To some people, speed limits are an absolute necessity for keeping our roads safe, But
is that actually the case?
Where’d they come from, How do we set them, and do they work?
I’m Nolan Sykes and this is WheelHouse.
One of the first speeding infractions for a car was written in 1899.
A bike cop pulled over Jacob German in his electric taxi.
Yes, electric cars were around in 1899, but we’ll talk about some other time.
And yes, he was pulled over by a bike cop.
German was going 12 in an 8; dude what were you thinking?
You’re so reckless.
There are people and horses and vegetables.
Think about the cantaloupes!
By 1930, about half of the states had their own speed limit laws.
But in 1942, a nationwide speed limit of 35 was enacted to save fuel and rubber for the
war effort.
But after WWII, States started to question whether the Federal Government even had the
right to tell them what laws to put on their roads.
From '42 to '74, state speed limits varied greatly, but in 1974 the Federal government mandated
new legislation in response to the oil crisis.
But they couldn’t set a national speed limit outright, because states would get pissed.
So, they enacted The Emergency Highway Energy Conservation Act or EHCA.
It didn’t set a national speed limit, but it did limit federal highway project funding
for states with speed limits over 55 miles an hour.
To the dismay or most drivers in the US, states set their maximum speed limit to 55 miles
an hour, because they needed that Federal money to maintain their roads.
Washington thought that lower speeds would mean lower fuel consumption.
And it did...about one percent lower . So...it kinda worked.
In the end, the states won out, and The EHCA was repealed in 1995, and states were again
free to set the limits to whatever they wanted.
But how would they decide?
Believe it or not, We play a part in how speed limits are set.
As a general rule we’ll drive faster if a road is wider and less congested; and slower
if a road is narrower and there has more sight markers subconsciously telling us how fast
we’re going.
Knowing this, A stretch of road is can be monitored by a state’s transportation department.
The speed of each vehicle passing by is then measured and recorded.
Let’s say 100 cars were observed.
In an increasing order, we choose the 85th highest speed.
What we find is that a wide majority of drivers fall within plus or minus 5 miles an hour
of this number.
We round to the nearest five and by this method, that should be our speed limit.
It’s called the 85th Percentile Speed, and it’s how most local and state governments
determine speed limits.
Pretty smart.
But by the time the suggested speed limit goes through politicians, community action
groups and outraged soccer moms, the speed limit gets set lower, On average, up to 15
miles an hour lower.
Let’s say we measure a stretch of freeway with the 85th percentile method, and we find
that most drivers stick to around 70 miles an hour.
But this stretch runs through a populated suburb, so the speed limit gets set to 60.
Because of this artificial reduction of speeds that people actually drive, the drivers travelling
at the speed their brains tell them is safe, are now breaking the speed limit.
That’s not good.
This makes the speed limit seem arbitrary.
The problem gets worse when you consider people driving under the speed limit, which is something
we see everyday.
What happens if someone driving 5 miles an hour under the speed limit changes lanes in
front of someone driving 5 miles over the 85 percentile?
In our case that could be a difference of 20 miles an hour.
And if they’re not paying attention, that could be an accident.
So it’s easy to see how not following the 85th percentile rule can make things tricky.
But does that necessarily mean the politicians and soccer moms are wrong?
It makes sense that driving faster would be more dangerous, right?
Let’s look at some data.
The department of transportation looked at total accidents at a bunch of sites in a number
of states, before and after their speed limits were altered.
Turns out, there was no statistical difference in the number of accidents relative to the
speed limit.
So, they found lower speed limits did not mean fewer accidents.
Another study, this time from the National institutes of Health, looked at the Long-Term
Effects of Repealing the National Maximum Speed Limit .
Their study didn’t contradict the one from the DOT, but they found that the accidents
that did happen were more likely to be fatal.
So it’s just as safe and more fatal to raise speed limits.
Are there advantages to higher speed limits?
Yes.
speeding infractions would likely go down, and traffic flow would improve in some areas.
But is that worth the increased risk of fatal accidents?
One example we can look to is the Autobahn
The Autobahns are famous for having almost no speed limits.
For the most part, Germans can drive as fast as they want.
And the crazy part is, is it’s safer.
But can this be attributed to speed limits alone?
No.
Getting a driver’s license in Germany is waaay harder than it is in the US.
Getting a driver’s license costs $2000.
Yeah. over here its like 300 bucks. and drivers follow the rules.
In Germany, the left lane is meant exclusively for passing and the drivers follow that rule
religiously.
To sum it all up, Speed limits have their place, as long as they’re done correctly.
The issue of whether or not we should we raise them isn’t black and white.
It depends on the road and if the people who drive decide the increased risk of a fatal accident
is worth it.
And if speed limits aren’t raised, they’ll probably just drive the speed they want anyway.
Oh and one last thing: Stay out of the passing lane.
Thanks for watching WheelHouse.
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