INDIANAPOLIS — Indiana State Police troopers made 120 traffic stops and cited a majority of those drivers for speeding during a two-hour ticket-writing blitz on the west side of Indianapolis Wednesday.
More than a dozen troopers, warned by lawmen with handheld laser speed detectors, pulled over drivers exceeding the 55-mile-per-hour limits on I-465 between 56th and 38th streets for two hours in the afternoon.
Sgt. John Perrine said troopers were stopping only drivers topping out at 75 MPH and above.
”We’re certainly not out here looking for the people who are minor speeding. We’re looking for the most egregious, most aggressive drivers who are really causing problems,” he said. ”We would like to lower that threshold but it’s really hard to go out and stop the people doing 10 over when we know a few seconds later there is somebody coming who is doing thirty over.”
Perrine said excessive speed is often to blame for road rage incidents.
”We have a group of drivers who want to drive slow in the left lane and say, ‘Hey, you’re not passing me. If I’m gonna drive the speed limit, you’re gonna drive the speed limit.’ And the other side of the selfish driver is, ‘I don’t care about anybody else. I’m gonna drive the way I want as fast as I want.’ We really need to get a handle on both of those.”
Perrine said troopers from across the state will be patrolling Indianapolis area interstates through the rest of this year engaging in occasional blitzes. …
Why can’t we go faster?
Why cant the speed limit of Indiana’s 465 beltway be increased over 55 mph?
Copilot
The speed limit on I-465, despite most drivers exceeding it, remains at 55 mph due to Indiana state law. Specifically, because I-465 is considered to be within an urban area, its speed limit cannot exceed 55 mph. The Indiana Department of Transportation (INDOT) has the authority to lower the speed limit if an engineering study demonstrates that a lower speed is necessary for safety or traffic reasons1. So, even though many drivers find the current limit too low, it remains in place due to legal constraints.
Interestingly, the real-world data supports the notion that drivers consistently exceed the speed limit on I-465. For instance:
96.3% of vehicles recorded at one spot on the northwest side of I-465 were going over the speed limit. More than half of the vehicles were recorded at speeds exceeding 65 mph, which is more than 10 mph over the limit1. While there have been discussions about implementing variable speed limits on parts of I-465, the existing legal framework keeps the maximum speed at 55 mph2. So, despite the bustling traffic and the urge to go faster, the beltway remains a place where the Racing Capital of the World meets the 55 mph speed limit1! 🏎️🚗
I part of why I posted this was awareness, and partly because it frustrates me.
I don’t know how you feel about traffic enforcement, but this is one of my least favorite ways law enforcement ‘serves us’. At the same time, I also recognize that there’s probably enough stories that justify it. If you or your family member were almost killed by some clown driving crazy on the interstate, you might be all for drivers getting stopped for 25 over speed limit.
So, most of me supports law and order, but I am also super irritated that the speed limit of 465 is so low. I feel like they want everyone to speed and get tickets. This isn’t a very mature attitude, but I cannot find any proper documentation to justify the super low speeds. Did you see the speed stats Copilot cited from one of those sources? Literally everyone goes faster on the beltway, and my opinion is that’s because 55 is too slow. I know the sayings ‘speed kills’ and stuff about faster moving cars don’t alleviate congestion, I still don’t think 55 is right.
There’s some pretty terrible design flaws of the beltway, like the transition from the Northside to the Northwest side (865 split) which constrains traffic and is backed up for a mile+ most days.
Am I the only one who’s frustrated about a lack of mobility, on top of the majority of the central population not being served by public transportation? It’s not like you can park at a metro stop in one of the suburbs and take a train into anything inside the beltway. Even if you took the bus, it would be an hour+ right?
I guess since this is based on a state law, the population would have to press their legislative reps to change the law. I can’t imagine there’s any realistic fix for all the suburban commuter traffic that still has to drive in/out of the beltway area and downtown. Good thing all the corps are continuing to push RTO to keep that boot on our necks…
I don’t think I’ve ever seen anyone outside of little old ladies actually drive the speed limit on 465 when traffic is moving.
That’s probably why they’re only pulling over people that drive in excess of 75 MPH. 75 is essentially normal speed, even in work zones.
Yeah this seems pretty reasonable to me? 20 over is well beyond just speeding a little bit. I understand culturally speeding on freeways has been accepted, but doing 20 over anywhere is asking to cause an accident due to the large speed differential with those actually obeying the law. Especially with the insane rate at which fatality rates climb as speed increases.