![Speed_limits_territories2](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/35/Speed_limits_territories2.png)
Speed limits in the United States are set by each state or
territory
A territory is an area of land, sea, or space, particularly belonging or connected to a country, person, or animal.
In international politics, a territory is usually either the total area from which a state may extract power resources or a ...
. States have also allowed
counties
A county is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposesChambers Dictionary, L. Brookes (ed.), 2005, Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, Edinburgh in certain modern nations. The term is derived from the Old French ...
and
municipalities
A municipality is usually a single administrative division having corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate.
The term ''municipality'' may also mean the go ...
to enact typically lower limits. Highway speed limits can range from an urban low of to a rural high of . Speed limits are typically posted in increments of . Some states have lower limits for
trucks
A truck or lorry is a motor vehicle designed to transport cargo, carry specialized payloads, or perform other utilitarian work. Trucks vary greatly in size, power, and configuration, but the vast majority feature body-on-frame construction ...
, some also have
night and/or minimum speed limits.
The highest speed limits are generally on the
West Coast West Coast or west coast may refer to:
Geography Australia
* Western Australia
*Regions of South Australia#Weather forecasting, West Coast of South Australia
* West Coast, Tasmania
**West Coast Range, mountain range in the region
Canada
* Britis ...
and the inland
eastern states, in inland western states, along with Arkansas, Louisiana, Maine, and Michigan; and on the
Eastern Seaboard. Alaska, Connecticut, Delaware, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, Puerto Rico, Rhode Island, and Vermont have a maximum limit of , and Hawaii has a maximum limit of . The
District of Columbia
)
, image_skyline =
, image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...
and the
U.S. Virgin Islands have a maximum speed limit of .
Guam
Guam (; ch, Guåhan ) is an organized, unincorporated territory of the United States in the Micronesia subregion of the western Pacific Ocean. It is the westernmost point and territory of the United States (reckoned from the geographic cent ...
and the
Northern Mariana Islands
The Northern Mariana Islands, officially the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI; ch, Sankattan Siha Na Islas Mariånas; cal, Commonwealth Téél Falúw kka Efáng llól Marianas), is an unincorporated territory and commonw ...
have speed limits of .
American Samoa
American Samoa ( sm, Amerika Sāmoa, ; also ' or ') is an unincorporated territory of the United States located in the South Pacific Ocean, southeast of the island country of Samoa. Its location is centered on . It is east of the International ...
has a maximum speed limit of .
[http://www.asbar.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=category&id=583&Itemid=172 Asbar.org. Title 22 - Highways and Motor Vehicles. Chapter 03 - Rules of the Road. Retrieved July 7, 2019.] Two territories in the
U.S. Minor Outlying Islands
The United States Minor Outlying Islands is a statistical designation defined by the International Organization for Standardization's ISO 3166-1 code. The entry code is ISO 3166-2:UM. The minor outlying islands and groups of islands consist ...
have their own speed limits: in
Wake Island
Wake Island ( mh, Ānen Kio, translation=island of the kio flower; also known as Wake Atoll) is a coral atoll in the western Pacific Ocean in the northeastern area of the Micronesia subregion, east of Guam, west of Honolulu, southeast of To ...
, and in
Midway Atoll
Midway Atoll (colloquial: Midway Islands; haw, Kauihelani, translation=the backbone of heaven; haw, Pihemanu, translation=the loud din of birds, label=none) is a atoll in the North Pacific Ocean. Midway Atoll is an insular area of the Unit ...
.
[Midway Atoll Code](_blank)
/ref> Unusual for any state east of the Mississippi River, much of Interstate 95 (I-95) in Maine north of Bangor allows up to , and the same is true for up to of freeways in Michigan
Michigan () is a state in the Great Lakes region of the upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the 10th-largest state by population, the 11th-largest by area, and the ...
. Portions of the Idaho, Montana, Nevada, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Texas, Utah, and Wyoming road networks have posted limits. The highest posted speed limit in the country is and can be found only on Texas State Highway 130
Texas State Highway 130 (SH 130), also known as the Pickle Parkway, is a highway from Interstate 35 (I-35) in San Antonio along I-410 and I-10 to east of Seguin, then north as tollway from there to I-35 north of Georgetown. SH 130 run ...
