Misapplications Reviews: Speed Kills?

Arnold Barnett
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Arnold Barnett: Sloan School of Management, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139

Interfaces, 1986, vol. 16, issue 2, 63-68

Abstract: If there is anything more irritating than an analysis that belabors the obvious, it is one that denies the obvious. After the national speed limit was cut to 55 miles per hour in the early 1970s, the vehicular fatality rate dropped substantially in the US. Both common sense and the laws of physics suggest that at least some of the decline can be attributed to slower driving. And yet, I have in front of me an article [55: The first decade. 1985 Road and Trace , Vol. 36, (June) pp. 68--77.] that, focusing almost exclusively on the 55 mph policy, summarizes its conclusions as follows: Do reduced speeds reduce accidents? No. Do reduced speeds reduce fatalities? No. Anyone who would advance statements so conspicuously lacking in nuance has a bit of explaining to do. In 1974, the first year covered by the lower speed limits, there were 46,600 US road deaths; the corresponding number for the previous year was 55,700. If the policy change had nothing to do with the 16 percent fall in fatalities, then what did?

Keywords: transportation: air; transportation: traffic (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 1986
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