Should We Raise Speed Limits

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In 1974 The United States passed the Emergency Highway Energy Conservation Act, during 1970’s oil crisis. One of the many provisions passed was the National maximum speed law of 55 mph in order to save fuel. While this sounded good on paper, it ultimately failed by cutting back fuel consumption by only 1%. Since 1994, when it was fully lifted there has been a raging debate over whether we should really raise speed limits. Many tests since the mid 90’s have evaluated both sides, such as Speed limit increases and Accident rates by Paul Frisman. One argument is that “raising speed limits” do not affect the number of accidents and actually benefits drivers on the road. One of the many benefits of raising speed limits is faster travel times. By …show more content…

It would help maintain speeds better by not backing up lanes. These changes would also improve relations with law enforcement and let people travel at safe enough speed for the roads at which they feel comfortable traveling at, not at what is posted. Small changes in speed limits do not change what people will travel at either, even if current speed limits were increased by 10 MPH, nearly four in ten (38%) drivers of interstate highways predict they would drive at least a little bit faster than the new posted speed limit(Dutta). Most tests found drivers seem to believe they can drive 7-8 mph over speed limit (Dutta). Tests conclude that lowering the speed limit does not mean traffic will slow down either (the). One major problem on many highways is speeding, Many researchers agree the best way to gauge speed limits is following the 85th percentile rule. The 85th percentile rule explains that a acceptable and most efficient speed should be set so 85 percent of vehicles are traveling at or below that posted limit. However, many lawmakers often lower the speeds with the mentality of “slower is safer”. This is simply not the case. Setting the speed limit of a road to an arbitrary value may, and most likely will, have a deteriorative effect on traffic flow and safety

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