New considerations for setting speed limits have the potential to shift the practice away from the historic norm of service to drivers, and toward the safety and accommodation of all users.
speed limit
Safety and speed management: Speeding into a crash?
According to a recent study conducted by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS), in the past 25 years 37,000 additional people have died due to increased speed limits in the United States. Meanwhile, Canada is taking a very different approach to speed, as detailed in the April issue of ITE Journal, which is dedicated to safety through speed management.
Lowering speed limits can reduce crashes
Speed limits are often based on observed 85th percentile free flow speeds. Setting them lower, even to address safety concerns, can be difficult once engineering recommendations have been made. A new study, however, bolsters the case for doing so by showing that setting limits just below the observed speeds can reduce crashes, including the most serious ones.
Lowering speed limits can reduce crashes
Speed limits are often based on observed 85th percentile free flow speeds. Setting them lower, even to address safety concerns, can be difficult once engineering recommendations have been made. A new study, however, bolsters the case for doing so by showing that setting limits just below the observed speeds can reduce crashes, including the most serious ones.
In Ohio, speed limits go up—and with them crashes, injuries, and deaths
Like many other local, state, and federal transportation agencies, the Ohio DOT has a zero crash death goal. However, a 2013 law to raise speed limits on nearly 1,000 centerline miles is making that goal harder to reach, according to a recent study by the state Department of Public Safety.
Study of variable speed limits highlights the trade-off of throughput and safety
Varying a posted speed limit based on current conditions can improve operations and safety in congested work zones, a team from Missouri found. This study from the University of Missouri-Columbus explores this phenomenon in a congested work zone in St. Louis, Missouri. The findings? Results depend on whether DOTs are looking to prioritize safety over capacity.
Researchers explore links between speed and safety
As states experiment with increasing and lowering speed limits on rural highways, questions still remain as to what effects those changes might have on safety. At this year’s annual meeting of the Transportation Research Board, researchers trying to answer some of those questions found that slower is safer.
Vision Zero spreads across the U.S.
In 1997, Sweden undertook a road safety project with an ambitious goal: No traffic fatalities or serious injuries. A core principle of Vision Zero was that, “Life and health can never be exchanged for other benefits within the society.” Now the goal of zero traffic deaths is spreading in the U.S., principally in cities, but some states have also adopted Vision Zero plans.
Roads designed for speed undermine safety initiatives
In response to the growing share of traffic fatalities nonmotorized users represent in the U.S., the U.S. DOT has made bicycle and pedestrian safety a high priority, state laws are beginning to address the needs of nonmotorized road users, transportation agencies are installing new types of facilities, and cities are stepping up traffic enforcement. All of this, however, is being done within a framework that has for decades prioritized high-speed travel—arguably one of the greatest obstacles to pedestrian and cyclist safety. This has played out in many ways, but particularly in the design process.
How Paris is making the pedestrian a priority
Paris recently made the bold move of implementing a citywide 20 mph speed limit. While some smaller cities across the globe have implemented this policy and others have put stricter speed limits on certain streets, Paris is the first city of its size to enforce a citywide 20 mph speed limit. In New York City, efforts are underway to convince lawmakers that a maximum speed limit of 20 mph can work there also.