Despite warnings from safety advocates, the Utah Senate told drivers to hit the gas Friday, voting to raise the speed limit by 5 mph on highways and reduce the time that turn signals need to be used.

"We're trying to improve the traffic flow here. You can debate whether it's going to do it or not, but that's what this is about," said Sen. Scott Jenkins, R-Plain City.

Senate Bill 17 passed 17-6 and will require one more vote in the chamber before moving to the House. Besides raising the speed limit, it would allow police officers to speed without flashing their lights.

Jenkins's bill has been criticized by national safety advocates who claim higher speeds lead to more crashes.

"I personally have been getting a lot of contact and e-mail about the speed limit and can't support the bill because of the speed-limit increase," said Sen. Scott McCoy, D-Salt Lake City.

Jenkins said speed limits wouldn't automatically go to 70 mph in all urban areas or 80 mph in all rural areas. The state Transportation Department would do a study on accident histories, typical speeds and other road conditions.

He dismissed arguments that changing the speed limit would lead to more accidents, pointing to a 1992 federal study that showed driving habits changed little when limits were raised or lowered.

By 1974, all states had adopted a 55 mph maximum limit following concerns over tight oil supplies. In 1987, Congress allowed states to increase speed limits on rural interstates to 65 mph.

A 1995 federal law repealed the maximum, allowing states to set their own. Nearly three dozen have raised their limits to 70 mph or higher.

In 1996, the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety studied the impact of higher speed limits in Texas and California.

In Texas, 15 percent of drivers on three urban highways and an urban interstate were traveling faster than 70 mph before speed limits were increased. After the limit was set at 70 mph, 50 percent of drivers were going faster.

In California, the study found 29 percent of drivers were traveling faster than 70 mph before that state's law was changed. After the speed limit was raised to 65 mph from 55 mph, 41 percent of drivers topped 70.

Jenkins' bill would allow drivers to activate turn signals for just two seconds instead of three. It also would require slow-moving vehicles to get out of the left lane and yield to faster drivers.

"We'll take some of the confrontation out of this and make it so you move to the right and let traffic flow. ... This will result in fewer deaths and better flow of traffic," he said.

The bill would also define an offense called "careless driving," which would occur:

if a driver commits two or more infractions during a single driving session, or

if one infraction is committed while the driver is distracted by some other activity, such as talking on a mobile phone or eating.

That definition could allow for some zealous enforcement, noted Sen. Scott McCoy, D-Salt Lake City.

He posed a hypothetical situation: Say you're driving down the road with a drink, and you get pulled over for speeding. Would that be careless driving?

"My concern is that we just don't have a bunch of commuters from Davis County getting tickets for careless driving because they're having their morning coffee and they may be a little over the speed limit," McCoy said.

"I can't answer that," Jenkins said. "You've asked something that was never brought up. I will commit to check into that. ... We didn't mean to go there."

The final Senate vote could come as soon as Monday. Then it would go to the House of Representatives.

Daily Herald reporter Alan Choate contributed to this story.

SB17 Traffic Code Amendments:

Sen. Scott Jenkins, R-Plain City

Increases the maximum speed litmus to 80 mph in rural areas and 70 mph in urban areas

Unmarked police patrol vehicles can be used on highways with at least four lanes; police cars can speed without using emergency lights

Drivers in the left lane cannot impede traffic

Reduces required following distance to the two-second rule, and reduces the time to signal a turn to two seconds

A driver would be guilty of careless driving if he or she commits an infraction while using an electronic device; eating, drinking or smoking; searching for something, physically attending to a passenger, or taking care of hygiene or grooming needs.