Raising Speed Limits Cost Lives

[BACyclone]

The increased severity is exactly the point.

The article and study is not talking about total accidents.
They’re looking at the death toll from 1993 to 2017 and arguing that it could have and should have been lower if speed limits had not been raised.

Attributing a result to one variable without recognizing the potential effects of several other variables is quite preposterous.

 

[iahawkhunter]

Ok but my RPM is under 2000 at 80 and around 2200 at 70. Not seeing how “air drag “ is affecting my mileage. Even if you’re right 80 puts less stress on my motor.

RPM != stress. As an extreme example, lugging your motor puts a lot of stress on everything but at least it's running at a low RPM!

Simply due to air resistance you need more power at 80 mph than at 70 mph. You can get power by either spinning the motor slowly with higher force on each piston stroke (i.e., lots of mechanical stress) or by spinning faster with less force on each piston stroke. Running at the lower RPM can take more fuel because the force on the piston has to come from the fuel combustion. More force requires more fuel.

 

[bluestarcyclone]

Speaking of driving, we ran down to Costco yesterday and it looks like they are planing on shifting the northbound lanes of I-35 next week sometime to start construction on that side of the interstate. Lanes and barriers are up on the South bound lanes for the shift to occur and they were putting up green plastic items on the barriers, I suppose to keep the car lights better in than lane and be less distracting.

Does anyone know how far up they are going with the 3rd lane? Just to the south edge of Ames and highway 30 or all the way up through Ames?

The first phase (which itself moves in phases) goes up to Huxley and is scheduled to finish this year. Phase 2 goes from Huxley to Ames and will take a few years just like the Ankeny to Huxley stretch did as they rebuild it in phases.

It'll go up through the 30 interchange along with some bridge and ramp rebuilds at the interchange

 

[Cyrealist]

You could set the speed limit to 80 and people will still drive 10 mph over the limit. Only thing is, the roads are in such terrible shape that you can’t stay on the road.

When I started driving, some of the two-lane highways were very narrow and had curbs. The interstates weren't completed let alone other 4-lanes. Roads have improved dramatically. But I agree on the 10 over part. On the interstates I set the cruise at 70 and pass no one other than a few trucks. I don't think most vehicles are really designed to run 80 and as someone else said, gas mileage suffers. I do think rural two-lanes need higher limits.

 

[stormchaser2014]

For something that most people do everyday, drive, so many are incredibly bad at it.

 

[TitanClone]

If you drive west of Iowa it's not uncommon for 2 lane highways to be 65 MPH and interstates 75 or 80. The difference between a state like Iowa vs Wyoming is that most law enforcement in Iowa won't bother ticketing or even pulling you over unless you are at least 10 MPH over where Wyoming and Montana they usually will pull you over at 5mph over so they enforce the higher speed limits much stricter so they don't have people going 10+ over.

Had this happen to me years ago driving back from Wyoming. Was passing through Casper or Cheyenne and got pulled over for 6 mph over. Fortunately did not get a speeding ticket and just received a verbal warning, but my mind was blown how in Iowa they probably would not even flinched at 6 over on the interstate. My brother has lived in WY for a while now and he always warns friends and family that drive out to visit not to go over 5 mph over posted speed limits as the law enforcement will enforce it with very little leeway for going over.

Several years ago I was driving back from the Black Hills with my ex who is from SD going 87 and she was like "how fast are you going" as I was passing someone. Said 87 and shes like no one drives over 85. Just had it my head that I always put cruise at 7 or 8 over everywhere else.

 

[simply1]

why stop at 45? Just ban cars and we would save so many lives. If it saves just one life it's worth it right?

Why have an upper limit? Time saved is paramount, so each person should get to pick how much time they save.

