Effect of Speed Limit Increases on Crash Injury Severity: Analysis of Single-Vehicle Crashes on North Carolina Interstate Highways

Abstract

The recent congressional action revoking the national maximum speed limits has rekindled the debate over safety and travel time tradeoff. The effect of speed limit increases on the most severe occupant injury in a crash is analyzed here. Single-vehicle crashes on Interstate highways in North Carolina ( N = 2729) are examined. Two analysis methods are used: a paired-comparison analysis and an ordered probit model. Increasing speed limits from 88.5 to 96.6 km/h (55 to 60 mph) and from 88.5 to 104.6 km/h (55 to 65 mph) increased the probability of sustaining minor and nonincapacitating injuries, but increasing speed limits from 104.6 to 112.7 km/h (65 to 70 mph) did not have a significant effect on crash severity. There were too few fatal crashes to draw conclusive results for this category of injury severity. Crashes involving the face of a guardrail were more severe on segments where the speed limit was raised than on comparison segments or study segments before the limits were increased. These findings may be conservative because study segments with good safety records were chosen for the speed limit increases.