Download or read book An Investigation of Issues Related to Raising the Rural Interstate Speed Limit in Virginia written by Jack D. Jernigan and published by . This book was released on 1988 with total page 158 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In April of 1987, Congress passed the Surface Transportation and Uniform Relocation Assistance Act of 1987, which allows the states to raise, without penalty, the speed limit on interstate highways outside of urbanized areas with a population of 50,000 or more. This study estimated that an increase in the rural interstate speed limit in Virginia would have both positive and negative outcomes.-The average speed traveled on the rural interstate highway system has already increased by 3.6 mph in Virginia; this is comparable to that experienced in states that have raised the speed limit. However, if the speed limit on the rural interstate highway system is raised from 55 mph to 65 mph, it is estimated that in the short run the average speed traveled on the rural interstate will increase by an additional 3 mph, from 60 mph to 63 mph. Increased speeds would be expected to result in increased stopping distances and an annual increase of between 6 and 18 fatalities and between 171 and 405 injuries. Further, injuries would likely be more severe as a result of the higher speeds traveled. If the average speed continues to increase in the long run, or if higher speeds spill over onto the urban interstate highway system or rural collector roads, then additional injuries and fatalities would be expected on those systems as well. On the other hand, the primary quantifiable benefit of the higher limit would be a savings of 1.3 million hours in business and commercial travel time. This study has also found that almost 60% of the Virginians surveyed would prefer a 65 mph speed limit to a 55 mph limit on the rural interstate highway system. Finally, because of the current speeds, the geometric design, and the accident history of the rural interstates in general, it would be possible to raise the speed limit without violating traffic engineering tenets for setting speed limits. However, if the speed limit is raised, establishing a truck speed limit differential below the limit established for passenger cars would promote increased speed variance between cars and trucks, thereby creating a more dangerous environment than if the speed limit were raised to the same level for both cars and trucks.
Download or read book A Status Report on the Effects of the 65 Mph Speed Limit on Virginia s Rural Interstate Highway System written by Jack D. Jernigan and published by . This book was released on 1989 with total page 52 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In 1987, the Secretary of Transportation and Public Safety created a task force to study the potential effects of raising the speed limit on rural interstate highways in Virginia. In its 1988 session, the Virginia General Assembly passed legislation to increase the speed limit on rural interstate highways to 65 mph for passenger vehicles, but the 55 mph limit was retained for buses and large trucks. After implementation of the higher speed limit on July 1, 1988, the Secretary reconvened the task force to design a study to determine the effects of the changed speed limit. The Virginia Transportation Research Council was again asked to serve a the staff for the task force. The preliminary data provided in this report represent only 5 months of experience with the 65 mph speed limit and are presented for information only. Any conclusions drawn from these data would be inappropriate and perhaps incorrect. After the speed limit for cars was increased by 10 mph, the average and 85th percentile speeds traveled by all vehicles on the rural interstate system increased by 3 mph, to 63 mph and 68 mph, respectively. The average and 85th percentile speeds traveled by trucks and buses, for which the speed limit remained at 55 mph, decreased slightly. Between July 1 and November 30, 1988, there were 44 fatalities in 35 fatal crashes on rural interstate highways in Virginia. This was a 76 percent increase over the 25 fatalities and a 52 percent increase over the 23 fatal crashes for the same time period in 1987. In the states that increased the speed limit, there was a 41 percent increase overall in the number of fatalities, but in states that did not increase the speed limit, there was a 54 percent increase in fatalities--higher than that noted for states that increased the speed limit. Many of the crashes that accounted for the increase in the number of fatal crashes on rural interstate highways occurred on I-81, and all of the multiple-fatality crashes occurred on either I-81 or I-95. In comparison with 1987, the number of fatal crashes in 1988 included 5 more involving vehicles that ran off the road, 4 more involving tractor trailers, and 3 more involving pedestrians. In October 1988, there was an abnormally high number of fatal crashes and fatalities on Virginia's rural interstate highways, but no patterns were found to explain this 1-month abnormality. Because there are not sufficient data to determine the reasons for the increases in fatal crashes and fatalities, data will be gathered over a 5- year period to determine the effect of the changed speed limit on Virginia's rural interstate highways.
Download or read book Impact of the 65 Mph Speed Limit on Virginia s Rural Interstate Highways 1989 1992 written by Jack D. Jernigan and published by . This book was released on 1994 with total page 48 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 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.
Download or read book The Impact of Raising Speed Limits on Rural Interstates in Virginia written by Cheryl Lynn and published by . This book was released on 1987 with total page 166 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book The Impact of the 65 MPH Speed Limit on Virginia s Rural Interstate Highways Through 1990 written by Cheryl Lynn and published by . This book was released on 1992 with total page 44 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 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.
Download or read book Research Results of the Speed Limit Increase written by United States. Congress. House. Committee on Science, Space, and Technology. Subcommittee on Transportation, Aviation, and Materials and published by . This book was released on 1989 with total page 130 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Status Report written by Jack D. Jernigan and published by . This book was released on 1990 with total page 53 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Interim Report on the Safety Consequences of Raising the Speed Limit on Rural Interstate Highways written by and published by . This book was released on 1988 with total page 98 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book The Impact of the 65 Mph Speed Limit on Virginia s Rural Interstate Highways Through 1989 written by Jack D. Jernigan and published by . This book was released on 1990 with total page 59 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In April 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. Since then, 40 states, including Virginia have adopted a 65 mph maximum speed limit. Virginia's 65 mph speed limit became effective for passenger cars on July 1, 1988, and for commercial buses on July 1, 1989. The findings presented in this report summarize 18 months of experience with the 65 mph speed limit in Virginia.
