Need For Speed No Limits Download
Phillipp Schneeberger
A black and yellow speed sign is used with a hazard warning sign to advise motorists of a comfortable speed to navigate certain situations. For instance, when traveling on a winding road, the curve warning sign would be used with an advisory speed sign.
Ensuring the safety of children who cross public streets near schools is the responsibility of drivers, parents, school officials and road authorities. When combined with proven safety strategies, school zone speed limits can be effective.
The research, an update of a 2016 analysis, calls attention to the trade-off between a few minutes of saved travel time and the increased risk of fatalities. It comes as IIHS and the Governors Highway Safety Association prepare to host a forum on the speed problem.
The April 15-16 meeting to be held in Charlottesville, Virginia, and at the IIHS Vehicle Research Center nearby will bring together a diverse group of stakeholders to design a model speed management program. Highway safety advocates, researchers, and local, state and federal officials will speak about different approaches to the problem. The meeting will conclude with breakout sessions in which participants will brainstorm the building blocks of a speed management program and how it would be evaluated.
"About 10,000 people a year die in speed-related crashes," IIHS President David Harkey says. "We can reduce this toll through effective, high-visibility enforcement and traffic engineering measures. Reasonable speed limits also have a crucial role to play, as our new study demonstrates."
Maximum speed limits are set by the states, and they have been rising since the mid-1990s. Proponents of raising the speed limit often argue that such increases simply bring the law in line with reality, since most drivers exceed the limit. Once the limit is raised, however, drivers go even faster.
"Driving 70 instead of 65 saves a driver at best 6 minutes on a 100-mile trip," Farmer says. "Before raising speed limits, state lawmakers should consider whether that potential time savings is worth the additional risk to lives."
The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) is an independent, nonprofit scientific and educational organization dedicated to reducing deaths, injuries and property damage from motor vehicle crashes through research and evaluation and through education of consumers, policymakers and safety professionals.
The Highway Loss Data Institute (HLDI) shares and supports this mission through scientific studies of insurance data representing the human and economic losses resulting from the ownership and operation of different types of vehicles and by publishing insurance loss results by vehicle make and model.
There were 43,000 traffic deaths across the country in 2021, a 16-year high, according to data from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Most American drivers spent less time in their vehicles during the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic. But those who did drive the emptier streets were more likely to engage in dangerous behaviors such as texting, speeding, running red lights and driving under the influence, according to a 2022 report from the American Automobile Association.
Even with an advanced car, said Chuck Farmer, vice president of research and statistical services at the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, drivers who speed decrease the time available to correct their mistakes or react to the actions of other drivers.
While some drivers try to follow speed limits, they point out, many others ignore them if a higher speed seems safe and appropriate on a particular road. This can prompt the drivers who want to go faster to weave through traffic as they try to pass slower vehicles.
At least 15 states already have speed limits over 75 mph on rural interstates, and eight of those go up to 80 mph on certain segments, according to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety. The higher limits are particularly popular in Western states such as Nevada, South Dakota and Utah.
Some states, including Montana and Nevada, had no speed limits at all until 1974, when Congress and President Richard Nixon set a maximum of 55 mph on all interstate roads. A desire to save energy in the wake of the 1973 oil embargo, not safety, was the impetus for the 55-mph limit. But road fatalities dropped by 16.4% between 1973 and 1974.
The continued push for higher speed limits on rural highways comes at a time when more pedestrian and safety advocates are calling for lower speed limits on arterials and local roads, especially where pedestrians and cyclists are sharing the road with cars, Nelson said.
Environmentalists around the globe also are pushing for lower limits, even in places where speed is lauded as an integral part of the culture. In Germany, for example, where the Autobahn famously has no speed limit at all, environmentalists point to a recent government study showing that setting a limit of 120 kilometers per hour, or about 75 mph, would cut emissions by 6.7 million tons each year.
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A common misconception is that lowering speed limits alone may have little practical effect on driving behaviors for motorists. Most drivers choose a travel speed they feel comfortable with in relation to the conditions present, regardless of what speed is posted. To encourage safe travel speeds, a broader strategy should be implemented, including geometric changes that will encourage slower operating speeds, education, and enforcement components.
Unrealistically low speed limits could lead to more crashes by promoting two distinct groups of drivers: Those attempting to observe the speed limit, and those driving at what they feel is reasonable and prudent. Increased uniformity in vehicle speeds will decrease crashes by reducing the likelihood of tailgating, improper passing, and other forms of reckless driving.
Regulatory Speed Limits: Speed limits that have a special speed regulation and has been established in accordance with the Massachusetts General Laws (MGL) c.9018 and the MassDOT Procedures for Speed Zoning.
*Please note that statutory speed limits only exist in the absence of special speed regulations. If a special speed regulation exists, that posted speed limit will always supersede a statutory speed limit within a thickly settled or business district.
Advisory Speeds: Speeds that are recommended safe driving speeds to alert drivers of the maximum recommended speed through a curve, a winding road, or for other special road conditions. Advisory speeds are not enforceable since their intent is to advise motorists of an appropriate speed, not regulate it.
Work Zone Speed Limits: Speed limits within construction work zones are set to improve traffic flow and improve safety for motorists and construction personnel. Reduced speed limits are based on conditions such as lane closures, narrow lanes, unexpected changes to geometry, and other potential hazards. Speeding violations in work zones are subject to double fines.
There is broad consensus among global roadway safety experts that speed control is one of the most important methods for reducing fatalities and serious injuries. Speed is an especially important factor on non-limited access roadways where vehicles and vulnerable road users mix.
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