The Evolution and Devolution of Speed Limit Law and the Effect on Fatality Rates

by Robert O. Yowell Review of Policy Research, July 2005 The three most recent decades provide an outstanding opportunity to study the changing federalist landscape concerning the regulation of speed on the nation's highways. Speed limits were the province of the states until the 1970s when, in an effort to save energy, the central government nationalized the maximum speed at 55 miles per hour. The national standard remained until the 1980s, when a partial devolution transferred some power to set speed limits back to the individual states. At that time, states could increase the maximum speed to 65 miles per hour on (at fewest) four-lane, controlled access highways in low population density areas. Some states elected to loosen the limits within their borders, while others did not, citing concerns of highway safety as paramount. The 1990s saw the complete devolution of speed limit control to the states, when Congress returned to the states unlimited control. States reacted differently in both of the two latter phases, providing a fruitful landscape for comparative analysis of the effects of the devolution of speed limit control. Read more