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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 May 2005,
31 states raised speed limits to 70 mph or higher on some portion
of their roadway systems. Table 1 provides state rural and urban
interstate speed limits.
Speed and impact on crash fatalities
The average speed of drivers in the US is on the increase and most
traffic safety researchers agree that raising speed limits is harmful.
A study released in November 2003 by the Insurance Institute for
Highway Safety (IIHS) shows that in the six states studied where
rural interstate speed limits were raised, more than two-thirds
of the vehicles on these roads were going 70 mph or faster. The
states studied were CO, GA, CA, MA, MD and NM.
The study also found that higher travel speeds translated into
nearly 1,900 more deaths in 22 states between 1996–99.
Another component of the IIHS report includes highlights from
a study by the Land Transport Safety Authority of New Zealand.
The
New Zealand study examined the number of deaths per million vehicle
miles driven in 22 US states that immediately raised their limits
to 70 or 75 mph after the repeal of federal speed limits. Trends
from those states were compared with 12 states that kept their
limits
at 65. The study found states with increased speed limits to 75
mph had 38% more deaths per million vehicle miles than expected
for an estimated 780 deaths. States with speed limits raised to
70 mph experienced a 35% increase, resulting in 1,100 more deaths.
View the IIHS report online at www.iihs.org/sr/pdfs/sr3810.pdf.
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 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 Table 2 for history of Ohio’s speed
limit laws.) Ohio is one of 11 states with differing speed
limits on cars and heavy trucks (see Table
1).
In September 2004 the Ohio Turnpike Commission’s higher
speed limits for trucks went into effect. Speed limits for commercial
trucks using the Ohio Turnpike increased from 55 mph to 65 mph.
It was part of the commission’s plan to get more trucks to
use the Ohio Turnpike. Truck traffic began spilling over to smaller
roads
after an 82% toll increase took full effect in 1999.
In February 2005, the turnpike commission began an 18-month trial
of lowering tolls for commercial trucks. For big trucks that most
often use turnpike, the toll dropped from $42.45 to $31 to cross
the state. Tolls for the biggest trucks, those over 80,000 pounds,
the rate were dropped by more than half from $72.45 to $31. Tolls
for cars remain the same.
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.
Trends in Ohio’s fatal crashes, according to the Ohio Department
of Public Safety (ODPS), show they have remained relatively stable
over the past five years. There were 1,162 fatal crashes in 2004
and 1,168 fatal crashes in 2003, 1,284 fatal crashes in 2002, and
1,258 fatal crashes in 2001 and 1,240 in 2000. Injury crashes decreased
four of the five years during that same period. ODPS figures show
94,058 injury crashes in 2004, 94,970 in 2003, 95,374 injury crashes
in 2002, 94,971 in 2001 and 105,543 in 2000.
Table 3 provides 2002–2004 figures regarding speed and crashes
in Ohio.
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Speeders are going faster than ever. Speeders
who exceed the limits by up to 15 mph, and incidents of drivers
ticketed for extreme speeding (over 90 mph) increased from 2%
of tickets issued in 1991 to 10% in 2002.
(USA Today, 2/23/04)
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NA = Not applicable
Source: Insurance Institute for Highway Safety
| Table
2: History of Ohio's Speed Limit Laws |
| 1908 |
The first speed limit
was 20 mph outside municipalities, 8 mph inside municipalities |
| 1926 |
35 mph |
| 1940 |
45 mph |
| 1941 |
50 mph |
| 12/1/42 |
Gas rationing and a
35 mph speed limit on all roads that had been in effect along
the East Coast for 7 months was extended nationally to conserve
gasoline and rubber during World War II |
| 8/15/45 |
50 mph speed limit
reinstated |
| 1958 |
60 mph daytime, 50
mph speed limit at night |
| 1963 |
70 mph for cars and
55 mph for trucks and commercial tractors on interstates; 60
mph daytime and 50 nighttime on noninterstates |
| 1974 |
55 mph for all vehicles
on interstates and most other highways |
| 1987 |
65 mph for cars on
900 miles of rural interstates, 55 mph for commercial vehicles
weighing more than 8,000 lbs. |
| 1991 |
65 mph for cars on
another 246 miles of interstates |
| 1992 |
65 mph on 209 miles
of rural noninterstates |
| 1996 |
Speed limits raised
to 65 mph on designated urban interstates and rural highways
for passenger vehicles and commercial buses |
| 2002 |
Am. Sub. SB 123 (effective
date 11/1/02) overhauls point system for speeding. Effective
date for provisions dealing with changes in Ohio’s point
system for speeding is 1/1/04. (Click
here for details.) |
| 2004 |
The Ohio Turnpike Commission
approved a resolution increasing the speed limit for commercial
vehicles to 65 miles per hour in August 2004. The increase from
55 mph took effect Sept. 8. |
Source: Excerpts from Ohio Historical Society
Source: Ohio Department of Public Safety, Ohio Traffic Crash Facts,
2002–2004 editions |
