Speed may not be as dangerous as alcohol when it comes to highway accidents.
As of the first of this month, drivers can go up to 80 mph on most sections of Montana’s interstates without getting a ticket. This increase was actually passed last May, but it is now making headlines as organizations use the new speed limit to recalculate their lists of the most dangerous states for drivers.
For example, Forbes magazine recently published a list of the “Top 10 Deadliest States for Drivers” with Montana listed at the number one spot.
The Forbes list is based on data compiled by researchers at the University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute. The researchers found that the states with the most rural roads and the highest speed limits tend to have the most highway fatalities.
However, this simple correlation does not always hold true. For example, Montana and South Dakota actually have the same percentage of the rural roads (96 percent) and the same max speed limit (80 mph). Yet while Montana has 22.6 deaths per 100,000 residents, South Dakota only has 16. It is also worth noting that in the number two “deadliest” state for drivers, Mississippi, there are 20.5 deaths per 100,000 residents despite the fact that the speed limit is 70 mph and the state is only about 85 percent rural roads.
This begs the question: is a higher speed limit automatically more dangerous for drivers?
The researchers explain that while speed is “likely to be among the most important causative factors” it is not the only problem behind highway fatalities. Other major contributing factors include alcohol consumption, driver age, driver aggression, and miles driven.
In Montana, 6.4 of those 22.6 highway deaths per 100,000 residents can be attributed to alcohol, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Interstate 90, which passes through Montana’s biggest cities and is the main artery for the state, sees most of these drunk driving traffic fatalities. The average BAC for drivers in these accidents as 0.214, nearly three times the legal limit.
Given the role of alcohol and driver error in highway accidents, the Montana Highway Patrol and Department of Transportation were not worried that simply increasing the speed limit would automatically lead to more accidents. In fact, they actually believe accidents may decrease, based on research into the effects of similar interstate speed limit increases in neighboring states like South Dakota.
As Montana state senator Scott Sales notes, “If someone is drunk on the highway, they are a hazard at any speed.” Their mistakes should not automatically infringe on other drivers’ ability to drive at the high speeds many stretches of Montana’s straight, lightly traveled highways seem to invite.
The increase in Montana’s interstate speed limit makes a lot of sense in light of Montanans’ fierce independent streak. Between 1995 and 1999, Montana actually did not have any set speed limit on their highways. Motorists were expected to travel at a speed that was “reasonable and prudent” for the road and the conditions, and law enforcement did give out tickets for unsafe driving. A speed limit was only set in order to satisfy Congress and prevent them from cutting Montana’s highway funding.
One area in which speed limits can be very helpful is in determining liability for an automobile accident. It is much easier to show that a driver was reckless in traveling 90 mph in an 80 mph zone than to show that their speed was not “reasonable and prudent.”
If you have been injured in a California car accident caused by another driver’s excessive speed or any other error, please contact The Law Offices of Fernando D. Vargas for help ASAP.
