United States Department of Transportation
i
The effect of increased speed limits in the post-MNSL era
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1998-02-01
[PDF-406.76 KB]
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Abstract:The National Highway System (NHS) Designation Act of 1995 (Public Law 104-59) was signed into law on November 28, 1995. The NHS Act, among other things, established the National Highway System and eliminated the Federal mandate for the National Maximum Speed Limit (NMSL). In so doing, the NHS Act ended a period of more than 20 years of Federal involvement in the states' establishment of speed limits and ended the requirement for states' submission of speed compliance data to the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA). Section 347 of the NHS Act required the Secretary of Transportation to study the impact of states' actions to raise speed limits above 55/65 mph (88/105 kph) and report to Congress by September 30, 1997. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) and FHWA were delegated responsibility for conducting the study of the impact of increased speed limits. This report presents the results of their study. Key findings include the following: The estimated increase in Interstate fatalities found in this study, while smaller in magnitude compared to the estimated change in fatalities found in 1987 following the increase of speed limits on rural interstates, does follow the historical pattern of increases in fatalities being associated with increases in posted speed limits.
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