Traffic is Terrible
Traffic congestion is one of the most troubling transport problems, causing various issues and headaches for both drivers and law enforcement agencies.
Traffic is a waste of drivers’ time. It creates delays, causing people to arrive late for work, appointments, meetings. Traffic congestion is also dangerous; It is one of the most common causes of road rage – it makes drivers frustrated, resulting in angry or aggressive behaviour. Additionally, it often prevents emergency vehicles from getting to their destination as quickly as possible, and it increases the risk of collisions. On top of all of this, traffic is bad for the environment. The increased carbon dioxide that cars emit is a major contributor to air pollution.
Solution: Raising Speed Limits
Safety issues that arise from congestion are especially concerning, which is why all kinds of solutions to this problem have been proposed in the past, in order to improve traffic flow, and consequently, enhance road safety. There are several ways to ensure smooth traffic flow – raising speed limits is one of them. This idea was recently proposed by Florida lawmakers, who believe that increasing speed limits on interstate highways to 75 mph could contribute to reducing accidents and help make roads safer. Currently, the speed limit on these highways is set at 70 mph, and lawmakers feel that this is not enough.
While this might seem like an illogical and controversial idea, there are some pretty convincing arguments in favor of the proposal. The general opinion is that drivers tend to drive faster when speed limits are increased, but various studies have shown that no matter what the limit is, they always maintain the speed at which they perceive as safe. It doesn’t necessarily mean that higher speed limits will encourage drivers to go faster, as most of them maintain a reasonable speed, that allows them to keep control of their vehicles, no matter what the speed limit sign says. According to the Federal Highway Administration, drivers are not affected by changes to the speed limits, which means that an increase of 5 mph wouldn’t automatically translate into more accidents caused by speeding.
The Evidence
In fact, statistics show that the frequency of car accidents might be increased when speed limits are lowered, because the primary cause of speed-related accidents does not involve exceeding speed limits, but speed variance – which depends on the geometric design of roadways. Drivers usually increase speeds while driving on straight roads that offer good visibility, regardless of the speed limit. Most accidents usually occur when speed variance increases, rather than when the average speed increases.
According to a series of studies conducted across the country over the past 10 years, the risk of accidents increase substantially when drivers are moving below the average travel speed, since they obstruct traffic flow and create confusion among other drivers. Frequent braking in effort to avoid exceeding speed limits results in a lot of rear-end collisions. It is the vehicles that are moving slower than average that cause a high differential speed.
However, there is also a strong opposition to this proposal. Some people say that American highways are not well designed, and that they will not be safe at higher speeds. There is also the issue of distracted driving, which can become even more concerning if drivers across the country are allowed to drive faster than they already do.
If you get caught breaking the speed limit, learn how to pay your traffic ticket.