, a toll road that bypasses the Austin
Austin is the capital city of the U.S. state of Texas, as well as the seat and largest city of Travis County, with portions extending into Hays and Williamson counties. Incorporated on December 27, 1839, it is the 11th-most-populous city ...
metropolitan area for long-distance traffic.
During World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
, the U.S. Office of Defense Transportation established a national 35 mph "Victory Speed Limit" (also known as "War Speed") to conserve gasoline and rubber for the American war effort, from May 1942 to August 1945, when the war ended. For 13 years (January 1974–April 1987), federal law
Federal law is the body of law created by the federal government of a country. A federal government is formed when a group of political units, such as states or provinces join in a federation, delegating their individual sovereignty and many po ...
withheld Federal highway trust funds to states that had speed limits above . From April 1987 to December 8, 1995, an amended federal law allowed speed limits up to on rural Interstate and rural roads built to Interstate highway standards.
Overview
Speed limits
This table contains the most usual posted daytime speed limits, in miles per hour
Miles per hour (mph, m.p.h., MPH, or mi/h) is a British imperial and United States customary unit of speed expressing the number of miles travelled in one hour. It is used in the United Kingdom, the United States, and a number of smaller countrie ...
, on typical roads in each category. The values shown are not necessarily the fastest or slowest. They usually indicate, but not always, statutory
A statute is a formal written enactment of a legislative authority that governs the legal entities of a city, state, or country by way of consent. Typically, statutes command or prohibit something, or declare policy. Statutes are rules made by le ...
speed limits. Some states and territories have lower truck speed limits applicable to heavy trucks. If present, they are usually only on freeways or other high-speed roadways. Washington allows for speeds up to , but the highest posted signs are . Mississippi allows speeds up to on toll roads, but no such roads exist.
Examples of penalties
History
One of the first speed limits in what would become the United States (at the time, still a British colony) was set in Boston in 1701 by the board of selectmen (similar to a city council):''Ordered, That no person whatsoever Shall at any time hereafter ride or drive a gallop or other extream pace within any of the Streets, lanes, or alleys in this Town on penalty of forfeiting three Shilling
The shilling is a historical coin, and the name of a unit of modern currencies formerly used in the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, other British Commonwealth countries and Ireland, where they were generally equivalent to 12 pence o ...
s for every such offence, and it may be lawfull for any of the Inhabitants of this Town to make Stop of such horse or Rider the name of the offender be known in order to prosecution''
Federal speed controls
In response to the 1973 oil crisis
The 1973 oil crisis or first oil crisis began in October 1973 when the members of the Organization of Arab Petroleum Exporting Countries (OAPEC), led by Saudi Arabia, proclaimed an oil embargo. The embargo was targeted at nations that had supp ...
, Congress
A congress is a formal meeting of the representatives of different countries, constituent states, organizations, trade unions, political parties, or other groups. The term originated in Late Middle English to denote an encounter (meeting of a ...
enacted the National Maximum Speed Law
The National Maximum Speed Limit (NMSL) was a provision of the federal government of the United States 1974 Emergency Highway Energy Conservation Act that effectively prohibited speed limits higher than . It was drafted in response to oil price ...
that created the universal speed limit. States had to agree to the limit if they desired to receive federal funding for highway repair. The federal government enforced the national maximum speed limit by withholding federal funding for projects whose speed limits exceeded . Federal highway funding is normally allocated according to 23 U.S. Code § 106, the National Maximum Speed Law (also known as H.R.11372 - An Act to conserve energy on the Nation's highways) modified the allocation process. As stated, in part:
In 1984, a comprehensive study by the National Research Council found that the lower speed limits contributed to saving 3,000 to 5,000 lives in 1974 and from 2,000 to 4,000 lives each year thereafter, due to slower and more uniform speeds on American highways.
1995 repeal
The law was widely disregarded by motorists, even after the national maximum was increased to on certain roads in 1987 and 1988. In 1995, the law was repealed by the National Highway System Designation Act of 1995, returning the choice of speed limit to each state.
