Speeding is cited as a major factor in nearly one third of motor vehicle crashes annually in the United States. Setting speed limits has traditionally been the responsibility of states, except for the period 1973-1994. During that period the federal government enacted mandatory speed limit ceilings on interstate highways and so-called interstate look-alike roads through the National Maximum Speed Limit (NMSL) policy. The NMSL was repealed in 1995. Most states raised speed limits after the repeal of NMSL. In 1999, the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) funded a research project to study the effects of the repeal of NMSL. In that study, and in a special issue on speeding released in 2003, researchers reiterated concern about the societal cost of speeding in the U.S. According to the most recent IIHS report, higher travel speeds on rural interstates are responsible for an average 35 percent increase in death rates. In an effort to understand the continued role speeding plays in highway fatalities, the Governors Highway Safety Association (GHSA) with financial assistance from the U.S. Department of Transportation, convened a national forum focusing on excessive speed. The outcome of the June 2005 forum will be recommendations for a national speed strategy in which federal, state and local actions to control speeding can be identified, coordinated and implemented. This Survey of the States report provides background information for the National Forum in reducing speeding-related fatalities and also provides a snapshot of state countermeasures. To gauge what speeding reduction efforts states and territories are undertaking, GHSA asked state highway safety agencies to complete a questionnaire on the issue. Forty-seven states plus Guam, the District of Columbia and the Indian Nations responded. Individual responses are provided in Appendix A. GHSA’s Survey of the States found: ?While all jurisdictions have developed and use a state-specific standardized crash report form, forms vary from state to state, making regional comparisons difficult. Some states are able to isolate speeding-related fatal and injury crashes while others are not. ?Speeding-related crash data, if available, is available state-wide in most instances. Speeding-related citation and/or conviction data is not as frequently collected or maintained in a state-wide database. ?Aggressive driving is rarely defined in state statutes. Ten states reported as having enacted legislation specifically defining aggressive driving. Some states use informal definitions, some use federal definitions, and some states use other statutes such as reckless driving. It does appear that the number of states defining aggressive driving in state statutes is increasing, however. In January 2001, GHSA published a Survey of the States on the subject of aggressive driving. At that time only four states reported having enacted specific aggressive driving legislation. ?Geographic and demographic data isolated to speeding (crashes or citations) is not readily available in a state-wide database format. ?Most jurisdictions did not isolate speeding in terms of targeting federal highway safety funding. Rather, speeding was most often included as one of several components of funded activities. ?Nearly all respondents reported a public perception that there exists a cushion above a posted speed limit in which officers will not cite offenders. The range most often reported was 5-10 miles per hour above the posted limit. This report details efforts to control speeding by motorists. It comes ten years after Congress repealed the National Maximum Speed Limit (NMSL), which required states to keep maximum speed limits at 65 mph in rural areas and 55 mph in urban areas. It summarizes efforts to reduce speeding-related fatalities and provides a snapshot of individual state countermeasures. Of the 50 GHSA jurisdictions that responded, 38 indicated a speed limit increase since 1994. Given the tremendous gains in safety belt use coupled with the increasingly safe design of vehicles, states should have experienced a significant decline in speeding-related fatalities. However, statistics show speeding-related fatalities have remained fairly level since NMSL was repealed, which indicate that safety benefits have been minimized by increasing speeds. (Author/publisher)
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