t which they believe they won’t get a ticket.” With this logic, if the lawmakers believe that it is safe to drive sixty-five mph on a highway with a fifty-five M.P.H. speed limit, they should not increase the speed limit, for then drivers would go about seventy-five m.p.h. Advocates of lower speed limits also assert that speeding reduces the time drivers have to avoid crashes and that it increases the likelihood of crashing and the severity of the crashes that occur. According to the NHSTA, speeding is one of the most prevalent reported factors associated with crashes. Speed is a factor in 31% of all fatal crashes, killing on average of 1,000 Americans every month. In 1995, more than 13,000 people died in speed related crashes. NHTSA estimates the economic cost to society of speed-related crashes to be more than $29 billion each year. Health care costs alone for the victims of these incidents are about $4 billion per year. Advocates of lower speed limits believe that these vast costs are not worth the added excitement or saved time of higher speeds.Proponents of increased restrictions on speed argue that the performance of passive restraints such as airbags and safety belts is compromised in high-speed crashes. These safety devices have been engineered for maximum performance at collisions that occur at reasonable speeds. At higher speeds, the laws of physics ordain that momentum increases, since momentum is equal to velocity multiplied by the mass of the vehicle. Thus the force of impact is increased in a collision, and airbags and safety belts need a greater force to stop the human bodies involved in the crash. For example, due to the exponential nature of crashes, a frontal impact at 35 mph is one-third more violent than one at 30 mph. The increased momentum also affects preventive stopping distance, for vehicles travelling faster need a greater stopping distance. This is especially true for trucks, which ar...