Upon that repeal, there was effectively no speed limit on Montana's highways for daytime driving (the nighttime limit was set at ) from 1995 until 1999, when the state Supreme Court threw out the law requiring a "reasonable and prudent" speed as "unconstitutionally vague." The state legislature enacted a daytime limit in May 1999. Overall, the new speed limit law in Montana was found to be satisfactory to residents of the state.
As of May 15, 2017, 41 states have maximum speed limits of or higher. 18 of those states have speed limits or higher, while 7 states of that same portion have speed limits, with Texas even having an speed limit on one of its toll roads. There are 8 states that have speed limits. Hawaii has the lowest maximum speed limit, with its freeways being signed at .
There is mixed evidence of the 1995 repeal's effect on fatalities. On one hand, statistical records of motor vehicle fatalities indicate that total traffic deaths in the United States have declined from 41,817 that year to 32,479 in 2011, the lowest level in 60 years, before increasing to 37,133 in 2017.
On the other hand, the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety
The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) is a U.S. nonprofit organization funded by auto insurance companies, established in 1959 and headquartered in Arlington, Virginia. It works to reduce the number of motor vehicle traffic collision ...
(IIHS) published a study in April 2019 that controlled for general time trends, the unemployment rate, percentage of young drivers, and safety belt use rate. The study concluded the increase of speed limits not only increases the speed of vehicles but can also generate additional deaths: "A 5 mph increase in the maximum state speed limit was associated with an 8.5% increase in fatality rates on interstates/freeways and a 2.8% increase on other roads."
Truck speed limits
Some jurisdictions set lower speed limits that are applicable only to large commercial vehicles like heavy trucks and buses. While they are called "truck speed limits", they generally do not apply to light truck
Light truck or light-duty truck is a US classification for vehicles with a gross vehicle weight up to and a payload capacity up to 4,000 pounds (1,815 kg). Similar goods vehicle classes in the European Union, Canada, Australia, and New Zealan ...
s.
A 1987 study said that crash involvement significantly increases when trucks drive much slower than passenger vehicles, suggesting that the difference in speed between passenger vehicles and slower trucks could cause crashes that otherwise may not happen. In a review of available research, the Transportation Research Board
The Transportation Research Board (TRB) is a division of the National Academy of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, formerly the National Research Council of the United States, which serves as an independent adviser to the President of the Unite ...
said " oconclusive evidence could be found to support or reject the use of differential speed limits for passenger cars and heavy trucks" and "a strong case cannot be made on empirical grounds in support of or in opposition to differential speed limits". Another study said that two thirds (67%) of truck/passenger car crashes are the fault of the passenger vehicle.
Minimum speed limits and night speed limits
In addition to the legally defined maximum speed, minimum speed limits may be applicable. Occasionally there are default minimum speed limits for certain types of roads, generally freeways. Numeric night speed limits are occasionally used.
Political considerations
Financial concerns
Traffic violations can be a lucrative income source for jurisdictions and insurance companies. For example:
* The town of Westlake, Texas
:
Westlake is a town in Denton and Tarrant counties in the U.S. state of Texas and a suburb of Dallas/Ft Worth. The population is 1,623 as of the 2020 United States census.
History
The area known as Westlake was originally settled in 1847 by ...
, took in $42,000 per citizen over nine years for its speed traps.
* Insurance companies may receive several billions of dollars annually in traffic ticket surcharges.
* A study by the Federal Reserve of St. Louis found that traffic ticket writing increases when government revenue decreases.
* 2008 debates over traffic enforcement in Dallas County, Texas, involved concerns of lost profits if ticket writing decreased.
*In Massachusetts, half of the ticket money goes to the police department that writes the speeding ticket, the other half goes to fund the court that convicts the speeder or collects the fine from them.
Thus, an authority that sets and enforces speed limits, such as a state government, regulates and taxes insurance companies, who also gain revenue from speeding enforcement. Furthermore, such an authority often requires "all" drivers to have policies
Policy is a deliberate system of guidelines to guide decisions and achieve rational outcomes. A policy is a statement of intent and is implemented as a procedure or protocol. Policies are generally adopted by a governance body within an organ ...
with those same companies, solidifying the association between the state and auto insurers. If a driver cannot be covered under an insurance policy because of high risk, the state will assume that high risk for a greater monetary amount; thus resulting in even more revenue generation for the state.
