When I was in college a popular song began with “One foot on the brake and one on the gas… there’s too much traffic, I can’t pass…” In the music video Sammy Hagar soon gets pulled over by the police after speeding in a black Ferrari 512. In protest he shouts, “I can’t drive 55…”
Congress passed the National Maximum Speed Limit law to lower highway speed limits to 55 miles an hour in 1974. Federal officials had predicted lowering the speed limit to a snail’s pace would generate gas savings of 2.2%. The actual savings were between 0.5% and 1%. Yet, the law would remain in place for more than 20 years after proponents argued slower speeds reduced traffic fatalities.
Kaiser Health News reports that states are increasingly getting on the bandwagon to lower speed limits, saying:
The nation’s road system covers 4 million miles and is governed by a patchwork of federal, state, and local jurisdictions that often operate in silos, making systemic change difficult and expensive. But amid the highest number of pedestrians killed in decades, localities are pushing to control how speed limits are set and for more accountability on road design.This spring, New York and Michigan passed laws allowing local jurisdictions to lower speed limits. In Los Angeles, voters approved a measure that forces the city to act on its own safety improvement plan, mandating that the car-loving metropolis redesign streets, add bike lanes, and protect cyclists, transit riders, and pedestrians.
Efforts to lower speed limits face political resistance. Road safety has improved tremendously since the 55-mile per hour federal law was passed and later repealed. Cars are now designed to crumple. Passenger cars have been equipped with airbags for years now. Increasingly, cars have lidar and other measures to avoid obstacles and other cars. Roads too have been redesigned to be safer, with roads widened, shoulders expanded, curves straightened, and obstacles cleared away from roadsides. The fatality rate is a fraction of what it was 50 years ago, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA):
The last five decades show incredible improvements, as traffic deaths have dropped from more than 52,000 lives lost in 1970 to about 36,000 in 2019*. The decrease comes as our population has grown and more people are on the road — bringing the fatality rate to just one-quarter of what it was in 1970.
Despite the huge decrease in the rate of traffic fatalities safety advocates urge federal action to reduce speed:
Road safety advocates argue the federal government missed an opportunity to eliminate outdated standards for setting speed limits when it revised traffic guidelines last year. The agency could have eliminated guidance recommending setting speed limits at or below how fast 85% of drivers travel on uncongested roads. Critics contend that what’s known as the 85th percentile rule encourages traffic engineers to set speed limits at levels unsafe for pedestrians.
Studies going back decades have shown that congestion is also risky, when cars bottleneck due to slower drivers. The standard used is known at the 85th Percentile. The safest speed is the speed that about 85% of what drivers drive at or lower. Cars bottlenecked due to slower drivers create congestion that can cause accidents. Many states now have laws requiring slower drivers in the left lane to move to the right and cede the right-of-way to faster cars. The following was written by a law firm discussing so-called keep right laws:
It is the universal trigger and a pet peeve of millions of drivers. You’re making good time traveling 75 MPH in the left lane of a freeway with a 70 MPH posted speed limit. You tap your brakes, turning off the cruise control, because a midnight blue 2012 Buick Regal is firmly ensconced in the left passing lane, traveling at 65 MPH and staying abreast of a Kenworth tractor pulling a 53-foot trailer. Fifteen minutes later traffic is bumper to bumper behind you as far as you can see, and you resort to flashing your lights, to no avail. The driver of the Buick Regal believes that traveling at or near the speed limit in the fast lane is acceptable—and that they are teaching the impatient drivers behind them a valuable lesson in driving safety. In a perfect world, a sheriff’s deputy would suddenly appear and pull the Buick Regal over for unsafe driving and violation of state driving statutes. Far too often, however, instant karma doesn’t occur, but an accident does.
Advocates believe lower speed limits may allow drivers to see pedestrians sooner and avoid them. That’s why school zones have lower limits and stronger speed enforcement. However, for most areas away from schools the most effective way to avoid pedestrian injuries is to keep pedestrians away from cars. In a contest between a two, four or six ton vehicle, there is essentially no way to make hitting a pedestrian safe. Instead of slowing down traffic, officials should make safer walkways for pedestrians.