade it to murder. (A good idea). FBI has entered the investigation.
Wish I could embed the video, probably will end up soon on You Tube.
With all respect to the truckers here, there’s a reason I stay as far away from you guys as possible.
Stupid and incompetent are pretty universal when it comes to driving skills.
Speeding tickets start at close to 200 bucks here.
Here is the link
https://www.wkrg.com/alabama-news/clarke-county/multiple-people-killed-in-clarke-county-crash/
And apparently the truck driver was Russian.
Which makes sense given how his Russian around led to a crash..
He has been identified as from Ukraine in the local news as well.
Frances McDormand’s character was a police chief in Minnesota.
But that famous woodchipper is now the biggest tourist attraction in North Dakota.
I was in Minneapolis a few years back. I actually seriously thought about driving 4 hours each way to see the woodchipper.
I wonder if LEOs named Lou get tired of people not being sure they agree one hundred percent with their police work there.
“Bake ’em away, toys!” –Wiggum
“What’d you say, chief?” – Lou
They could raise the speed limit to 100 mph there and you still wouldn’t get anywhere fast.
I drove across ND and MT four times in 2 weeks once for work (two round trips from Idaho to Grand Forks, ND). This seems like a fun increase for car enthusiasts, but I can assure you that there’s likely no speed that will make that journey interesting or desirable.
I made that drive exactly once… After Idaho, I was grateful for Bismarck of all places because I finally found a building that was taller than two stories. A whole lot of nothing on that drive.
“If a significant chunk of drivers are already going that fast, why criminalize it?”
Just spit balling here:
One potential reason: This just raises the 15-20 over speeders are willing to risk. So now the 85th percentile goes up to 85 mph instead of the previous 80 mph.
Another potential reason: Weather. ND gets some nasty weather and raising the speed limit may encourage drivers with poor bad weather driving skills and terrible judgement to go faster than conditions permit.
Yet another potential reason: Higher speed gradients. Does anyone think a loaded RV on dry rotted tires or loaded semis can safely go 80 mph? Such vehicles incapable of safely sustaining the new speed limit are now going to be passed by even faster cars.
I’m not saying this is a bad idea. Only time (and statistics) will tell that.
I feel like, despite the outcry, mandatory vehicle inspections, even if only for a brief few years and focused on low-hanging fruit, would make the roads far safer than many of the measures that are implemented across the US.
Even if the inspection were empirically easy-to-measure and pass: measured tire depth, brake material thickness, overall structural soundness (e.g. functional latches, no rusted through-holes), wipers present (and blade in one piece), and all external lights functional… It would be hard to justify allowing these vehicles on the road knowingly unsafe.
But I could also see about 20% of Detroit’s vehicles failing structure, 40% of Florida’s for safe tires, and 50% of Phoenix’s for wipers that hadn’t yet succumbed to the heat.
But, muh freedom! To drive something unsafe to the people around you. Was driving through Tennessee in a 280zx and watched road rage from a sketchy f150 with a landscape trailer vs a super sketchy Trailblazer. Got off the interstate at the next exit.
The iterative change from speed limit increases has been studied. It diminishes quickly.
Turns out alot of people go the speed they’re comfortable driving regardless the posted limit.
I’d be all for graduated speed limits, and especially full on speed limiters in large vehicles. If someone is cruising along in a vehicle built for the autobahn at 100+ on some middle of nowhere interstate, whatever. The RVs and semis you mention, or any lifted vehicle going even 75 in traffic- Nope, nopitty nope.
The speed differential shouldn’t be any big deal of cars going 85mph passing semis and such that are even going as low as 60mph, except that people suck at driving…
Every time there is talk about increasing the speed limit, there is the same old tired argument: “But people are already driving too fast, now they will drive even faster. Hide yo wife!”
The truth is that the greater the reflection of traveling reality, the greater the compliance. Sure, some will drive even faster but then they don’t really care about rules anyhow. Up where I live max interstate limit is 65, which is utterly ridiculous and no, no one goes 65, hardly anyone is going 75. Around 80-85 seems like a good travel speed for most. With a proper speed limit, when it is time to drop it to 65 or 55 because of the area, (most) people will comply instead of just carrying on. Also, when you can travel at comfortable, normal speed legally, you begin to pay attention to the road not constantly scanning for Leos or taking stupid chances.
