Are Faster Roads Safer Roads?

Stephen Boyles, an assistant professor in Transportation Engineering at the University of Texas at Austin, states that speed limits should be raised around the state of Texas, along with the rest of the nation, for a variety of reasons including safety.

Boyles reaches out to the common Texas driver in this commentary listed on mySA. This "common driver" is one that enjoys the road trips between our cities, is used to the slowpokes and the speed-demons that share our roads, and is also used to the presence of our state's law enforcement commonly using radar-detectors to try and catch us speeding. Boyles explains that the primary need for a increase in speed limit is not because of public desire, but rather for public safety.

As engineers continue to design safer vehicles and build better roads, it seems necessary that our laws should adjust accordingly with the progress and improvements we have made. Many drivers routinely drive faster than current posted speed limits, even with legislative attempts to slow us down. Yet despite this, mostly all of us have dealt with dangerous situations in which drivers have been driving too slow, threatening the safety of the rest of the traffic around them.

As an avid and active Texas driver, I agree with Boyles's recommendations to raise the speed limit in Texas and around the rest of our nation. I believe that by giving drivers more responsibility, we will become safer drivers and more respectful towards our government and lawmakers.

There is plenty of research and statistics that suggest that the German Autobahn, a no-speed-limit highway system spanning the entire country, is the safest road system in the world. Furthermore, organizations such as the Federal Highway Administration, the National Cooperative Research Program, and the Institute of Transportation Engineers support the idea that speed limits should be set at the 85th percentile of traffic speed. That is - only one in seven drivers should be surpassing this speed limit. This implementation of the "85th percentile rule" yields high safety results.

Since much of Texas ideology is associated with the needs of the greater public, otherwise known as populism, I believe that Boyles's suggestion of increasing state and federal speed limits is spot-on and should be implemented. There seems to be plenty of support for pro-speed limit increase including higher safety, higher public satisfaction, and higher respect for the laws that govern us to simply dismiss this qualified engineer's thoughts.

Stephen Boyles, Roads better, cars safer - raise the speed limit, http://www.mysanantonio.com/opinion/commentary/article/Roads-better-cars-safer-raise-the-speed-limit-6391226.php, July 19, 2015