(Radio Iowa) - A move to raise the speed limit to 60 on Iowa highways where the posted speed is 55 has passed another hurdle in the statehouse.
The bill cleared the Iowa Senate in March of last year and a House subcommittee advanced it this (Wednesday) afternoon. Representative Megan Jones of Spirit Lake says there's a lot of interest among House Republicans in passing a bill to hike the speed limit. The Iowa Department of Public Safety is registered on the legislature's website as undecided on the bill, but a spokeswoman for the agency points to an Insurance Institute for Highway Safety report showing traffic fatalities go up eight percent for ever five-miles-an-hour increase in the speed limit.
The speed limits on the interstates that run through Iowa were raised to 70 in 2005.