An experiment to raise speed limits to 80mph in Utah has been declared a success in road safety terms.
Limits can go up, as well as down...
Since 2008, the Utah Department of Transportation (UDOT) has been allowed to raise posted limits to 80mph from 75mph, but because motorists were already driving at speeds greater than the original limit the effect has been simply to bring drivers within the law, rather than worsen highway safety.
That’s the official view of the UDOT which has been studying the move closely, as described by the department’s deputy director Carlos Braceras:
“"Overall we saw speeds increase between two and three miles per hour," he says. "The speed differentials did increase and we saw no change in accident history, while the number of vehicles exceeding the speed limit decreased 20 percent."
According to thenewspaper.com which has reported the story, when the speed limit was 75mph, 85th percentile speeds measured between 81 and 85mph - a barely perceptible change from the 83 to 85mph speeds recorded when the 80mph limit was introduced.
The 85th percentile speed represents the speed at which 85 percent of free-flowing traffic feels is the safest, and according to the report engineers have determined that the best safety is achieved when speed limits match that 85th percentile speed.
"One of the concerns when we presented this bill a couple of sessions ago was that people would increase speeds to 90 or 95 and there would be tremendous carnage on the road," State Representative James Dunnigan told thenewspaper.com:
"Even though it has only been a year, that has not happened. And all that's happened is that people haven't changed their speed much -- a little bit -- but they're doing so legally. So by increasing the speed limit to 80, we just made them legal."
Here at PH, it all sounds like a victory for the democratic principle. Whatever would ‘nanny’ think of such a clear-sighted approach to the appropriate setting of speed limits in the UK..?