Speed limits are put in place to keep the public safe. They’re usually thoughtfully calculated based on the road’s conditions, and typically appear in multiples of five. However, one zoo has a bizarre speed limit of 9.5 miles per hour, and the reasoning behind it is actually quite clever.
The zoo in question is the Cape May County Zoo in Cape May, New Jersey, and a video of a woman questioning its odd choice as she drives by was uploaded on YouTube. A transportation engineer came across it and explained why a speed limit like that likely exists.
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TikTok user Mr. Barricade, whose real name is Vignesh Swaminathan, is a transportation engineer in the California Bay Area. In his addition to the original TikTok video, he explains that the road the sign is placed on is likely a low-volume road without centerlines, which tends to make people subconsciously speed more due to a greater perceived width.
@mrbarricade##stitch with @gilbertandsullivan 🚸we do a lot of ##trafficengineering tricks to subconsciously make users ##drive safer ##civileng ##urbandesign ##speedin♬ original sound – Mr Barricade
However, by placing a sign with such an unusual speed limit, it catches drivers’ attention and makes them more aware of their speed, therefore making them less likely to break the speed limit. So while that number could have just as easily been 10 mph, whoever designed the road knew it wouldn’t grab your attention as well as 9.5 mph.
So, if you ever come across a road with an unusual speed limit in the future, you’ll now know that it’s likely designed more to make you pay attention to your speed rather than be an arbitrary number for the sake of it.