While the state Legislature considers a bill to increase freeway speed limits to 70 mph, those who wrongly oppose that bill should read this from MLive:

Traffic experts say that motorists tend to drive at a speed they feel comfortable, regardless of the posted speed limit. And according to Michigan Department of Transportation spokesman Rob Morosi, comfortable drivers generally make for safe roads.

“There’s a misconception that the faster the speed limit, the more dangerous the road,” said Morosi, “and that’s not necessarily true. Speed limits are most effective when the majority of people driving are comfortable at that speed.”

Republican state Sens. Rick Jones of Grand Ledge and Tom Casperson of Escanaba are working on legislation that would require speed limits around the state to be based on the results of traffic studies.

Jones told MLive that he wants to eliminate speed traps — areas where artificially low limits results in high numbers of tickets — and his proposal could result in high-end freeway speeds of 75 or 80 mph.

The Michigan State Police and Michigan Department of Transportation already conduct such studies on highways across the state. They consider road design and climate conditions, and they generally set speed limits at or below the rate at which 85 percent of motorists travel.

Both agencies believe that speed limits on several Metro Detroit highways remain unnecessarily low at 55 mph. And both feel that some rural freeways could potentially handle higher speeds than the current legal limit of 70 mph.