And what about that RV doing 80mph? I don’t get why we cannot have graded speed limits (some states do). An 80k lb truck (and so maybe an RV/Bus) should not be going 80mph, just that simple. A speed limit is just a limit. We do have a minimum speed limit, too, and an interstate should accommodate all that travel within.
For weather, how about variable electronic speed limits, like they have in many places around the world where applied technology is not just a pipe dream like it is here.
I do however think that our driver’s ed and vehicle inspections need to seriously improve. Going fast is easy. Knowing where, when and how is not at all intuitive.
My state of California does have such graded speed limits. Vehicles with 3+ axles and anything towing is limited to 55 mph on freeways. The highest speed is *only* 70 mph though and 65 in more populated areas. How well people adhere to those limits changes but most of the time I find I can cruse at 5-10 below or at 55 with the big trucks in the right lane without a problem.
In my experience, the safest interstates have high limits but strict enforcement. I don’t know about North Dakota, but I’ve driven a lot in Texas with 75-80 mph limits and pretty strict enforcement (or at least seemed like it cops everywhere frequently with vehicles pulled over). The results is about everybody on the road is going somewhere between 5 under and 5 over. The east coast seems the opposite low limits (65 mph or less) and seemingly no enforcement so people are running between 60 and 85.
People will go 10 over, so now we’re talking 90, and it looks like ND doesn’t require vehicle inspections. So there will be people in rusted out husks with bald tires flying along at 90. If they were only killing themselves, whatever, but these people will cross into oncoming traffic and/or have kids in the car with them. Sounds real safe. As if I needed another reason not to visit ND.
Asking for a friend… instead of only exceeding the speed limit by 5mph under the new law, should this friend adjust their customary highway speed to 90 mph?
Be careful, you are now risking a $45 speeding ticket by doing so.
The horror!
Unless your broke, 45$ is barely anything. I would be sacrificing… about 1 trip to the movies or about 3 meat lovers pizzas.
I think 45$ is too low, especially at these speeds. They gotta make it actually hurt, for people to stop.
Yes, this was my point.
The starting point should be at least 150$, if not much higher, at these speeds.
You guys need the income based speeding tikets like here in Nordics. Stings equally rich and poor.
That’s one that I always secretly agreed with — as much as people here say “We could never imitate Finland (etc) with our giant country” I feel like speeding tickets based on income AND the momentum of the vehicle would be logical.
The second one is probably even more applicable here because, in my objective opinion, someone going 90mph in a 6,000lb SUV is far more dangerous than someone going 90mph in a 2,200lb Miata. It only makes sense that we include the “potential danger” metric in the fines.
But that would force police departments to admit it’s not just a tax on visitors, which is exactly what it is in many places.
“You guys need the income based speeding tikets like here in Nordics”
The Swiss do that too!
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-10960230
So if my math is mathing, 100 mph would only cost $115, 150 mph would cost $365, and 200 mph would cost $615.
Hang on, brb.
100 mph is $120 by my math, but that’s definitely a much better deal than the reckless driving charge I’d get here.
$20+ $5 for each of 15 mph from 85-100 = $95 + the extra $20 is $115.
If it’s $120 though, I don’t think it will break the bank.
84 miles per hour plus the 16 to get to 100. The numbers 85 through 100 counting both 85 and 100. But, yeah, that $5 is definitely within the margin of error on the radar anyway.
Didn’t Paddy G go to the slammer for less?
Viper speed test?
Good!
Having done far too much time in that God-Forsaken land for work, the faster you can get out of North Dakota, the better.
We all appreciate the opportunity of spending less time in North Dakota
I’m sure they’d be glad to have you skip the state entirely.
The best Dakotas, in order, are
-Dodge
-Fanning
-South
-North
No wall drug in North D so that makes it a bit better.
Hell yeah. Will never happen in my state, they are allergic to “speed”.
I’m glad we haven’t done this in Pennsylvania. 70 is plenty without sacrificing too much fuel economy…or making bad crashes even worse.
You’re free to not travel that fast as long as you’re traveling above any posted minimum requirements…
Pennsylvania is one of the most densely populated states in the Country. i90 going through Eastern Washington passes through several counties with a density of 0-5 people per square mile. Higher speeds would be absolutely fine.
And the reality is that a lot of people do go 80 on I-90 on the dry side.