Not Worth the Risk: Speed Limits Should Not Be Raised

Christofer Smith • April 9, 2024 • 1018 Words

INTRODUCTION

We see them every day. Whether driving to work, taking a leisurely walk down the street, or even enjoying a driving game, almost anyone could recognize the white rectangle and bold, black letters on a speed limit sign. After all, you should always see one every five to ten miles on conventional roads, according to the Federal Highway Administration. Despite how common they are, though, a more pressing debate lies behind these humble placards: should speed limits be raised or not? For decades, reports have studied the effects of raising and lowering speed limits to test how variations in speed affect safety and travel time. With a projected 239.24 million licensed drivers in the US, according to Hedges & Company, the safety of all road users, including both drivers and pedestrians, should be of the utmost importance when considering what speeds drivers should be permitted to drive at. The speed limit of urban roads in the United States should not be raised, since lower speeds reduce injuries in the event of a crash, small increases in speed threaten pedestrians, and underestimated speeds render roadway design ineffective.

RISKS TO DRIVERS

Drivers traveling at lower speeds are less likely to sustain serious injury and damage during a crash. This has been supported by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, which has written that “Speed has a major impact on the number of crashes and the severity of injuries they cause… It increases the distance a vehicle travels from the time a driver detects an emergency to the time the driver reacts… It increases the distance needed to stop a vehicle once the driver starts to brake… It increases crash energy disproportionately.” These are some of the most important factors behind not raising speed limits. The statement highlights the multitude of dangers that greater velocities bring, such as the decrease in a driver’s time to react, the increase in braking distance, and the exponential increase in crash energy when compared to speed. These factors make it much harder for a driver to avoid a collision, and the resulting impact would require the vehicle to absorb and dissipate more energy, increasing damage and raising the probability of injury. For these three reasons, high speeds increase the likelihood of car accidents and their consequences by decreasing the control a driver has over the vehicle.

RISKS TO PEDESTRIANS

High speeds also pose a threat to those outside of a car: pedestrians. As stated by ScienceDirect, “A study… found that the average risk of death for a pedestrian struck by a vehicle reaches 10% at an impact speed of 23 mph, 25% at 32 mph, 50% at 42 mph, 75% at 50 mph, and 90% at 58 mph.” These ratios should be concerning, since this can spell death for anyone crossing a road. The evidence shows that from 23 mph to 32 mph, a small increase of nine miles per hour, the risk of death increases by 150%. This is dreadful news, as only slight speed increases translate into multiplying the chance of death for people who aren’t behind the wheel of a vehicle. As shown mathematically, increasing speed limits negatively impacts pedestrians by raising their chances of death in the event of an impact with a driver.

FUNDAMENTAL DECREASE IN SAFETY

High rates of motion decrease the effectiveness of roadway design elements. As described by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, “Speed is an important element of roadway design because it directly links to other… features… While roadways are designed and built to nominal standards and to accommodate human factors… some speeds that are safe and appropriate in some contexts… may result in unsafe operating conditions or crash energies… in other contexts…” This is problematic information for high-speed drivers since the NHTSA states that while streets and highways are designed with expected maximum speeds close to the speed limit, excessive speeds can render curves in the road too tight and guardrails, crash cushions, and concrete barriers unable to effectively protect vehicles. This iterates the point that speedy driving decreases the fundamental safety that the road was designed to exhibit. In other words, faster speeds directly undermine the safe design of a roadway, rendering its design elements intrinsically unsafe.

TRAVEL TIME

While decreased speeds benefit safety, wouldn’t higher speeds decrease travel time? This has been proven true by Australia’s National Road Safety Partnership Program, which has written that “higher speed limits will generally result in… a reduction in travel time. However, time savings are only significant over long distances… raising the speed limit from 100 km/h [62.1 mph] to 110 km/h [68.4 mph] will save 5.5 minutes if you are traveling 100 km (assuming there are no delays). In built up areas, time savings from higher speed limits are hard to achieve… and tend to be negligible for short journeys.” This resource explains that while it is true that higher speeds cover more distances faster, the decrease in travel time is not substantial, especially when used in urban contexts As the National Road Safety Partnership Program noted, a distance of approximately 62 miles does not show major time-saving benefits from a 5.3 mph speed increase. This illustrates that while higher speed limits can decrease travel time, the effect on travel time requires long distances or large changes in speed to be worthwhile and are not effective in urban areas.

CONCLUSION

In the case of smaller urban roads where wayfarers and parked cars are common, speed limits should not be raised for the prevention of more serious car accidents, the safety of pedestrians, and the upholding of roadway infrastructure’s planned use cases. Greater speeds lead to more difficulty preventing collisions and increase the energy involved in an accident. Faster velocities also affect pedestrians by posing a greater hazard to them in the event of an impact. High speeds also have the effect of negating the safe design of roadways. After all, when it comes down to the balancing of convenience and safety, are five or ten minutes of saved time driving worth risking the safety of everyone around roadways?

Works Cited

Admin. “Number of Licensed Drivers in the US [2024-2025].” Hedges & Company., Hedges & Company., 29 Jan. 2024, https://hedgescompany.com/blog/2024/01/number-of-licensed-drivers-us/. Accessed 7 Apr. 2024.

Forbes, Gerald J., et al. “Speed Limit Sign and Placement.” Federal Highway Administration, U.S. Department of Transportation Federal Highway Administration, Apr. 2012, https://highways.dot.gov/safety/speed-management/methods-and-practices-setting-speed-limits-informational-report/speed-1. Accessed 7 Apr. 2024.

Islam, Mouyid. “An Exploratory Analysis of the Effects of Speed Limits on Pedestrian Injury Severities in Vehicle-Pedestrian Crashes.” Journal of Transport & Health, Elsevier, 11 Jan. 2023, https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S221414052200233X. Accessed 7 Apr. 2024.

Kirley, B. B., et al. “Understanding the Problem.” NHTSA, National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, 2023, https://www.nhtsa.gov/book/countermeasures-that-work/speeding-and-speed-management/understanding-problem. Accessed 7 Apr. 2024.

Safe System Solutions. “Myth 3: Higher Speed Limits Means Less Travel Time, Less Fatigue And Therefore Less Crashes – BUSTED.” National Road Safety Partnership Program, NRSPP Australia, https://www.nrspp.org.au/resources/myth-3-higher-speed-limits-means-less-travel-time-less-fatigue-and-therefore-less-crashes-busted/. Accessed 7 Apr. 2024.

“Speed.” IIHS, Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, Jan. 2024, https://www.iihs.org/topics/speed#dangers-of-speed. Accessed 7 Apr. 2024.

Page updated

Google Sites

Report abuse