When a speed limit is used to generate revenue but has no safety justification, it is called a speed trap
Speed limits are enforced on most public roadways by authorities, with the purpose to improve driver compliance with speed limits. Methods used include roadside speed traps set up and operated by the police and automated roadside 'speed camera' ...
. The town of New Rome, Ohio
New Rome is an unincorporated community in eastern Prairie Township, Franklin County, Ohio, United States, located on the west side of the Columbus, Ohio metropolitan area. It was originally incorporated as a village in 1947, and was dissolved ...
was such a speed trap, where speeding tickets raised up to $400,000 per year to fund the police department of a 12-acre village with 60 residents.
Environmental concerns
Reduced speed limits are sometimes enacted for air quality
Air pollution is the contamination of air due to the presence of substances in the atmosphere that are harmful to the health of humans and other living beings, or cause damage to the climate or to materials. There are many different types ...
reasons. The most prominent example includes Texas' environmental speed limits.
Definition of speeding
Either of the following qualifies a crash as speed-related in accordance with U.S. government rules:
# Exceeding speed limits.
# Driving too fast for conditions.
Speeds in excess of speed limits account for most speed-related traffic citations; generally, "driving too fast for conditions" tickets are issued only after an incident where the ticket issuer found tangible evidence of unreasonable speed, such as a crash
Crash or CRASH may refer to:
Common meanings
* Collision, an impact between two or more objects
* Crash (computing), a condition where a program ceases to respond
* Cardiac arrest, a medical condition in which the heart stops beating
* Couch su ...
. Driving too fast for conditions is sometimes cited when a motorist is caught exceeding the posted speed limit, but the speed falls below a state's "default" speed limit codified in law. This makes it difficult for the motorist to get out of a ticket by claiming the speed at which he or she was travelling was within the state's legal speed limit, despite the lower posted speed limit for which the motorist may or may not have been aware of.
A criticism of the "exceeding speed limits" definition of speeding is twofold:
# When speed limits are arbitrary, such as when set through political
Politics (from , ) is the set of activities that are associated with making decisions in groups, or other forms of power relations among individuals, such as the distribution of resources or status. The branch of social science that studies ...
rather than empirical processes, the speed limit's relationship to the maximum safe speed is weakened or intentionally eliminated. Therefore, a crash can be counted as speed-related even if it occurs at a safe speed, simply because the speed was in excess of a politically determined limit.
# The effective limit may still be too fast for certain conditions, such as limited visibility or reduced road traction or even low-speed truck rollovers on exit ramps.
Variable speed limits offer some potential to reduce speed-related crashes. However, due to the high cost of implementation, they exist primarily on freeways
A controlled-access highway is a type of highway that has been designed for high-speed vehicular traffic, with all traffic flow—ingress and egress—regulated. Common English terms are freeway, motorway and expressway. Other similar terms i ...
. Furthermore, most speed-related crashes occur on local and collector roads, which generally have far lower speed limits and prevailing speeds than freeways.
Prima facie
Most states have absolute speed limits, meaning that a speed in excess of the limit is illegal per se
In US law, the term illegal ''per se'' means that the act is inherently illegal. Thus, an act is illegal without extrinsic proof of any surrounding circumstances such as lack of ''scienter'' (knowledge) or other defenses. Acts are made illegal '' ...
. However, some states have prima facie
''Prima facie'' (; ) is a Latin expression meaning ''at first sight'' or ''based on first impression''. The literal translation would be 'at first face' or 'at first appearance', from the feminine forms of ''primus'' ('first') and ''facies'' (' ...
speed limits. This allows motorists to defend against a speeding charge if it can be proven that the speed was in fact reasonable and prudent.
Speed limits in various states, including Texas
Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...
, Utah
Utah ( , ) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. Utah is a landlocked U.S. state bordered to its east by Colorado, to its northeast by Wyoming, to its north by Idaho, to its south by Arizona, and to it ...
