Seventy may be a number you see in neighboring states and even on the Ohio Turnpike, but for the rest of the state, it's 65 for a little while longer.
Interstate speed limits in Ohio would increase to 70 mph under a bill that a House committee passed Wednesday with bipartisan support.
Mike Fewell travels a lot for work and supports the five mile increase, ONN's Stephanie Mennecke reported on Thursday.
"If we got a place that doesn't have a lot of entrances and exits off the highway, I think 70 is fine," said Fewell.
Dave Lindow agreed and actually thinks most states could take their speed limits even higher than that.
"Nobody drives that slowly though and everyone seems to go 75. So if they're going to drive 75, why not make it 75," said Lindow.
Janette Grinstead also supports a speed increase. Grinstead said that she is visiting from Missouri and said that aside from having to slow down, she's seeing an even bigger problem.
"I just wish more people would drive in the slow lane when they are not passing. That's something Ohio could work on," Grinstead said.
That issue was in fact being addressed in the legislation. However, it was since been dropped and left the bill to focus on speed.
It's a topic that concerns the Ohio State Highway Patrol, Mennecke reported.
"We're currently expressing our concerns to the legislators that are working on this," said Ohio State Highway Patrol Lt. Anne Ralston.
Ralston said that the facts speak for themselves.
"We know at increased speeds, we have increased damage and increased injury when traffic accidents occur," Ralston said.
Also when it comes to traffic, Ralston said that Ohio has its fair share of trouble.
"We see the fourth largest freight traffic in the country coming across the state of Ohio with our main east west routes," Ralston said.
The bill now goes to the Senate, where a similar bill stalled last session.
Neighboring states such as West Virginia, Indiana, Michigan and Kentucky have speed limits of 70 mph. The Ohio Turnpike, which is run independently, raised its speed limit to 70 mph last April.
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