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Study: Higher speed limits create dangers
USA Today | 24 Nov 03 | AP

Posted on 11/24/2003 1:11:14 PM PST by SLB

WASHINGTON (AP) — States that raised their speed limits to 70 mph or more saw a dramatic increase in the number of people killed in traffic accidents, according to a report released Monday by an auto safety group funded by insurers.

The study, compiled by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety and based on data collected by the Land Transport Safety Authority of New Zealand, determined 1,880 more people died between 1996 and 1999 in the 22 states with higher speed limits.

A separate review of six states by the institute found drivers traveling the fastest they have since long before Congress repealed the 55 mph national speed limit in November 1995. In Colorado, which has a speed limit of 75 mph, researchers observed one in four drivers going above 80 mph. In California, where the speed limit is 70 mph, one in five drivers was clocked at 80 mph.

The New Zealand government agency estimated the death rate for the 22 states that raised their speed limits on rural interstates in 1995 and 1996.

The 10 states that raised limits to 75 mph — all in the Midwest and West — experienced 38% more deaths per million miles driven than states with 65-mph limits, or approximately 780 more deaths.

The 12 states that raised their limits to 70 mph — including California, Florida, North Carolina and Missouri — saw a 35% increase, or 1,100 additional deaths.

Geographical differences in states may have contributed to the numbers. For example, the report said, drivers may go faster in Western states where cities are farther apart. The report didn't examine the effects of other trends, such as the increasing number of sport utility vehicles on the road then.

The Insurance Institute said there is no doubt, however, that when speed limits increase so do deaths. When the national speed limit of 55 mph was adopted 1974, fatality rates dropped, the Insurance Institute's chief scientist Allan Williams said.

The Insurance Institute's separate study of speeds in Georgia, Massachusetts, Maryland, New Mexico, Colorado and California also found that when rates are raised on rural interstates, speeding increased on urban interstates.

Average travel speeds on urban interstates in Atlanta, Boston and Washington were the same as or higher than on rural interstates near those cities, even though the speed limits on those urban interstates were 55 mph. In Atlanta, 78% of drivers on one urban interstate exceeded 70 mph, the report found.


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Government; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: autobahn; car
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Regulate life, regulate death.
81 posted on 11/24/2003 4:11:58 PM PST by At _War_With_Liberals (A guy named Osama was arrested in my town this week for trying to run a cop down!)
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To: SLB
determined 1,880 more people died between 1996 and 1999 in the 22 states with higher speed limits.

Four years... times 22 states... 1880 divided by 88... that's 22.3636 more per state per year... less than two more deaths per month per state... less than one ACCIDENTAL death every two weeks. THIS is the minutiae that they are arguing about? They'll curtail freedom further for 0.43 ACCIDENTAL deaths per week for an entire state?!?

So when do they start blotting out the sun for all of those unintended skin cancer deaths?

82 posted on 11/24/2003 4:43:46 PM PST by Teacher317
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To: yankeedame
It's the new Ford Kiwi

LOL Kiwi - nature's furry grape!

83 posted on 11/24/2003 5:07:58 PM PST by ClintonBeGone
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To: SLB
The study, compiled by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety and based on data collected by the Land Transport Safety Authority of New Zealand, determined 1,880 more people died between 1996 and 1999 in the 22 states with higher speed limits.

Only 28 additional deaths per state per year...

84 posted on 11/24/2003 5:12:24 PM PST by Junior ("Your superior intellects are no match for our puny weapons!")
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To: Teacher317
The New Zealand government agency estimated the death rate for the 22 states that raised their speed limits on rural interstates in 1995 and 1996.

It's that one underlined word that bothers me.

85 posted on 11/24/2003 5:14:41 PM PST by Old Professer
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To: Vigilantcitizen; .45MAN; dansangel; RobFromGa; doodad
See the replied-to post. Slower traffic keep right!
86 posted on 11/24/2003 5:18:23 PM PST by FreedomPoster (this space intentionally blank)
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To: BlackRazor
>>You know, the guys who have to go (at least) 20 mph over the speed limit and continually weave in and out of traffic,

While this can be the fault of the faster driver, it is also caused by idiots adhering to the posted limit while travelling in the fast lane, and never moving right. Said idiots are almost invariably driving minivans or SUVs and talking on cell phones. Slower traffic keep right!, and those guys wanting to get somewhere won't have to weave / pass the slow pokes on the right.
87 posted on 11/24/2003 5:21:25 PM PST by FreedomPoster (this space intentionally blank)
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To: FreedomPoster
Oh you did it now. Prepare to hear from the "I don't have to yield if I am doing the speed limit folks."

My quote (and this is my own) is this: The worst drivers are those whose last vehicles had four legs or were powered by their own.
88 posted on 11/24/2003 6:49:58 PM PST by doodad
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To: Hodar
"So, yes, the faster you go, the harder you hit."

Yeah, kinetic energy. That's the ticket.

If you have too much at the wrong time and place, your innards get all sticky.

