Study: higher speed limits cause 1,250 deaths per year

55 mph limit abolished in 1995

Steve Hawley, Jul 23, 09.

Higher speed limits caused approximately 12,500 deaths and 36,600 injuries over a 10-year period after 1995, according to a new study cited in the New York Times.

The Times notes:

In 1974, hoping to reduce fuel consumption, Congress set a national speed limit of 55. After easing it in 1987, lawmakers got rid of it entirely in 1995, and since then the speed limit has risen in every state, the researchers said.

The study was based on highway fatality rates throughout most of the country. It found that while road deaths went down after the speed limit was lowered in 1974, they went back up an average of about 3 percent after 1995.

The lead author, Lee S. Friedman of the University of Illinois in Chicago, said, “The only explanation we can think of is the highway speeds.” He also remarked, “We survived for 20 years [with a 55 mph speed limit]. We were doing perfectly fine.”

In 2008, which was not included in the study period, 37,261 Americans died in traffic accidents, the lowest number since 1961. However, this was likely due to Americans driving significantly less due to record gas prices and the recession. Between 1995 and 2007, traffic deaths generally hovered between 41,000 and 43,000 each year. In 1994, the year before Congress repealed the national speed limit, slightly less than 41,000 people died in accidents.

3,382 of those deaths occurred in Texas, which allows 80 mph speed limits in some rural areas.

The study abstract concludes that “Reduced speed limits and improved enforcement with speed camera networks could immediately reduce speeds and save lives, in addition to reducing gas consumption, cutting emissions of air pollutants, saving valuable years of productivity, and reducing the cost of motor vehicle crashes.”

(Photo credit: JaseMan)

Comments

.(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) said:

I completely disagree with the conclusion of this study. Looking at the FARS data you can see other trends such as more vehicles on the road, more people driving, fewer passengers killed, virtually the same number of drivers killed each year, etc. The total number of deaths does not in any way prove that lower speed limits will reduce deaths. I think they’re extrapolating their own “facts” from this data to try and sell their own agenda. Whatever that is (power? control?). I love where they point out that Texas has 80 MPH speed limits in a couple counties, as if that was why 3,382 people died in those traffic accidents. This is another example of terrible extrapolation from data. Those deaths match the population of Texas when compared to the rest of the country. So you tell me if there’s an agenda behind this study.

Posted on Aug 16, 09 at 7:32 pm

.(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) said:

There are a number of factors at work here. Like you said, there are more cars on the road and vehicle miles traveled has been steadily increasing. However, better technology and safe driving campaigns have also offset some of those increases and prevented a number of fatalities.

FARS notes that “Half of all fatal crashes in 2007 occurred on roads with posted speed limits of 55 mph or more, as compared with 23 percent of injury and property-damage-only crashes.”

It’s a pretty straightforward conclusion: the faster we drive, the higher the likelihood of fatalities.

It seems to me the real question here is, how many of the fatal 55+ mph crashes would still have been fatal at 55 mph. Most of them, probably. Would it account for an extra 12,500 deaths over 10 years? That may be a large number, but really it’s “only” a three percent increase. The study’s conclusions don’t seem that outlandish to me.

As for Texas, we have 8% of the nation’s population and 9% of its traffic fatalities. Put another way, our per capita traffic fatality rate is 13% higher than the national average.

But Texans also account for 10% of the vehicle miles traveled in this country. So our per-mile fatality rate is lower than the national average.

But much of that VMT takes place in and around our heavily-congested cities, where speed limits are normally set at 55 mph or less to begin with. So there are an awful lot of variables here, but the basic premise seems pretty simple: the faster we drive, the more devastating the traffic accidents are.

Posted on Aug 17, 09 at 1:46 pm

.(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) said:

A thoughtful and insightful response. I still can’t accept that the increase in deaths is directly attributable to the increased speed limits as there are too many variables to isolate and control in this data. Maybe the weather was worse this year or maybe the roads were in worse disrepair or whatever. I believe that making a conclusion based on this 3% increase is very tenuous at best because it’s basically a wash.

The worst thing is when studies like this come out and considered the end all conclusion. Laws are then made based on them and the government becomes more tyrannical. A great example are the environmental speed limits Texas had to put in place because of clean air goals. Studies came out showing that the reduction in certain gases was negligible and Texas then banned future environmental speed limits (thank goodness). Texas urban areas are still plagued by 60 mph restrictions, which is just crazy in certain places (nice new I-10 and 59 for example). The speed limit should be 70!

Bottom line is roads are built for certain speeds and people drive at a “natural” safe limit (if you use the 85th percentile rule). Cars are safer than they have ever been and we need to stop making artificially low speed limits. People stop taking them seriously and drive what they feel is safe and practical. Honestly, how many people actually drove 55 when that was the speed limit?

I can’t help but feel that the government really isn’t that concerned with our safety and more concerned with revenue. If they were really concerned with safety they should focus on the real dangers such as speed variance, not using your blinker, drunk driving, distracted driving, reckless driving, too many trucks on the road, pot holes, etc. That is what is killing people, not going 70 in a 60 on I-10 W! Anyway, there’s my rant.

Posted on Aug 19, 09 at 9:52 pm

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