\t<\/p>\n
Everyone who has a driver’s license in
\nthe United States knows (or at least should know) that a vast majority
\nof drivable roads and all highways have a speed limit. Those speed
\nlimits vary across the country. Since I was born and raised in the
\nNew England area, I think of the highway speed limit as being from
\n55-65 miles per hour. As you move to the west and to the south, the
\nspeed limit starts to increase to 70 or 75 miles per hour. But I
\nthink we all must be honest here; very few people actually do the
\nspeed limit on the highway. You get a few people who are under the
\nspeed limit and a ton that are 5 miles per hour or more over the
\nspeed limit and occasionally someone is dead on. So, at times it’s a little confusing.<\/p>\n
\n<\/p>\n
Where am I going with this? This
\nweek I’ve been asked to figure out why we have these speed limits and if they are
\ngoing to change.<\/p>\n
\n<\/p>\n
It was interesting to learn that the
\nfirst speed limit actually dates back to 1865 in the United Kingdom. It was defined in the Locomotive Act. In cities, the speed limit
\nwas 2 miles per hour and in more rural areas it was 4 miles per hour.
\nThis legislation wasn’t just about the speed limit though. In fact,
\nthe more interesting part in my opinion, is that it required you to
\nhave three people to operate a vehicle: a driver, a stoker and
\nsomeone who carried a red flag or lantern that walked in front of the
\nvehicle. The man with the red flag or lantern was there to make sure
\nothers were aware the vehicle was approaching and it forced the
\nvehicle to stick to a lower speed. Later in 1878, they added that
\nvehicles must stop if there is a horse on the road and vehicles could
\nnot emit any smoke or steam that may frighten a horse. Finally in
\n1896, the speed limit was increased to 14 miles per hour and they no
\nlonger required each vehicle to have three people to operate it.<\/p>\n
\n<\/p>\n
We have come a long way since then.
\nMore and more cars started to clutter up the roads, speed limits increased, regulations like
\nlicense plates and driver’s licenses were put in place and vehicles
\nare now owned and driven by millions of people across the United States.\n<\/p>\n
\n<\/p>\n
Nationwide, prior to January of 1974,
\nthe highway speed limit ranged from 40 to 80 miles per hour and the limits
\nwere determined by the states. Towards the close of 1973, the Arab
\nmembers of the Organization for Petroleum Exporting Countries placed
\nan embargo on oil shipments to the United States in response to their
\nsupporting Israel in the Yom Kippur War. In an attempt preserve the
\nlimited oil supply, the Nixon administration passed a law that set
\nall national highways to have a speed limit of 55 mph. While the
\nfederal government doesn’t have the authority to enforce this, they do
\nregulate how funding is allocated to the states. They took advantage of this and as part of the law any state that did not lower their speed limits would be denied
\nfederal funding from the Department of Transportation. Some states
\nwere not happy with this but had little choice but to comply.
\nNotably, Nevada and Montana protested in a small way by only giving a $5.00 fine to
\nanyone who went over the speed limit on a road that they previously
\nhad no such restriction. They called it an “energy wasting”
\nticket.<\/p>\n
\n<\/p>\n
In 1987, Congress increased the limit
\nto 65 miles per hour due to public pressure. Finally in 1995, the law
\nwas repealed and the control of speed limits was given back to the
\nstates.<\/p>\n
\n<\/p>\n
Some argued that the increase in speed
\nwould increase the number of accident related fatalities
\nand opposed both the increase and the repel. There are mixed findings
\non whether or not this is the case. When the law first was passed,
\nthe number of fatalities did in fact decrease. When the speed limit
\nwas first raised, there was an increase in fatalities and another
\nincrease when the law was repealed. However, this does not mean that
\nthe speed limit was the cause. An increase of the number of cars and
\nthe fact that people starting using highways instead of country roads
\nare two possible factors. Studies that considered these factors
\nand others actually found a small decrease in the fatality rate.<\/p>\n
\n<\/p>\n
As for the original goal of the law,
\nthe amount of fuel saved by the United States was somewhere between
\n0.5-1 percent. Which was not nearly as significant as originally
\nthought.<\/p>\n
\n<\/p>\n
So, are they going to change speed limits any time
\nsoon? Well, that depends on the states. For example, Texas is
\nconsidering raising the speed limits on some of their highways to 85
\nmiles per hour. But as far as I can tell, most have no immediate plans for change. I didn’t
\ncome across any states that were considering decrease speed limits
\nexcept temporarily for construction. But if anyone else does let me
\nknow.<\/p>\n
\n
\n
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