Speed Limits

SPEED LIMITS

SPEED LIMITS. In 1973 Congress responded to an oil shortage facing the United States and other countries by instituting a national maximum speed limit of 55 miles per hour (mph). A serious conflict with the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) had resulted in a 130 percent increase in the price of oil and eventually

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an oil embargo. Prior to 1973, speed limits were set by the individual states, and regulating such safety matters was not considered part of federal jurisdiction. The federal government's only means of enforcing the national speed limit was to direct the Department of Transportation to withhold highway funding from states that did not adopt the 55 mph maximum.

While the speed limit was signed into law by President Richard Nixon to save fuel, many in the public and the government soon recognized that it also saved lives. Studies documented that the higher the speed at which a car traveled, the greater the risk of serious injury or death in the event of a crash. Nevertheless, many Americans were critical of the new law. Some considered the speed limit an unreasonable government restriction on their individual liberty. Others argued that the 55 mph limit was an arbitrary and artificial designation that turned most Americans into law breakers. Opponents of the speed limit also argued that many of the nation's highways, especially in the West, were built for cars to drive at a faster speed than 55 mph. Underlying the debate was the question of whether the federal government rather than the states should set speed limits. As a result of these controversies, in 1987 Congress amended the law to allow states to increase speed limits on rural interstates to 65 mph.

In November 1995, President Bill Clinton signed legislation that returned the jurisdiction for setting speed limits back to the states. This act, which eliminated the national speed limit of 55 mph, passed the Senate by a vote of 63 to 35. States were permitted to raise the speed limits as of 8 December 1995. By 2002, some states had still not changed the speed limit on urban interstates, but most had raised the maximum speed limit to 65 or 70 mph in rural areas.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Leaf, W. A., and D. F. Preusser. Literature Review on Vehicle Travel Speeds and Pedestrian Injuries, publication of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, U.S. Department of Transportation. Springfield, Va.: National Technical Information Services, 1999.

Rask, Mark. American Autobahn: The Road to an Interstate Freeway with No Speed Limit. Minneapolis, Minn.: Vanguard Non-Fiction Books, 1999.

Shira M. Diner

See also Automobile Safety ; Oil Crises .