Speeding Through Southern Utah? It’s Easier Than You Think
I've had my share of speeding tickets through the years, although none lately. At one point, I'd been pulled over on every major holiday.
That's a fact I'm kind of proud of, and also kind of ashamed of. But I'm older now and haven't gotten a speeding ticket in a decade or more (knock on wood).
I've found a big part of the battle is knowing what the speed limits are. I've been pulled over many times and the officer invariably asks if I know what the speed limit is. If the answer is, "I don't know, or "I'm not sure," that's when you know you have a problem.
Some examples:
Quick, without looking it up, what's the speed limit on St. George Boulevard?
If you said 40 miles per hour, you're wrong. Thirty-five? Nope.
The speed limit on the Boulevard is 30 (And yes, I did get pulled over on the Boulevard once, back in the 1990s at about 6 a.m. on a weekday. I didn't get a ticket, but I did get scolded for not knowing that it was a 30-zone (I was going 43).
How about the freeway speed limit, from milepost 2 through 13?
Nope, not 80 or even 75. It's actually 70 miles per hour.
The other day I was cruising along at about 70 when I came up on an 18-wheeler. I sped up a little to get past him and before I had even finished the pass a car was riding up my tail going significantly faster than both of us. I finished passing the truck and immediately moved over, at which time the guy behind me zoomed away.
No big deal, right? Except the guy in the 18-wheeler didn't like me moving over so quickly and gave me the "high-beam flash" a couple of times.
I was still going well over the posted speed limit, but apparently not fast enough for him.
Here are some other notable speed limit postings around our area:
- St. George Boulevard -- 30 MPH
- Bluff Street: 45 MPH
- Southern Parkway -- 60 MPH
- Telegraph/Red Cliffs Drive/River Road --- 50 up on Telegraph Hill and North, 35 in Washington City, 40 MPH from Red Cliffs Drive in front of the Mall and South
- SR 18 -- 45 on Bluff then turns to 60 MPH
- SR9 -- 60 MPH
- Dixie Drive -- 40
- Snow Canyon Parkway -- 40
- Mall Drive -- 45 MPH
- 700 S. -- 30 and 35
- All residential streets -- 25 MPH