MAXIMUM SAFE SPEED FOR MOTOR VEHICLES

FINDINGS OF A NHSB STAFF STUDY OF THE ROLE OF MOTOR VEHICLE SPEED IN CRASH AVOIDANCE AND CRASH SEVERITY REDUCTION ARE DISCLOSED. USING EXISTING DATA A NUMBER OF THE PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS AND FEATURES OF THE MOTOR VEHICLE- HIGHWAY TRANSPORT SYSTEM ARE EXAMINED FOR THEIR INFLUENCE ON SAFE TRAVELING SPEED, AND STATISTICAL EVIDENCE RELATING THE OCCURRENCE AND SEVERITY OF CRASHES TO SPEED IS DEVELOPED. THE EFFECT OF DRIVER INTERACTION IS ALSO TREATED. IN ADDITION, SPEED GOVERNOR TECHNOLOGY AND OPERATING EXPERIENCE, PUBLIC OPINION CONCERNING USE OF TOP SPEED LIMITING DEVICES, AND STATUTORY SPEED LIMITS ARE DISCUSSED. LIMITATIONS ON SAFE TRAVELING SPEED INTRINSIC TO SYSTEM DESIGN AND PERFORMANCE CAPABILITY ARE QUANTIFIED FOR A NUMBER OF PARAMETERS BASED ON ENGINEERING ANALYSIS AND EMPIRICAL DATA GATHERED FROM A VARIETY OF SOURCES. IN SEVERAL IMPORTANT AREAS THE ABSENCE OF DATA ENABLED ONLY A QUALITATIVE ANALYSIS. THE STUDY CONFIRMS THAT HIGH SPEED IS INVOLVED TO A MAJOR DEGREE IN THE HIGHWAY CRASH DEATH TOLL. DESIGN AND PERFORMANCE AREAS IN WHICH CURRENT VEHICLE MAXIMUM SPEED CAPABILITIES ARE GROSSLY OVERMATCHED WITH THE LOWER SAFE SPEED LIMITATIONS IMPOSED BY THE HIGHWAY, OPERATING ENVIRONMENT, AND VEHICLE-DRIVER SYSTEMS THEMSELVES LIMITING DEVICE MAY BE AN EFFECTIVE, BUT NOT NECESSARILY OPTIMUM, WAY OF SUBSTANTIALLY REDUCING THE NUMBER OF FATALITIES AS WELL AS SEVERITY OF CRASH INJURIES. ADDITIONAL STUDY WITH RESPECT TO QUANTIFYING PARAMETERS WHICH ARE PRESENTLY ONLY QUALITATIVELY DESCRIBED, TO EXAMINING ALTERNATIVE MEANS FOR COPING WITH HIGH SPEED CRASHES, AND TO ANALYZING THE COST EFFECTIVENESS OF CANDIDATE SOLUTIONS RECOGNIZED AS IMPORTANT RESEARCH NEEDS. /AUTHOR/

• Supplemental Notes:
  • 81 Pp, 26 FEG, 5 TAB, REF
• Corporate Authors:

  National Highway Safety Bureau /US

  /Office of Res & Program Synthesis
  ,   United States 
• Publication Date: 1969-1-31

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Crash severity; Crashes; Drivers; Fatalities; High speed ground transportation; High speed vehicles; Laws; Motor vehicles; Reaction time; Speed; Speed control; Speed limits; Traffic crashes; Traffic speed
• Uncontrolled Terms: Death rate; Driver reaction; Speed laws
• Subject Areas: Highways; Law; Railroads; Safety and Human Factors;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00220584
• Record Type: Publication
• Files: TRIS
• Created Date: Oct 27 1994 12:00AM