Should highway speed limits be increased? Should we strike down every sign that the government posts and uses to regulate the speed limit on the thousands of highways around the country? Should we trust the driving ability of each and every person to drive within a reasonably safe speed? The response that most people lean toward is one of negativity. People automatically assume that the speeds presently posted on our highways are there only for our own protection.

People do not believe that the government is knowingly implementing speed limits that are below a safe speed for a given roadway. It is true that the government claims to set speed limits that are for the public well being. As the United States Department of Transportation puts it, "Speed limits are appropriate speeds based on the traffic of an area, road conditions, weather, and the lighting" (The Star Ledger). But the fact of the matter is that their arguments have no factual basis. Suppose the government is really setting speed limits that are safe. If this were true, speed limits would change constantly. If the roadway were wet, if the traffic is thick, or the visibility is bad at a certain point in time then th

Recently, The United States Department of transportation has done a study that will disprove the notion that fatalities vary with speed even further. When Congress repealed the NMLS law on December 8, 1995, many critics immediately claimed that more fatalities would result. Ralph Nader and various other critics estimated that passing the bill would cause at least 6400 more deaths than when the speed limit was set at 55 miles per hour nationally (Shemmens). Although the actual result was an increase in deaths, the increase was marginal compared to estimates. The actual death increase was only 109 lives. The human lives lost are valuable but it is important to note the actual deaths per-one hundred million miles had decrease for 1995 to 1996. The percentage of miles traveled was up 1.7 percent while fatalities only increased 0.3 percent for the year (Johnson).

The most popular misunderstanding is that with lower speeds the fatality rate will fall and with higher speeds the fatality rate will rise. Most people believe that driving at a lower speed will increase reaction time and cause less of an impact on the car and the driver. When driving in the same direction, reaction time on highways is relative. If everyone is going approximately 75 miles per hour on the highway than reaction time is the same as if you were going 30 miles per hour. Impacts would also follow along the same theory. The problem is that older people and inexperienced drivers tend to drive slower causing more harms than those who speed do. Because of this reasoning the government must look in to ways of punishing, or treating, slower, more dangerous drivers. Many states today have speed minimums, but still some don't. Besides ticketing offenders the government should look at testing the elderly on their driving abilities in their old age.

After the new speed limits were placed on the 26 different states which decided to increase their speed limits, there was a surprising change. Out of the 26 states over half of them observed an increase in fatalities per one hundred million miles. Although, this is not the factor that has stunned many. The fact that the total death rate is down from 24,911 people in 1995 to 24,855 in 1996 is of much more importance. Some of the most notable decreases in fatalities include Mississippi - down 21percent, and Montana -down 10 percent. (Chaser) Montana is a wonderful example not only because of its decrease in fatalities but because of its unique situation. Montana is presently the only state where there is no daytime speed limit on the highways. California is also experiencing records with its lowest fatality rate since 1959. The average deaths per a year in California were 5500 people. However, since the repeal of the NMLS in 1995 the deaths per a year have dropped to only 5200. California is also unique. Since 1959 California's population has doubled and the amount of cars and trucks has nearly tripled (Johnson).

The largest study done by our own government further encourages this theory. The United States Department of Transportation Federal Highway Administration performed a study of 22 states and over 100 sites before and after speed limits were altered. The study involved a long-term approach on 14 of the sites. The study found that lowering the speed limit as much as 20 miles per hour and increasing it as much as 15 miles per hour has little effect on speed. The findings were also that when the speed limit is below the 50 percentile, that is 50 out of 100 driver's speed's, it did not decrease the speed of individuals or decrease accidents but it did increase the number of speeding violations (Shemmens). The problems caused by speed limits on the highways can not only be solved by lookin

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