There has been considerable controversy over whether raising speed limits in highways is beneficial or not. However, factions that do not support the raising of speed limits of motor vehicles on United States’ highways simply ignore the benefits that accrue with such a decision. After the State of California increased its speed limit, critics of high speed limits predicted carnages on the highways of California. However, it has been three years now and the rate of accidents in Californian highways has, actually reduced. This paper is an, in depth, investigation of the benefits that come with the increasing of speed limits in U.S. highways.
As implied in the discussion above, speed limits lead to a reduction of the incidences of accidents on highways. It is, thus, apparent that the adoption of a speed limit of 70mph will save American lives that could, otherwise, be lost in accidents.
The reason why higher speed limits reduce the occurrence of accidents is because it leads to fast moving traffic which contributes to uniformity of traffic. This is very important in reduction of accidents since in a scenario where there are slow and fast moving vehicles on the same highway, there will be competition for space which leads to accidents. Additionally, most drivers are comfortable with high speeds and thus more perfected driving will be experienced after implementation of the high speed limit.
Another benefit that comes with adopting a high highway speed limit is that it is bound to bring a positive change to delivery of services and transportation. This will, indubitably, have a positive impact on the economy of the U.S. since people will be able to run businesses more efficiently and more transactions will.
Therefore, be carried out in a single day. In addition to this, the additional fuel consumption that may result from higher speed limits will undoubtedly be cancelled by the benefit of saving time. The government will get more taxes from fuel and thus it will be able to deliver better services to its citizens. Lastly, the increasing of speed limits in highways will be beneficial since as stated, most drivers like driving at high speeds and thus they can drive well in these speeds. This means that the number of people who default highway laws will be reduced and thus people will do more constructive things instead of concentrating on court cases.
The increase of highway speed limit is also bound to reduce the levels of traffic noise which is mostly caused by hooting and screeching. It will also reduce the rate of emission of pollutant gases to the atmosphere. This will be very instrumental in the efforts towards environmental conservation. These pollutants include gases like nitrogen oxide and carbon dioxide which are very infamous environmental pollutants.
A lot of benefits can be associated with increasing speed limits in highways that one wonders why some states in the United States are yet to increase their highway speed limit. Legislators should appreciate the benefits that have been discussed in this essay to make proper legislation for highway speed limits. Borrowing from states like California which have already implemented speed limits in highways, a speed limit of 70mph has been proven to be good. This is because California’s statistics for accidents since the implementation of this legislation has been relatively impressive.
Bibliography
Wilson, Marshall. Higher Speed Limits, Lower Death Rates/Statistics Surprise Many. Web.
Observers of State Highways. 1998. Web.