Download or read book An Annotated Bibliography of Virginia Transportation Research Council Writings July 1966 June 1989 written by Harry T. Craft and published by . This book was released on 1991 with total page 428 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Beyond Traffic Safety written by John Peter Rothe and published by Transaction Publishers. This book was released on with total page 282 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Peter Rothe's absorbing volume ex-amines one of the most important areas of modern life, the culture of the automobile. Rothe takes a problem central to everyday life--auto safety-- and reconstructs it into a means of revealing the human condition. His goal is to motivate the reader to think differently about traffic safety, and to suspend all inherited epidemiological, engineering, and psychological beliefs. Because traffic arises from the interac-tion between people, he argues that traffic safety is a social process, one that is created, formed, and changed by human interaction. Beyond Traffic Safety presents con-troversial critiques and provocative positions. It stimulates insight into the question of why traffic safety issues have become so important today. Rothe explores new social boundaries and crosses old ones. He demonstrates that interlinking social factors in a motorist's behavior reveal traffic safety as a significant facet of social behavior worthy of in-depth exploration. This may well be the first work of fundamen-tal theory in an area thus far dominated by crude empiricism. Beyond Traffic Safety describes responsibilities of drivers and ex-amines how basic trust in traffic routines sustains an orderly traffic flow. It shows how physical risks are negotiated to accommodate social ex-pectations. Part of the text is devoted to the role played by the driver's license as a form of social control, emphasiz-ing the way in which various images of licensing convey different ideas about traffic safety. Rothe focuses on the development of traffic laws and how laws affect driver behavior. He also traces the roles that discretion and tolerance play in police work. In par-ticular, the dominant traffic violation, speeding, is analyzed. Rothe looks at traffic safety in a new way by presenting it as part of a social scientific framework. He provides a basis for future exploration of this kind. Beyond Traffic Safety is an im-portant and insightful analysis for road users, traffic safety educators, policymakers, psychologists, and sociologists.
Download or read book Managing Speed written by and published by Transportation Research Board. This book was released on 1998 with total page 444 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 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.
Download or read book Journal of Transportation and Statistics written by and published by . This book was released on 2000 with total page 672 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Demonstration and Evaluation of Rational Speed Limits written by Michael D. Fontaine and published by . This book was released on 2007 with total page 87 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This report presents the results of a field implementation of credible, well-enforced, and highly publicized speed limits on two limited access highways in Virginia. The two locations studied were the US 29 bypass around Altavista, VA and the US 58/US 220 bypass around Martinsville, VA. At both of these locations, an engineering study recommended that the posted speed limit be increased from 55 mph to 65 mph. Virginia State Police provided an additional 40 hours per month of overtime enforcement on the study sections for 1 year at the Martinsville site and 15 months at the Altavista site. A public information and education (PI & E) campaign that consisted of media reports, informational handouts, and educational roadside signs was also implemented to try to increase compliance with the new posted speed limits. Before and after data on public perception, crash experience, and speed were analyzed to assess the impact of the program. The public perception survey results showed that the new 65 mph speed limits were well supported by the public, with over 80 percent agreeing with the new speed limits. The speed data analysis showed that the average speed increased by a statistically significant margin of 3 to 4 mph immediately after the new speed limit was implemented. Speeds remained constant following the implementation of the new speed limit, even after the increased enforcement and the education campaign ended. A speed analysis by vehicle type showed some minor variations in how vehicles responded to the changes in speed limit, enforcement, and PI & E. These differences were usually not very large, however. No negative safety impacts were observed during the evaluation. The overall number of crashes did not change by a statistically significant margin relative to historic trends, although the number of severe crashes at the Martinsville site did decline by a statistically significant amount and the crash rate at Altavista showed more than a 20 percent decline. Speed variance did not significantly change between the period with the 55 mph limit and the period with the 65 mph limit. This suggests that crash likelihood was not increased due to the increased posted speed limit. The coefficient of variation of the speeds decreased slightly following the increase in speed limit, potentially indicating that interactions between vehicles may have declined slightly. The demonstration proved to be a success, with the change in speed limit being well supported by the public. Strict compliance with the posted speed limits improved from 5 to 10 percent before the project began to between 45 and 50 percent. The percentage of drivers traveling 10 mph or more over the limit declined from over 20 percent to only 2 to 3 percent. Survey respondents reported that the roadside signs were noticed the most often of any PI & E effort used, likely due to the fact that both sites were located on through routes in rural areas.
Download or read book Report to Congress on the Effects of the 65 Mph Speed Limit During 1987 written by and published by . This book was released on 1989 with total page 204 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Impact and Implementation of the 55 mile per hour Speed Limit written by United States. Congress. House. Committee on Public Works and Transportation. Subcommittee on Surface Transportation and published by . This book was released on 1987 with total page 878 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Implementation of the Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act of 1991 ISTEA written by United States. Congress. House. Committee on Public Works and Transportation. Subcommittee on Surface Transportation and published by . This book was released on 1993 with total page 1428 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
