EDITORIAL
Outmoded speed limits need tweaking

As the state's ill-fated traffic camera program does its dance of death, Gov. Ben Cayetano is finally conceding that the speed limits on some stretches of the H-1 and H-3 freeways should be raised by at least 5 mph.

It seems a tad backward to review speed limits after launching — and then repealing — an unpopular program to nab speeders via roadside camera vans.

But at least the furor over the program demonstrated to state officials the need to bring an outmoded threshold into sync with today's flow of traffic.

If anything, the data gleaned from speeding tickets doled out in recent months suggest that driving 5 to 10 mph above the posted limit is common along the open roads of Hawai'i, where most speed limits haven't changed since 1936.

Thanks to advances in engineering, our roads are much safer for higher speeds than they were six decades ago.

Of course, for safety reasons, slow-speed zones must remain around schools and other areas with vulnerable pedestrian traffic. And there are some scary on-ramps, such as the eastbound H1 at University Avenue, where a slowdown would help entering vehicles merge into the freeway traffic flow.

So we welcome the state Department of Transportation's review of speed limits, and hope the DOT also looks at making adjustments on the Pali, Likelike and Kalaniana'ole highways, where the speed limit ranges from 35 mph to 45 mph.

Sure, 35 mph makes sense in areas with pedestrian traffic. But outside the residential areas, the threshold on these grade-separated highways could easily be bumped to 55 mph without posing unreasonable danger.

As for the freeways, a limit of 65 mph would be a lot more realistic.