, , New Hampshire
New Hampshire is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the northeastern United States. It is bordered by Massachusetts to the south, Vermont to the west, Maine and the Gulf of Maine to the east, and the Canadian province of Quebec t ...
, Connecticut
Connecticut () is the southernmost state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York to the west, and Long Island Sound to the south. Its cap ...
, Ohio
Ohio () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Of the fifty U.S. states, it is the 34th-largest by area, and with a population of nearly 11.8 million, is the seventh-most populous and tenth-most densely populated. The sta ...
, Oregon
Oregon () is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. The Columbia River delineates much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington (state), Washington, while the Snake River delineates much of it ...
, and Rhode Island
Rhode Island (, like ''road'') is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is the List of U.S. states by area, smallest U.S. state by area and the List of states and territories of the United States ...
are prima facie. Some other states have a hybrid system: speed limits may be prima facie up to a certain speed or only on certain roads. For example, speed limits in California up to 55 mph, or 65 mph on highways, are prima facie, and those at or above those speeds are absolute.
A successful prima facie defense is rare. Not only does the burden of proof rest upon the accused, a successful defense may involve expenses well in excess of the cost of a ticket, such as an expert witness. Furthermore, because prima facie defenses must be presented in a court, such a defense is difficult for out-of-town motorists.
Metric speed limits
Metric speed limits are no longer included in the Federal Highway Administration
The Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) is a division of the United States Department of Transportation that specializes in highway transportation. The agency's major activities are grouped into two programs, the Federal-aid Highway Program a ...
's Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices
The ''Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices for Streets and Highways'' (usually referred to as the ''Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices'', abbreviated MUTCD) is a document issued by the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) of the Unit ...
(MUTCD), which provides guidelines for speed limit signage, and therefore, new installations are not legal in the United States. Prior to 2009, a speed limit could be defined in kilometers per hour
The kilometre per hour ( SI symbol: km/h; non-standard abbreviations: kph, km/hr) is a unit of speed, expressing the number of kilometres travelled in one hour.
History
Although the metre was formally defined in 1799, the term "kilometres per h ...
(km/h) as well as miles per hour
Miles per hour (mph, m.p.h., MPH, or mi/h) is a British imperial and United States customary unit of speed expressing the number of miles travelled in one hour. It is used in the United Kingdom, the United States, and a number of smaller countrie ...
(mph). The 2003 version of the MUTCD stated that "speed limits shown shall be in multiples of 10 km/h or 5 mph." If a speed limit sign indicated km/h, the number was circumscribed and "km/h" was written below. Prior to 2003, metric speed limits were designated using the standard speed limit sign, usually with yellow supplemental "METRIC" and "km/h" plaques above it and below it, respectively.MUTCD and metric road signs in the US
Lamar.colostate.edu.
In 1995, the
National Highway System Designation Act
The National Highway System (NHS) is a network of strategic highways within the United States, including the Interstate Highway System and other roads serving major airports, ports, military bases, rail or truck terminals, railway stations, pip ...
prohibited use of federal funds to finance new metric signage.
See also
*
Driver License Compact
The Driver License Compact is an agreement between states in the United States of America. The compact is used to exchange data between motorist's home state and a state where the motorist incurred a vehicular violation. Not all states are members, ...
*
Non-Resident Violator Compact
The Non-Resident Violator Compact (NRVC) is a United States interstate compact used by 44 states and Washington, D.C. to process traffic citations across state borders.
When a motorist is cited in another member state and chooses not to respond to ...
*
Solomon curve
]
The Solomon curve is a graphical representation of the collision rate of automobiles as a function of their speed compared to the average vehicle speed on the same road. The curve was based on research conducted by David Solomon in the late 1950 ...
*
Traffic violations reciprocity
*
Transportation safety in the United States
Transportation safety in the United States encompasses safety of transportation in the United States, including automobile crashes, airplane crashes, rail crashes, and other mass transit incidents, although the most fatalities are generated ...
*
Traffic code in the United States
For driving in the United States, each state and territory has its own traffic code or rules of the road, although most of the rules of the road are similar for the purpose of uniformity, given that all states grant reciprocal driving privileges ( ...
Notes
References
Law review
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Speed Limits In The United States
Road transportation in the United States
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...
United States transportation law