when montana lowered their speed limits from “safe and prudent” to a designated speed the deaths went up. when people drive fast they pay more attention than when they are just crusing along

Clearly, we should be allowed to drive as fast as we want. Just imagine, if we could drive 150 MPH everywhere, then there would be no highway fatalities what-so-ever!

Maybe the death toll is less because *less* people are pissed off by not having to follow grandpa at 55mph therefore causing less road rage. Back when they repealed it, I suppose nobody ever figured on things like how the Autobahn in Germany has had no real speed limit for quite a while and has been safer than American highways. How funny that is…

Speed does not kill.

Not paying attention, crappy equipment, improperly adjusted mirrors, and impairment kill.

The speed limit is supposed to be a limit. Since we all drive over the limit, it should be raised.

This should not be a surprise. There was a study done on fatality accidents on the Autobahn versus fatality accidents on US Highways. The Autobahn, which has no speed limit, showed that there were LESS fatal accidents than on US Highways. When are people going to realize that going fast is not wreckless or dangerous as long as you are concentrating on driving and aware of your surroundings. I would argue that the person going the speed limit while talking on his cell phone and trying to change the radio station at the same time with one hand on the steering wheel is MORE DANGEROUS than a focused driver with both hands on the steering wheel going 30 MPH over the speed limit.

don’t tell Hillary.

I love it when Ralph Nader is wrong (which is a lot), it just makes me feel so good.

Ralph Nader is a piece of crap.

“The 55 mile speed limit really does lower gas usage, and wherever it can be required and that people will accept it, we ought to do it,” Clinton said.

http://www.thenewspaper.com/news/11/1148.asp

“Where people will accept it” is halarious! Look like your pro-environment, but don’t acutally do anything!

Seriously though, eliminating people who sit in the left lane, and passing on the right will reduce accidents ALONE.

I agree with you #5…. German drivers are more concerned with driving. I have a friend there and when he was yong and got his license, he had to have 1200 Hrs of driver training and school!! That was before any tests…..then he took a REAL Driver’s test as well as written. THEN he had to pay around $800 US to get the actual license. So you can see, in Germany there is a real social conscience for people to actually “learn” how to drive. Here in the US as long as you can memorize a few things from a book, take a drive around the block and have around $20 you can drive!! Ridiculous honestly. I was fortunate enough to take a driver’s course when I was young. I wonder how many people actually know what to do if they are caught in a slide on wet pavement. Not many I am sure. If you know how to drive and be responsible, most of today’s cars can easily handle 80+ mph no problem, sInce we have fairly straight highways. I am glad to see the death rates went down so there is no argument on to raise them. However I am sure the net one will be because of gas milage and fuel waste….

the drop in fatalities surely has more to do with added passive and active safety features [ crumple zones, airbags, better seatbelts, ABS ] over the past ten years then with speed.

I am amazed tat noone brought that up.

I am also amazed that people think that when average speeds rise death rate lowers.

This is statistics at its worst.

Actually…

What would be more interesting would be to see the actual ACCIDENT rate. Not the fatality rate.

During the same time period as increased speed limits, we have also seen mandatory airbags, better braking systems, better safety systems, and generally significantly safer cars. We’ve also seen a significant rise in the number of very large vehicals (ie: SUV’s) on the road with all the major automotive players selling record numbers of trucks.

So, I’m inclined to think that this really has nothing to do with speed and everything to do with safety.

And personally, I’m a big fan of the 80/20 rule: 80% of the drivers on the road will be driving the safe speed for the road conditions at any given time … no matter WHAT the posted speed limit is.

CharlesJR

I’m with #12. That leaves a healthy 20% for the fuzz to mess with.

#12: the chart says crashes fell 33 percent.

Just FYI… the Autobahn is not speed limitless on all parts. Actually, most of it has a speed restriction to some point.

you guys ever heard of the 3rd factor? correlation does not indicate causation.

#14, Dang, you beat me to it!

Speed limits have less to do with safety and more to do with revenue. People who drive fast pay attention, how often do you see a car with it’s driver gawking at the scenery driving with the average speed of traffic? What happens to people around that driver (brake/swerve)? Glad to see there’s data to back this up.
Now if only I can convince that cop who’s going to pull me over eventually that he’s actually killing people, not saving them?
Ah, somehow I don’t think I’d win.

All of you are correct to a degree (especially the Ralph Nader comments). Consider also the NUMBER of drivers on the road and the road improvements. Yes, cars are way safer, but there are also a lot of micro cars out there as well. “Excessive” speed is usually dependent on the road, the driver’s actions, the driver’s ability, weather conditions (ever run into a fog bank?), tire wear, etc., etc. No matter how you break it down, it still comes down to the driver and his/her judgment. Y’know; the old “guns don’t kill people..” argument.

correlation does not indicate causation

Agreed.

