Unsafe at any Speed

Students at Georgia State University recently made a film documenting their daring, brash, borderline crazy experiement - driving the speed limit. The film, titled "A Meditation on the Speed Limit" is intended to show the flaws in the system by following it. The students lined up four cars across all four lanes of I-285 in Georgia.

Going the speed limit quickly turned into a blockade, prompting angered drivers to honk, make obscene gestures, and even pass on the shoulder. Perhaps the scene with the biggest impact was captured by placing a camera on an overpass. What the camera saw was nothing . . . a barren highway . . . then, a horde of cars lead by the foursome practicing civil obedience.

The film brings to the forefront an issue that we are all aware of. Speed limits are ridiculous. Almost no one follows them, and if we did the nation would slow to a crawl. So why are they imposed? Money, of course. Speed limits allow municipalities to generate revenue.

We've been essentially brainwashed to believe that speed limits are imposed for our safety. But, what most people are unaware that a national speed limit went into effect not for reasons of safety, but because of the oil crisis of the 70's. The speed limit was intended to slow down drivers, making their vehicles more efficient and reducing the amount of oil the nation consumed. But, government quickly learned that they could profit off of the speed limits in the form of speeding tickets. When the oil crisis ended, they needed a reason to continue enforcing a speed limit (and writing tickets). Thus, the 'speed kills' campaign was born.

The 'speed kills' campaign is based on the premise that going faster causes more deaths. The goverment even created the insurance institute for highway safety to publish skewed facts to support the campaign. They show stats relating to increasing numbers of fatalities. However, the studies don't take into account the increased numbers of drivers on the road. The truth is, many states have raised the speed limit and actually seen a statistical decline in fatalities.

It's also important to note that raising or lowering speed limits do not have a significant effect on driving patterns. In fact, in 1992, the federal highway administration monitored over a 100 locations nationwide that increased their speed limit by as much as 15 mph. The results showed that, on average, drivers only increased their speeds by 1-2 mph. In other words, drivers tend to drive a speed that feels safe and comfortable, regardless of changes in the speed limit.

More info:

• page with data against the 'speed kills' propoganda (link)
• Safety by Education and Not Speed Enforcement (SENSE)
• California Connected (link)