"morticide" > wrote in message
oups.com...
> This question came up in a friend's letter to the editor in my hometown
> newspaper. He had inquired with the state patrol about what the speed
> limit was on county gravel roads; the response was that it's the same
> as on the highways. The writer cited an incident in which someone was
> flying down the gravel at at least 50 and hit a dog...and kept going,
> right in front of witnesses.

Uhhhh . . . you are aware that driving slowly on gravel is a really bad
idea, right? Not only does it make the ride much rougher than it needs to
be (for you), but it's also tough on your car's suspension. For each gravel
road (all are different, obviously) there is a certain speed UNDER which the
ride will be extremely rough. Where I grew up, most gravel roads, you
needed to go at least 45-55 or so to smooth them out to a point where your
teeth weren't being rattled out of your skull. What happens is, when the
car reaches a certain speed, the tires are skipping across the tops of
bumps, averaging them out. Thus, below that certain speed, your car hits
EVERY BUMP, INDIVIDUALLY.

So if you are doing say, 50, which is the speed you NEED to go, on gravel,
and you hit a dog in front of witnesses, what do you do? Well I would hope
that you'd stop. But even if you stop, there is nothing that YOU can do,
personally, for the dog at that point. Me, I would have stopped. But maybe
this guy figured the witnesses were best equipped to take care of the dog,
and kept going. He was most likely RIGHT in that assumption.

>
> I used to live on a gravel road, and anything faster than 35 on most of
> them in northern Missouri is asking for trouble (dust, control loss).

Dust, definitely. Control loss? Totally depends on the individual road and
the skill of the driver. Driving on gravel is different from driving on any
other road surface. Either you have the experience to handle it or you
don't. If you DO have the experience to handle it, you do not drive slowly
on gravel, as that is a really bad idea.

> Some locations, probably by county law, post a 35 speed limit. The
> only gravel road I know of that has a posted speed limit higher than
> that is AK 11 at 50.

Many states have a default speed limit and unposted roads (such as almost
all gravel roads) would be subject to the default speed limit. Every state
I've lived in, gravel roads would be subject to the default of 55MPH, which
is good, as you need to go almost that fast on most gravel road surfaces.

> I would imagine that enforcement would be rare as it would be under the
> jusridiction of the sherriff's department.

Now that you mention it, I have not ever seen cops on speed patrol on
dirt/gravel roads. Not once, in my entire life. -Dave