89 posted on 11/24/2003 6:58:35 PM PST by billorites (freepo ergo sum)
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To: SLB
In California, where the speed limit is 70 mph, one in five drivers was clocked at 80 mph.

Huh? I had to speed up to 85 just to blend into the slow lane today after cruising along on cruise control in the middle lane at 75.

90 posted on 11/24/2003 7:01:38 PM PST by cinFLA
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To: nuffsenuff
I'm willing to bet money most of these accidents are caused by someone slowing down in the left lane or moving into the left lane without looking.

Most of the one's that make the newspaper are the hot-doggers totally losing it.

91 posted on 11/24/2003 7:05:23 PM PST by cinFLA
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To: SLB
The study, compiled by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety and based on data collected by the Land Transport Safety Authority of New Zealand, determined 1,880 more people died between 1996 and 1999 in the 22 states with higher speed limits.

1880 more than what? The other 28? What are the states? Apples/Oranges at best.

92 posted on 11/24/2003 7:06:40 PM PST by TankerKC (Member since before you! I win!)
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To: ElkGroveDan
Well then if slower is better we should lower the national speed limit to 20mph everywhere. Then we would be really, really safe.

Think how safe we would be if the speed limit was 0.

93 posted on 11/24/2003 7:07:58 PM PST by Lazamataz (I like my women as I like my coffee: Cold and bitter.)
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To: ElkGroveDan; azhenfud; Howlin; Constitution Day
Well then if slower is better we should lower the national speed limit to 20mph everywhere. Then we would be really, really safe.

Don't give a certain Republican Senator any ideas!!

National Review Feb 98

But she remained devoted to federally imposed safety regulations. She opposed Reagan's raising of the 55-mile-per-hour national speed limit, pushed for a mandatory third rear brake light (which had no lasting effect on auto safety), and bribed states to raise their drinking age to 21. Legal developments arguably left her no choice but to mandate airbags for cars -- but she did so enthusiastically. It was as if her personal obsession with control and caution spilled over into her policymaking. ``In all my efforts to promote safer transportation, I tried to respect individual choice,'' she wrote in Unlimited Partners. But airbags had to be designed just so; speed limits could not be raised; people wouldn't buckle up on their own. (Mrs. Dole also supported fuel-efficiency standards that had the perverse effect of taking more lives than airbags save.)
Um, the National Review is conservative enough for most isn't it? Thought so.
94 posted on 11/24/2003 7:38:19 PM PST by billbears (I've got my roadside seatbelt checker spot picked out. Call 1-800-DOLECARES to get yours!!)
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To: cinFLA
Huh? I had to speed up to 85 just to blend into the slow lane today after cruising along on cruise control in the middle lane at 75.

So you ADMIT that you break the law and endanger other people's lives while CONTINUING to push the drug warrior agenda against non-violent drug users.

95 posted on 11/24/2003 10:04:49 PM PST by xrp (Fox News Sucks: ALL LACI PETERSON ALL MICHAEL JACKSON, ALL THE TIME!)
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To: SLB
I'm guessing that most of those wrecks were caused by bozos who still insisted on only driving 55 MPH on a highway.
96 posted on 11/24/2003 10:08:53 PM PST by Mulder (Fight the future)
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To: blau993
However, the lazy-assed state troopers who sit on the side of the road on clear sunny days (God forbid they should spoil the crease on those trousers by doing it in the rain) blasting away with their radar guns and lasers are doing precisely nothing about any of this.

Not only that, but the bastards are really making it more dangerous for the rest of us by doing so.

Whenever a driver sees Barney sitting alongside a road, most instinctively hit their breaks, since they don't know exactly how fast they are going relative to the limit. This causes lots of problems, not the least of which is causing cars to bunch up together.

97 posted on 11/24/2003 10:12:32 PM PST by Mulder (Fight the future)
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To: avg_freeper
Yea, right. Show me where any major highway around atlanta gets over 15 mph during rush hour.

It's been a couple of years since I've been to Atlanta, but I remember that if you weren't doing 80 MPH, you'd have so many cars passing (on both the right and the left), and cars tailgating that you would cause a problem for other drivers.

I think in Georgia they can arrest you for going 15 over the limit, so drivers are forced to choose between a potential arrest and driving safely.

98 posted on 11/24/2003 10:15:00 PM PST by Mulder (Fight the future)
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To: FreedomPoster
According to the State Police there are so few of them that your chance of getting stopped for speeding is almost a joke. It's only by chance that someone gets stopped..
99 posted on 11/25/2003 1:45:07 AM PST by .45MAN
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To: .45MAN
My experience is no one cares if you're under 80mph in ATL metro, on a limited-access road. Except maybe for Doraville on the 1 mile of I-285 that's in their jurisdiction. Always slow for Doraville. And watch out for Duluth, Roswell, and Alpharetta cops on the surface streets, but you shouldn't be speeding much on those. Unlike the Interstates, that is unsafe.
100 posted on 11/25/2003 2:08:29 AM PST by FreedomPoster (this space intentionally blank)
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