 

[KnappShack]

When I started driving, some of the two-lane highways were very narrow and had curbs. The interstates weren't completed let alone other 4-lanes. Roads have improved dramatically. But I agree on the 10 over part. On the interstates I set the cruise at 70 and pass no one other than a few trucks. I don't think most vehicles are really designed to run 80 and as someone else said, gas mileage suffers. I do think rural two-lanes need higher limits.

What was the top speed on your Model T?



(I kid! I kid!)

 

[houjix]

Several years ago I was driving back from the Black Hills with my ex who is from SD going 87 and she was like "how fast are you going" as I was passing someone. Said 87 and shes like no one drives over 85. Just had it my head that I always put cruise at 7 or 8 over everywhere else.

We took our trip to the Black Hills a couple of years ago and I think we went maybe 82-83 at most. You just start to feel a bit uncomfortable at speeds that high.

 

[2122]

By the same token, lowering speed limits wastes trillions of hours of life that could have been spent more productively.

 

[JimDogRock]

Attributing a result to one variable without recognizing the potential effects of several other variables is quite preposterous.

And this study did not do that.
The article says that their methods included “taking into account other factors that affect fatality rates — including changes in unemployment, the number of potential young drivers (ages 16-24) and the seat belt use rate — he calculated the effect of speed limit increases.”

 

[Erik4Cy]

so does undrinkable water, the obesity rate in iowa, the high rates of alcohol consumption.

While I agree those are all still very much issues (especially the first 2)...

National numbers are showing that alcohol consumption with younger generations has gone down significantly. Same with tobacco use (how many have moved to e-cigs/vapeing instead as opposed to quitting tobacco altogether, idk tho)

 

[isufbcurt]

For something that most people do everyday, drive, so many are incredibly bad at it.

Yeah it isn't hard to 1) set the cruise, 2) steer with your knees and 3) surf CF on your phone

 

[JimDogRock]

By the same token, lowering speed limits wastes trillions of hours of life that could have been spent more productively.

If all 340 million people in the US spent an entire year in vehicles that would collectively be less than 3 trillion hours.

 

[KnappShack]

Yeah it isn't hard to 1) set the cruise, 2) steer with your knees and 3) surf CF on your phone

I mean Tommy Lee could steer a boat with his "Little Lee".

It can be done if we only try

 

[twojman]

so does undrinkable water, the obesity rate in iowa, the high rates of alcohol consumption.

Obviously nobody cares about this in Iowa. (Unfortunately) More deaths on the roads aren't gonna matter.

 

[madguy30]

This is false. I have a condo in the ozarks. Speed limits the whole way used to be 55 MPH growing up. They are at 70. At 15 MPH you do that math on that. Takes a full hour off the trip. Then add that I usually go 5 over the speed limit

Unless it's changed 'd suggest looking up actual data on this vs. your own anecdotal piece.

 

[BryceC]

The increased severity is exactly the point.

The article and study is not talking about total accidents.
They’re looking at the death toll from 1993 to 2017 and arguing that it could have and should have been lower if speed limits had not been raised.

This is precisely the reason why roundabouts are much safer than stoplights. The impacts are much lower speed.

 

[Drew0311]

Unless it's changed 'd suggest looking up actual data on this vs. your own anecdotal piece.

Are you saying it takes the same amount of time no matter how fast you are going? If So maybe we should make the speed limit 30

 

[BryceC]

Disagree. Self driving cars will reduce people’s ability to drive manually. But there are weather conditions that self driving cars will not operate in. So people will always be forced to drive at times. So you may see accidents fall in places like San Diego, but heaven help us when there’s a snowfall in Iowa.

As an example, what percentage of the population can back out of their driveway without a backup camera? Once those became standard, people relied on them and lost the ability to check their mirrors and over their shoulder.

The reason why I look at the back up camera is because it’s a better view than I could get from turning or using mirrors. It’s a fish eye lens view from right over the bumper. I can see everything with 100% clarity that I can’t from the mirrors and turning around and I don’t need to shift my body to do it.

I’ve used my wife’s smart/adaptive cruise in snow. It’s really good.