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Study links higher speed limits to increase in driver deaths

June 4, 2019
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Ruckersville, VA — Speed limit increases resulted in 36,730 driver fatalities from 1993 to 2017, a recent study from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety shows.

After analyzing speed limit and traffic fatality data from each state, Charles Farmer, IIHS vice president for research and statistical services, determined that raising the maximum speed limit by 5 mph accompanied an 8% increase in fatality rates on interstates and freeways, and a 3% increase on other roads.

Six states have 80 mph maximum speed limits, the researcher found, and some roads in Texas permit travel at 85 mph.

“About 10,000 people a year die in speed-related crashes,” IIHS President David Harkey said in an April 4 press release. “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.”

As of December 2017, the maximum speed limit was 70 mph or higher in 41 states. In January 1993, the maximum speed limit was 55 mph for eight states and the District of Columbia, and 65 mph for the rest of the nation.

“Driving 70 instead of 65 saves a driver at best six-and-a-half minutes on a 100-mile trip,” Farmer said in the release. “Before raising speed limits, state lawmakers should consider whether that potential time savings is worth the additional risk to lives.”

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Richard Jones
June 5, 2019
The work of Charles Farmer and the IIHS has been repeatedly debunked, most famously in this clearly foot noted and well researched study, which can be viewed here: https://object.cato.org/sites/cato.org/files/pubs/pdf/pa346.pdf The IIHS which is directly tied to "big insurance" has an interest in keeping speed limits artificially low because insurance companies can use citations issued for traveling at perfectly safe speeds as an excuse to increase rates on otherwise perfectly safe drivers. (In fact, traveling at a speed below the flow of traffic is actually MORE dangerous that "speeding" with the flow of traffic.) And just one point to consider about Farmer's claim about saving only 6 1/2 minutes on a 100 mile trip, this is disingenuous as the IIHS actually would be perfectly happy to bring back the 55 m.p.h. NMSL. On a 400 mile trip it would require 8 hours of driving time to cover that 400 miles at an average speed of 50 m.p.h. (achievable with a 55 m.p.h. limit). However at an average speed of 75 m.p.h. (achievable with an 80 m.p.h. limit) that same 400 miles now requires only 5 hours and 20 minutes (minus 1 second for those who like precision). That 2 hours and 40 minutes is more than enough to make a substantial difference between a driver completing his trip awake and alert, as opposed to being dangerously fatigued. There are many other arguments that can be made for higher speed limits as well however in the interest of brevity I will omit them from this post. D. Richard Jones, Clackamas, Oregon, Founder and Executive Director, Oregonians for Speed Limit Reform.
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Michael
June 7, 2019
Intentionally misleading article. Speed may be a factor in the deaths counted here where drivers traveling 50 mph in a 30 mph zone running red lights caused the fatalities. In most of these deaths the 70 mph speed limit had no role in these cases. Most fatalities happen on surface streets where cars intersect, not on rural interstates where the described speed limits are posted. Why does the NSC continue to post inaccurate data. Come clean and cite percentages of deaths and the posted speed limits and the type of roadway where these deaths occur. Very disappointing.
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