The fast fracture behavior of polyethylene, polycarbonate and poly(methyl methacrylate) are compared for two different thicknesses of material. The aim was to make fracture measurements under precisely defined steady load conditions after the material has reached a stress relaxed state. It was essential that the experimental technique provided good isolation between crack initiation and crack propagation. This was achieved in small rectangular shaped specimens by adding a tongue to one side extending the intended crack path. A fast, crack was initiated in the tongue to propagate into the main section after it had been loaded and allowed to stress relax. When necessary the tongue was embrittled by cooling so a crack can be initiated with minimum force. This new method obtains the threshold load to just maintain crack propagation and also the increase of crack velocity with load above this threshold up to the limiting condition.