University Daily Kansan
Nation/World
Tuesday, April 22, 1986
9
Study doubts safety of speed limit
United Press International
DALLAS — It is not fast driving that causes accidents but cars traveling at different speeds, according to a report by yesterday by a California economist.
The study, which contradicts claims by national highway safety campaigns, says slow drivers cause as many traffic deaths as fast drivers, and roads may be safer if there were no speed limits at all.
Charles Lave, chairman of the economics department at the University of California in Irvine and a member of the federal agency that evaluated the national 55-mph speed limit, wrote the report that shoots holes in several
popular notions of traffic safety.
Using computers, he analyzed U.S. Department of Transportation records on fatal traffic accidents and speeds at which the vehicles were traveling when the accidents occurred.
is the real study. Lavey's study, which is being based on the Dallas-based National Center for Policy Analysis, suggested that if everyone drives at the same speed — whether 55, 60 or 65mph — annual traffic deaths on rural interstate highways would be cut in half and 1,000 lives will be saved.
occurred.
His findings suggest that the variance of speed — not speed itself — is the real menace.
han and 1,000 miles.
"When most cars are traveling at the same speed, whether fast or slow.
fatalities will be lower because there is less chance of a collision," Lave said.
said.
The study also found that about 15 percent of all drivers on most interstate highways went faster than 63 mph, while another 15 percent drove slower than 33 mph. More than 70 percent exceed the 55-mph speed limit.
"Safety campaigns emphasize that 'speed kills' and imply that the slower driver is the virtuous one and is helping to protect himself and others," said Lave. "That just isn't so."
Instead, he suggested that law enforcement officers would be better off trying to reduce variance, not speed.
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