Drivers from this one city only in this state will soon see urban speed limits change. Across the nation, changes to driving legislation and road policies are currently underway, all targeted at keeping road users safe on the road. Many of these legislation changes are aimed at reducing speeding. From increasing and enforcing harsher penalties for speeding drivers, from raising the speed limit altogether, each state’s circumstance is nuanced and the relevant response needed to stamp out speeding will be different across states.
States are set to target speeding drivers
Road policies and legislation changes are constantly changing. This is mostly due to the fact that the reality of roads are constantly subject due to reasons such as technological changes in vehicles and changes to traffic flow as population sizes change. However, legislative policies regarding speed limits and their associated penalties are perhaps pieces of legislation which are subject to the most reviews and changes.
Approximately one-third of road accident fatalities and serious injuries in 2023, according to data from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), was due to speeding drivers. It has been well documented that your risk of fatality and serious injury on the road exponentially increases the faster you drive. In a landmark move, this one city will be lowering their urban street speed limits.
Speed limit changes for this one city in this state
This year, New York City passed a milestone piece of legislative change which will allow the city to amend their urban speed limits. Generally, all cities within a state have to adhere to the same speed limits and are not usually permitted to make their own speed limit changes. However, the recent passing of ‘Sammy’s Law’ will see the city’s speed limit be reduced from 25mph to 20mph.
“New Yorkers deserve safe streets, no matter how they travel. Whether it’s via car, bus, bike, or walking, Sammy’s Law provided a tool to make sure everyone arrives safely to their destination,” said Deputy Mayor for Operations Meera Joshi. “I thank the Department of Transportation for putting this tool to use and using a data driven and targeted approach as we continue to make our streets safer.”
According to the New York City official website, the passing of the law will give the City the right to reduce speed limits to 20 mph on individual streets, and even as low as 10mph on select streets undergoing safety-related redesigns. The law is named after Sammy Cohen, a twelve-year old child who was killed by a speeding driver in 2013.
“We know that higher speed limits create less safe streets: a person hit by a car traveling 35 mph is five times more likely to die than a person hit by a car traveling 20 mph,” described New York State Senator Andrew Gounardes in a statement.
Keeping the roads safe for speeding drivers
Other locations across the nation have also been working on changing speed limits to protect road users. North Dakota recently passed legislation to raise the speed limit to 80mph, as well as Indiana passing legislation which increases the speed limit on the interstate from 55mph to 65mph on account for the fact that the majority of drivers are already driving over the limit.
While it may seem counterintuitive to raise the speed limit if you want to reduce speeding-related accidents, these states are responding to the fact that the gap between slower and faster drivers is becoming an increasing problem due to the fact that the speed limit is too low. By raising the speed limit, you force vehicles to speed up, meaning that traffic flows more cohesively, improving overall traffic flow and also creating an environment where faster drivers are not inclined to be more aggressive.
