BEND, OR -- The new signs are up drivers seem pleased with higher speed limits now allowed on Highway 97 and other rural state highways. Oregon State Police Lt. Bill Fugate says speeding on the stretch between Bend and Redmond was enforced as a violation of the basic speed rule, until Tuesday. “Time of day, weather conditions, whether there’s lots of private driveways, cross traffic. So, we’d have to articulate those factors into play. With the speed limit, though, it’s a true speed limit. So technically anything over that is considered a violation.”
Lt. Fugate tells KBND News, “People were driving 65- to 70-miles an hour pretty consistently; 10 to 15 over the limit. Our only concern is that people will think, 'well I could drive 10-miles an hour over' when it was 55. Our concern is people thinking they can drive over 65.”