States with uniform 65 mph speed limit have lower fatality rates than Illinois

As the Illinois House prepares to debate a motion to override the governor’s veto of legislation to adopt a uniform speed limit on Illinois rural interstate highways, USDOT statistics show that those states that have adopted a uniform 65 mph speed limit have had a lower fatality rate over the last 10 years than Illinois, according to a Mid-West Truckers Assoc. Inc., news release.

Forty-two states have a uniform speed limit (60, 65, 70 & 75 mph). Of those, 12 states have a uniform 65 mph speed limit. All 12 states have a lower fatality rate than Illinois on their rural interstate highways. Data was compiled from 10 years of Federal Highway Administration statistics detailing the number of fatalities and the annual vehicle miles traveled on rural interstate highways.

Those states with a uniform 65 mph speed limit on rural interstate highways are New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Maine, New Hampshire, Maryland, Virginia and Vermont.

A motion to override the governor’s veto of Senate Bill 540 was approved October 3 by the Illinois Senate and is scheduled for a vote in the Illinois House when lawmakers return October 10.

“Despite the tremendous amount of misinformation circulated regarding the issue, SB 540 affects only rural Illinois interstate highways,” the news release stated. “It does not affect the Chicago metropolitan or Metro-East areas, where all posted speeds will remain at 55 mph or less.”

Safety has been, and will always be the top priority of the trucking industry. Truckers are some of the most regulated workers, required to undergo random drug and alcohol testing, are limited to the number of hours they can drive, and must submit their vehicles to mandatory safety checks at any time — no such laws exist for the everyday automobile driver.

“It is most unfortunate that the opponents of this proposal have used a campaign of misleading statistics and half-truths to portray the entire trucking industry as having little regard for safety,” the news release stated. “Most specifically, the governor’s office and AAA on September 28 accusing the trucking industry of killing more people so they can make faster deliveries.

“To the contrary, it is not the speed that causes accidents, but the constant interaction between cars and trucks on highways that have two different speed limits for two classes of vehicles using one piece of highway. In fact, the AAA of Minnesota and Iowa supported the increase in Iowa’s uniform speed limit to 70 mph, citing a ‘reduction in speed differentials will greatly improve the efficiency and safety of interstate roads.’”


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