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In April of 1987, Congress passed the Surface Transportation and Uniform Relocation Assistance Act (STURAA), which permitted states to raise their maximum speed limit on rural interstate highways to 65 mph. Virginia's 65 mph speed limit went into effect on July 1, 1988, for passenger vehicles and on July 1, 1989, for commercial buses. This is the final report in a series to examine the 65 mph speed limit in Virginia, and it summarizes Virginia's experience with the 65 mph speed limit from 1989 through 1992. Following the implementation of the 65 mph speed limit, average and 85th percentile speeds increased on Virginia's rural interstates, and fatal crashes and fatalities increased significantly. On Virginia's urban interstates, on which the speed limit remained at 55 mph, there was a smaller increase in average and 85th percentile speeds, but there was a slight, nonsignificant decrease in fatal crashes and fatalities. Absolute numbers of fatal crashes and fatalities were used in this analysis rather than rates because traffic volume increases on interstates are averaged for both rural and urban systems. Thus, if volumes increased more on rural interstates, comparisons of relative rates would be misleading. The data in this report clearly show that speeds, fatal crashes, and fatalities increased on Virginia's rural interstates after the implementation of the 65 mph speed limit. However, these increases appear to have plateaued in the last two years of the study. Reports from other states and from national studies reflect a general increase in travel speeds and fatal crashes on rural interstates, but there is conflicting evidence on whether the 65 mph speed limit is the cause. Likewise, there is conflicting evidence concerning whether differential speed limits for trucks and cars have had an impact on the frequency of crashes in states maintaining such differential limits.
In April of 1987, Congress passed the Surface Transportation and Uniform Relocation Assistance Act (STURAA), which permitted states to raise their maximum speed limit on rural interstate highways (rural interstates) to 65 mph. Virginia's 65 mph speed limit went into effect July 1, 1988, for passenger vehicles and on July 1, 1989, for commercial buses. This report is the fourth in a series of reports to examine the 65 mph speed limit in Virginia and summarizes 30 months of experience with the 65 mph speed limit. Following the implementation of the 65 mph speed limit, average and 85th percentile speeds increased on Virginia's rural interstates, and fatal crashes and fatalities increased significantly. On Virginia's urban interstates, on which the speed limit remained at 55 mph, there was a smaller increase in average and 85th percentile speeds, but there was not a significant increase in fatal crashes or fatalities. National data show a substantial increase in rural interstate fatalities in states that increased the rural interstate speed limit to 65 mph and a decrease in states that maintained a 55 mph speed limit. The data in this report clearly show that speeds, fatal crashes, and fatalities increased on Virginia's rural interstates after the implementation of the 65 mph speed limit. However, these data do not reflect causation. It is possible that factors other than the change in the speed limit such as changes in traffic volumes, trip patterns, or trip purposes-are responsible for part or all of the increase in fatal crashes and fatalities. Causative issues will be addressed in the final report in this series, to be published in 1993.
TRB Special Report 254 - Managing Speed: Review of Current Practices for Setting and Enforcing Speed Limits reviews practices for setting and enforcing speed limits on all types of roads and provides guidance to state and local governments on appropriate methods of setting speed limits and related enforcement strategies. Following an executive summary, the report is presented in six chapters and five appendices.