Speed Limit Laws

Since the federal government gave individual states the power to set their own speed limits through legislation in December 1995, 44 states passed measures to increase speed limits. As of July 2000 there were 29 states with speed limits posted at 70 mph or higher on some of their highway systems. Click here to view rural and urban interstate speed limits by state.

Speed and impact on crash fatalities

Although there is no arguing the fact that the average speed of drivers in the US is on the increase, the debate regarding whether or not higher speeds are life-threatening continues. According to Federal Highway Administration data, between 1980–92, the percentage of interstate drivers exceeding 65 mph more than quadrupled to nearly 23% from 4.9%.

A study released by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) in January 1999 found that higher travel speeds translate into more fatalities. IIHS reports that in 24 states that passed higher speed limits during late 1995 and 1996, motor vehicle deaths increased during 1996–97. Comparisons were made in these states from the time speed limits were raised through 1997 with corresponding fatality counts for the same months in the six-year period prior to when their speed limits were changed. A control group of seven states where speed limits had not changed during the study period was used for comparison. Ohio was not included in this study.

IIHS estimates a 15% increase in fatalities on interstates and freeways, based on its findings. The 24 states included in this study were Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Georgia, Idaho, Kansas, Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Mexico, North Carolina, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Rhode Island, South Dakota, Texas, Utah, Washington and Wyoming.

Others are quick to note that while Americans are driving more miles than ever, the fatality rate per highway mile has declined 11% since 1995, the year federal government abandoned the 55 mph national speed limit.

Safer cars and highways may serve to encourage higher speeds, but no study to date has determined that driving faster than posted speed limits or prevailing road conditions is safer than driving at moderate speeds.

Ohio speed limit legislation and five-year crash statistics

In 2001, the Ohio House introduced a bill calling for a uniform speed limit for cars and trucks on certain rural interstate highways. HB 55, known as the Speed Uniformity Bill, calls for 65 mph speed limits for large trucks on certain portions of Ohio’s interstate system, the same as cars. Ohio is one of nine states that has differing speed limits on cars and heavy trucks (see chart below). At year-end 2001, the bill remained in House hearings.

In 1996, the Ohio General Assembly approved legislation allowing the Ohio Department of Transportation to raise speed limits to 65 mph on designated urban interstates and rural highways for passenger vehicles and commercial buses. Previous state law set the speed limits at 55 mph on urban interstates and rural highways, and 65 on rural interstates. (See chart below for history of Ohio’s speed limit laws.)

In Ohio, fatalities declined following the passage of the 55 mph speed limit law in 1974, the oil crisis era. Fatalities in the Buckeye state have been under the 2,000 mark since then with the exception of three years, 1978–1980. Worth noting is the fact that there was a 6% increase in Ohio fatalities in 1987, the year after Congress raised speed limits to 65 mph on rural interstates.

Fatal crashes, according to the Ohio Department of Public Safety (ODPS), have declined in recent years. There were 1,240 fatal crashes in 2000, and 1,284 fatal crashes in 1999, 1,423 in 1998, 1,439 in 1997 and 1,395 in 1996. Injury crashes have steadily decreased during the same five-year period. ODPS figures show 105,543 injury crashes in 2000, down from 121,078 in 1999. There were 123,785 injury crashes in 1998, 128,296 in 1997 and 130,793 in 1996.

Ohio State troopers made 434,291 speeding stops in 2000 in which they issued at least one citation. A Cleveland Plain Dealer computer analysis of those stops shows that more tickets were issued on the Ohio Turnpike than any other interstate in Ohio. (Cleveland Plain Dealer, 8/26/01)

NA = Not applicable
Source: Insurance Institute for Highway Safety

Sources: Ohio State Highway Patrol 2000 Annual Report and Cleveland Plain Dealer, 8/26/01

Source: Ohio Historical Society