The Controversial Rule That Sets U.S. Speed Limits and the Plans to Slow Them

Speeding is a serious problem – it killed nearly 100,000 people on U.S. roads over the past decade, according to the U.S. Department of Transportation. Now, some are putting forward plans to slow America’s roads down and rethink a controversial rule that sets the speed limit for many roads in the U.S. But slowing drivers down may require much more than just changing the speed limit.

0:00 Intro
1:08 How speed limits are set
1:41 Why the U.S.’ current speed limit rule doesn’t work
2:37 The plan to slow America down

If you’re interested in the future of mobility, how technology is changing how we get from A to B, and how modern transportation is impacting our lives, then don’t forget to subscribe.

#Speeding #SpeedLimit #GeorgeDowns

[GeorgeDownsWSJ]

Do you think America should reassess its speed limits?

[mmctest]

Lowering speed limits especially arbitrarily doesn't help anything it just raises traffic stops and fines.
Speed limits need to accommodate the situations of the area. Other factors need to be considered, stoplight timing, stop signs, lanes, cross traffic and speed, schools... My opinion

[MichaelSnyder]

1/3 of accidents are caused by impairment, 1/3 again from distractions. It's not the speed limits that are the problem.

[antoniocilindro]

I’m a bit skeptic about the speed as one of the main reasons. In some countries, there’s literally no limit on some roads and it works well. Obviously, there are many caveats on this, but I’m wondering how they came out with those stats? How could they claim speed was the root cause and not for instance distraction due to a mobile phone or something else

[JK-ztym]

You started with a conclusion "speeding is the cause of death" and set about implementing your solution. This is idiotic. The NTSB itself has stated that speed does not increase the likelihood of an accident, only the likelihood of injury depending on the excess.

You need to do something about the behaviors that cause accidents which are generally not speeding.

Tailgating, hanging out in the passing lane, running lights, aggressive lane changes, drug and alcohol use.

Create better drivers, see less deaths.

[aaronhinspater]

There are FAR more roads where the speed limit is outrageously low than there are roads where I've honestly thought the speed was too high. Like 100 to 1. I remember I got a speeding ticket for going 19mph over on a highway, in medium traffic, when I was just matching the flow of traffic. That particular stretch of road speed limit is never followed, and had I been going 19mph less, 45 instead of 64, I would have been a danger to the rest of traffic.

[TheJamesKline]

With narrower roads for cars, you have more rooms for sidewalks, trees, bike lanes, and public transportation. Having traffic move slower can be an advantageous side effect.

I think speed limits often aren't credible because of the inconsistent way they are set and enforced. There seem to be many roads with speed limits well under 85th percentile speeds, and a few with limits over it. Some jurisdictions hardly ever ticket, and small speed trap towns will get everyone going 1 mph over.

[WheelcraftBicycles]

The safer drivers feel the faster they go. We need narrow pedestrian friendly roads!

[ronwilson]

Speed limits on interstates have always been too low. We should have 90mph limits on the open road. Speed does not kill, stupidity does kill. We should follow the example of Germany and their driving safety solutions.

[Trevsrandomstuff]

I design highways and streets for a living in the US, everything is based on the speed or situation of the road.
The classic “it depends”
After it is built, if enough people make noise and wave their arms they can change the speed to whatever they want.

[acx]

Yes, it should go higher on freeways and interstates, remain same in most city roads. More should be done in terms of the hotspots that cause accidents.

[handlemonium]

the number of lanes and plant more trees while we're at it.

I'm an e-biker and I observe that my range increases 15-20% for every 10% slower I go so reducing the speed limits from "70 to 55 mph" or "45 to 35 mph" would do the same for all drivers too.

[rickmaninvasion]

Why are we waisting time on this conversation? Self driving cars are very close to becoming reality and once it is this is not an issue. Y’all very short term focused

[jamsbong]

I have driven on roads all over the world. I would say reducing speed limit has no factor in reducing the dangers of driving.
A huge factor is how qualified is the driver in “safe” handling of the vehicle under all condition.

[twinplayerz]

Comparing any statistic using 2020 as a baseline is inherently wrong. It was an abnormal year

[terryallen]

Yes, the speeds in america are high, but a lot of other factors play into it also. Like cars that can go way to fast and distracted drivers ie. Cell phones

[Rocky_Rocks]

Omg.. narrow roads may decrease deaths but will increase number of accidents and harmful injuries.. median is best choice combined with speed monitoring system and penalty

[roberthaxton]

They say “America’s roads” but only use examples of urban streets. What ate they going to do about the roads not in cities? They tried this in the 80s and it didn’t work.

[svettnabb]

Fixing roads is easy, fixing Americans is impossible. This will never be solved. In Norway 87 people died on the road in 2021. That’s counting pedestrian and bicycle incidents. We have winter for half the year, and measured against population and miles driven on the road, we have the least amount of deaths.

How did we mostly solve it? Education. Getting the drivers license is a lot of work and cost a lot of money.

[Chuck]

People need to realize in 90% of situations speed is not the problem, people are the problem. that starts with lack of training and next to no additional training after your drivers test. Not to mention getting a drivers license In the United States is so easy it’s a joke.