The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) released a comprehensive list this month of speed limits state-by-state, a handy tool for motorists across the U.S. wondering if they’re going too fast. In the eyes of safety advocates like the IIHS, you probably are.
States are, in general, raising speed limits, said Russ Rader, spokesman for IIHS.
At the same time, officials are combating speeders with more automated enforcement cameras. By IIHS’s count, there are 136 communities nationwide that have speed camera programs.
It’s no secret that a car weighed down by a speeding violation will have a higher car insurance bill compared to one without a violation.
According to the IIHS, there are lives that are at risk when it comes to curbing speeding.
“The research is clear-cut that when speed limits go up, deaths on those roads go up,” said Rader, who offered Online Auto Insurance a useful Q & A that he said drivers should refer to with their speed-related queries. “And when speed limits go down, deaths go down.”
But it’s hazier whether or not higher speed limits have increased the number of insurance claims that policyholders file.
“Insurance claims reflect more low-speed, low-severity crashes, so they wouldn’t be helpful in examining the effect of speed limit changes on roads like interstates,” he said, adding that studies on the impact of speed-limit changes have focused only on fatal crashes.
Federal crash data shows that, in 2011, almost a third of all motor vehicle deaths were linked to speed-related crashes.
Everything’s Faster on This Texas Highway (But Still Safe)
It’s been nearly a year since the opening of a toll-road stretch of Highway 130 in central Texas, where drivers can legally hit speeds of up to 85 mph (the highest speed limit in the nation).
At the time, officials said the insurance implications would need to bear out over time as the highway opened and more drivers filed claims about crashes there. (As a general rule, insurance rates in a region are dictated by the number of claims that region generates, so more crash claims will equal higher rates)
The IIHS said it hasn’t studied anything about Highway 130 specifically yet, according to Rader.
But if the latest stats are any indication, speed on the nation’s fastest stretch of highway isn’t leading to more crashes, much less any insurance claims for crashes.
That part of the highway has seen just a total of seven speed-related crashes from last October (when Segments 5 and 6 of Highway 130 opened) through this September, according to data provided to OAI by the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT).
Comparatively, the part of the highway to the South of Segments 5 and 6, which has a lower speed limit of 80 mph, showed 15 speed-related crashes during that time period. When measured per-mile, the number of crashes “is very similar” between the different segments of Highway 130, according to David Glessner, a TxDOT spokesman.
“In general, speed-related crashes make up a very small percentage of total crashes for both portions of SH 130,” he told OAI.
Adrian Lund, IIHS president, had voiced major concerns about the toll road’s debut, and said drivers on the highway could even push past the 85 mph speed limit “to go 90 or more.”
As it turns out, high speeds don’t appear to be contributing to more crashes, and that’s a product of sound planning before the highway’s opening, and a careful eye on it since then, Glessner said.
“Professional engineers reviewed and recommended the 85 mph speed limit,” he said, adding that TxDot “will continue to monitor” crash stats on the highway to ensure the speed limits remain safe for drivers.
For their part, drivers can protect themselves with some simple tips from TxDOT:
