SOUTH BEND — Drivers complain that speeds have been rising for more than 20 years, but just how fast do cars actually go on the bypass around South Bend? WSBT hit the streets to find out.

It's become a familiar theme in the game of life: first to the finish line wins. But when that finish line is on a local road, how fast is too fast? And which roads are the fastest?

MYTH OR TRUTH?

WSBT asked a group of local drivers which road they thought was the fastest in Michiana.

Of the 15 random people we stopped in downtown South Bend, 11 gave the same answer: the U.S. 20 Bypass.

And they all thought it was fast. Really fast.

Some thought the average speed on the bypass was in excess of 70 mph. Others said it was closer to 80, or even 85.

One put it a little more simply:

"I don't know how fast, but they're flying!" he said.

But are they? Or is it just drivers' perception that speeds on the bypass are faster than other local roads?

HEADED NORTH

We enlisted the help of St. Joseph County Police and Indiana State Police officers to try and find out.

St. Joseph County Police Corporal Jason Dziubinski clocks cars on the bypass every day as one of the county's two full time traffic patrol officers.

His expert opinion on the bypass' reputation?

"People probably do think they can drive faster on the bypass just because of the type of roadway it is. But there's not specifically one road that stands out. People go fast on all types of roads. I just see the problems all over," he said.

So to help prove it, we hopped in his unmarked patrol car and fired up his radar systems on the bypass just south of the Michigan state line. That's the spot where the speed limit drops from 70 mph to 65 mph.

We clocked the first 20 cars we saw.

Their average speed was 65.4 mph.

"Nobody's going too fast," observed Cpl. Dziubinski. "The fastest we've had so far was 72."

So we tried another batch of cars in the same spot.

After about five minutes of clocking, we couldn't find a single car going more than 70 mph. Then finally, Cpl. Dziubinski clocked one at 75 mph.

But despite that one car, the average speed on the even larger batch of cars was actually slower: 64.45 mph.

So we decided to switch spots.

MIDDLE OF THE ROAD

We headed east down the heart of the bypass near Michigan Street, and speeds did begin to increase. We clocked several cars above 75 mph, and even one above 80 mph.

The average on that stretch of the bypass was 68 mph.

But there's a catch for officers who patrol it: the concrete median that separates traffic for safety reasons means there's no space to turn around and pull a speeder over.

That includes Indiana State Police officers, who face the same challenges on other parts of the road, too.

EASTERN EDGE

We decided to continue heading east along the bypass, this time with 32-year veteran Indiana State Police Trooper John Hirschler.

When asked if the bypass was the fastest road he patrols, his answer was also simple.

"No," he said. "The Toll Road is much faster than the bypass. Troopers there will get cars consistently in the high 80s and 90s. Where here, a 90 is a very good clock on someone."

But Trooper Hirschler says speeds on a particular stretch of the bypass between the Ironwood Road and Elm Road exits can start creeping up.

And we saw them do exactly that on his radar system.

We clocked one line of cars after another, each with speeds well above 75 mph. The fastest of the groups was 82 mph.

The average speed of the cars we clocked while both moving and parked inside that stretch was still just 69.6 mph.

LOOKING ELSEWHERE

We asked Cpl. Dziubinski to help us check some other roads, too, so we could compare the average speeds of drivers on the bypass with them.

We began on a stretch of State Road 2, just west of South Bend. The speed limit there is 60 mph, and less than one minute after we began clocking traffic, we only found one car that wasn't speeding.

In fact we saw speeds ranging from 70 mph to 75 mph, and even one as high as 85 mph.

The average speed of the cars we clocked on that stretch of State Road 2 was 68 mph in a 60 mph zone.

We next headed back south of the bypass to U.S. 31 near Kern Road, where the speed limit signs are slower still at just 45 mph. Just a few hundred yards south the speed limit rises to 60 mph, so Cpl. Dziubinski says traffic headed north tends to be faster than traffic headed south.

And again, that's exactly what we saw.

Within two minutes of turning the radar cones on, we clocked a driver at 70 mph. Then we clocked several groups of drivers well above 60 mph. In fact, few drivers were even close to the posted speed limit, and not one was traveling under it.

The percentage above the speed limit on U.S. 31 was by far the largest of any of the groups of cars we clocked. The average speed was 54 mph. That's 9 mph over the limit.

ANALYZING THE RESULTS

The majority of the "fast" speeds 15 mph above the speed limit or greater did come on the bypass, particularly on the eastern stretch around South Bend.

But we clocked hundreds of cars along three sections of the bypass and found just 11 going above 80 mph.

On State Road 2 and U.S. 31 we clocked 11 cars going 15 mph over the posted speed limits within just a few minutes.

And while this "non-scientific" study doesn't include enough data to present a conclusive result on traffic patterns, it does prove the point both Cpl. Dziubinski and Trooper Hirschler stress before each shift: any road can turn into a race track at any time.

Both state troopers and local police departments will have extra officers on patrol over the Memorial Day holiday weekend, checking for seat belt violations, drivers impaired behind the wheel, and speeders.