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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 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.
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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
| 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 d0esignated urban interstates and rural highways
for passenger vehicles and commercial buses |
Source: Ohio Historical Society
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