When the limit has been fixed it is never fair to cross it. While fixing the limit, generally great care is taken to consider all the possible consequences of following or not following it, and all related issues to it.
I created a tool to make creating page titles a bit easier... mainly the counting characters part. Also I wanted a way to see how the listing would look in google. Although, I must admit, I go up to 71 characters with my page titles. If anyone wants to use it: http://www.statcentric.com/analytics/tools/google-search-preview.aspx
I don't believe in length for title or description. For me title and description should be relevant to page and also eye catching for high CTR.