Airbags, Cell phones to report accidents, crumple zones, navagation systems so you don’t get lost, better tires on Ford Explorers…etc

I wouldn’t rule out road rage or the fact that you spend less time on the road by driving faster (ie you won’t fall asleep as often)

Increase Speed Limit => Less Fatalities

Therefore, make the speed limit infinite (no speed limit) => No Fatalities.

Clearly, this makes sense.

The traffic statistics quoted in these news articles are freely available on the web at the following URL: http://www-nrd.nhtsa.dot.gov/departments/nrd-30/ncsa/AvailInf.html

Needless to say, news articles tend to digest the thousands of pages of information that’s collected and generated each year on traffic and safety down to one or two meaningless numbers. Yes, overall, fatalities have decreased even though speed limits have increased, but that proves nothing as far as causation.

These “safety advocates” need to STFU.

Well, if people don’t pay attention to driving, how do they know the speed they are travelling at? They could be at any speed. I’ve seen plenty of drivers who drive fast and don’t pay attention. “People who drive fast pay attention.” Is just as uninformed as stating “People who drive slow don’t.”

I’m sure ABS, traction control, multiple airbags, enhanced structural engineering, and improved highways have absolutely nothing to do with the decrease in fatalities OR accidents.

I just returned from a 2 week trip to Germany (picked up a BMW via Euro Delivery – yahoo!). I was impressed with the vast majority of German drivers. Lane discipline, The ‘Drive Right” mentality, turn indicators, proper interval etc etc. Truely was an eye opening driving experience, especially when coming back and driving on US roads.

no, correlation does not indicate causation…

unless there are statistics to show the causation…

http://www.motorists.org/pressreleases/montana.html

montana saw the exact same thing when a daytime speed limit was put in place…fatalities increased…and that was in one year which rules out the thought that new safety features are the main reason for the national drop.

The UK has the safest roads in the world, yet they are alos some of the most crowded and the freeways roll at about 80-90mph most of the time. Go Figure

#13 and #14: my bad.

But in all fairness, I honestly didn’t look at the chart and simply read both the leftlanenews article and the Wall Street Journal piece it quoted from. NEITHER ONE of the articles said anything about basic “accidents”. Both focused pretty exclusively on the fatality statistic.

Sorry, I tend to read the text, not the pictures.

But to your point, #25 pointed out, safety features also help us PREVENT accidents. Better brakes, better suspension, more power, better warning systems all help us get out of harm’s way faster and easier than ever.

There is also the little bit about where the statistics come from and how they are calculated. The government is notorious (and so is many others) for simply changing the definition of something to make it go away. Is the definition of “accident” the same as it was then?

CharlesJR

Everything else seems to have been said already.

Except something concerning gas mileage and higher speeds. True, you will burn more gas if you engine has to rotate at a higher rpm. Compare the 3-speed and four-speeds of the 70’s and the 5-speeds of the 80’s to today’s modern six-speed transmissions and 5-6-7 speed automatics. 7-speed manuals may show up soon in a few cars. How about CVT transmissions?

We are probably reaching the limit of how many useful gears you can have in a car’s transmission (excluding CVTs), but it is possible to make a car have acceptable gas mileage and passing power at 80-90 mph.

Anyone still use a car with an antiquated 3-speed automatic? If you do, you are in an acute minority.

There are lies, damn lies and statistics. I would like to see the statistics side by side of the states where the speed limit remained on 55 and where it is up, THAT would be an interesting statistic.

Lower speed limits seem to cause more accidents when there is congestion and you have all these people wanting to drive faster, driving erratic, constantly jumping lanes, …

Speed by itself does not kill.

It all starts with an educated driver 18+ of age who passed some serious driving theory & practice tests; who drives safe ( keep safe distance, obey traffic rules, slow traffic keeps always right, only pass on the left, use turn signals to change lanes, slows down & keeps a longer distance in inclement weather, … ) and a safe vehicle (well maintained + inspected, with good lights in front, good lights in the back + rear fog light for inclement weather).

If you notice one thing about driving on the autobahn in Germany it is discipline! There is zero tolerance for aggressive and unsafe driving. When there is a speed limit on the autobahn, even the richest with the most expensive cars obey. Because driving is a privilege. And the only way the autobahn stays the autobahn with a good safety record is by driving safe and disciplined.

In contrast, in the US driver’s licenses are almost handed out like candy. Kids 16y old who cannot vote or have a even a light alcohol beverage; get behind the wheel without proper education & testing. Everybody drives where they want, without even a quarter of safe distance, passing others left and right through whichever lane suits them, forget turn signals, etc. Because they think they have the right to drive faster and do as they please. What they forget is that this attitude causes most of the accidents and keeps the speed limits locked in where they are at. They can’t raise it because there are too many accidents already. Only when everybody drives safer the public can be trusted with a raised speed limit.

Unfortunately enough. I drive often cross country in the US and I really would love to move along on a few open stretches as allowed on the autobahn. You fall asleep behind the wheel at 65 mph when you’re in for 1500 – 2500 miles. In many areas it would be very safe to drive 100 mph and make some good time … if everybody else were to practice safe driving.