Can High Speed Limits on Certain Roads Lead to Fatal North Carolina Car Accidents?
According to research published in the September issue of the American Journal of Public Health, allowing states to set the speed limits on certain interstates may be the cause of some catastrophic car crashes. The study is the first long-term one of its kind to assess the effect that repealing the National Maximum Speed Law has had on the number of traffic injuries and deaths.
In 1974 and due to the the oil embargo, the law had capped the maximum limit on all interstate roads in the US to 55 mph. The number of traffic deaths dropped to nearly 17% during the first year alone. In 1987, states were allowed to raise the speed limit on certain interstates to 65 mph. When the federally ordered 55 mph speed limit law was repealed, states were allowed to come up with their own speed laws.
Lee Freedman, a lead author of the study and assistant research professor of environmental and occupational health studies at UIC, says that after the National Maximum Speed Limit law was revoked, about 12,500 US traffic deaths occurred as a result. Unfortunately, not all US states were part of the study, but the research indicates that it might be wise for lawmakers to determine whether the speed limits on certain roads should be reduced.
Considering that—per a study conducted by Perdue University—most drivers don’t consider it unsafe to go above the posted speed limit (sometimes by up to 20 mph) it is not that surprising that a higher speed limit on certain interstates may have been the cause of thousands of injuries or deaths.
Per the Purdue survey:
• 21% of motorists don’t think there is anything wrong with driving 5 mph over the speed limit.
• 43% of drivers think going 10 mph above the speed limit is safe.
• 36% of drivers believe that they are practicing safe driving even when they are driving 20 mph above the speed limit.
Speeding can lead to catastrophic North Carolina car crashes for a number of reasons. The faster a car is going, the greater the crash force that can result. A speeding car will also need more time to stop than a car that isn’t going as fast.
Drivers Don’t See Speeding As A Safety Issue, National Safety Commission, August 26, 2009
Higher Speed Limits Cost Lives, Researchers Find, Science Daily, July 18, 2009
Related Web Resources:
National Highway Traffic Safety Administration
North Carolina Department of Transportation
Speed and Speed Limits, IIHS.org
