New Jersey Governor Whitman has recently signed a law which increases the speed limit on some of New Jersey's highways from 55 miles per hour to 65 miles per hour. This research proposes a policy study to evaluate the likely impact of increasing the speed limit.
This issue can be approached from two different but compatible methods of study. The first method is to conduct an interstate survey of motor vehicle accidents and fatalities using existing data, with particular emphasis on trends occurring in other states which have raised their speed limits. This survey, while not conclusive of what may actually occur in New Jersey, offers an immediate picture of what effects raising the speed limit has had in similar jurisdictions. The actual impact on New Jersey may be unique, but the experiences of other states provides a viable clue as to what may happen in New Jersey.
The second method is to conduct a similar survey over time in the State of New Jersey. As the law takes affect, data on traffic accidents and fatalities will compile which will reveal (a) whether the change in the law has changed recent patterns of traffic accidents in New Jersey, and (b) whether the experiences of New Jersey are in any way unique from the rest of the nation. It is hypothesized in this study that the experiences of other states will reflect what New Jersey is about to undergo--and those experiences suggest a significant rise in traffic accidents and fatalities due to increasing the highway speed limit (Braybrooke, 1963, pp. 22-33)..
Throughout the nation, motor vehicle crash deaths are rising again. Approximately 41,907 people died in motor vehicle crashes in 1996, up 0.2 percent from 41,817 in 1995. The number of fatalities has been rising for four years since the low of 39,250 in 1992, and is at the highest level since 1990. However, the fatality rate--measured as deaths per 100 million vehicle miles traveled--was 1.7 in 1996, the same level...