United States of America Essays

United States of America Essays United States of America Essay United States of America Essay Few countries in history have achieved the level of mobility as the United States of America.   The spirit of motion and discovery pushed the earliest pioneers across the continent and to the Pacific, while the spirit of ingenuity helped turn these long distances into relatively short jaunts.   From wagons to steam-powered trains, motion and speed became the mark of the Industrial Revolution and helped transform the landscape and the people inhabiting it.   By the dawn of the twentieth century, a new invention was to further change the country and the world for good, bringing with it an independence and convenience of motion previously unknown; that invention was the automobile.   From these earliest days, safety and continuous innovation became the main attributes of the development of the automobile, with roads and new laws for traffic becoming the reaction to its proliferation.   As the technology that created automobiles increased their speed, li mits were created to prevent possible dangers to drivers and pedestrians.   Today, there are as many automobiles in the United States as there are people, and the speeds that they can reach are often beyond anything that could have been imagined a century earlier.   Because of this, as well as the ever-increasing pace of modern life, many states have seen fit to abolish traditional speed limits in favor of higher limits.   While many people enjoy the freedom to drive a little faster without the threat of receiving a costly speeding ticket, some critics claim that the increased speed limits also lead to increased traffic fatalities; however, while some research shows that fatalities have increased in some areas with increased speed limits, there is also evidence to suggest that the increase is negligible and that increased speed limits may also contribute to bolstering the economy. Until the late 1980s, the Federal speed limit had been 55 miles per hour.   By 1998, Connecticut was the only state remaining that had yet to increase the speed limit on any of its roads, even though all states had government sanction to do so.   However, that year Connecticut became the last state in the continental U.S. to raise its speed limit from 55 to 65 m.p.h. on 334 miles of state highway (â€Å"Connecticut To Increase Speed Limit†).   The heavy resistance to the increased speed limit in the state, as well as many other states that initially resisted raising speed limits, was based on the fears of increased fatalities from faster driving.   Logically, cars that are moving faster stand a greater chance of creating spectacular and deadly accidents, and this fact is too obvious to ignore.   The realities of increased fatalities were continuously addressed by Federal highway experts, which continued to warn states that the increased speed limits would also lead t o increased fatalities on the roads.   The earliest figures from studies of states that increased speed limits supported their assertions.   According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, states that increased speed limits in 1996 experienced about 9 percent more Interstate fatalities than expected, while states that did not increase speed limits did not (â€Å"Connecticut To Increase Speed Limit†).   While the studies failed to mention whether the increased speed limits led to increased accidents, the deadly nature of the increased speeds were apparent.   Reinforcing the findings of the Federal experts, the Insurance Institute of Highway Safety found a 12 percent increase in fatalities on highways in states that had raised the speed limit above 55 during the last nine months of 1996 (â€Å"Connecticut To Increase Speed Limit†).   However, Connecticut Department of Transportation would later relent that: â€Å"If a posted speed limit is unr ealistically low, it creates a speed variance (i.e. some drivers follow the speed limit while most drive the reasonable speed).   This speed variance can contribute to accidents† (â€Å"Speed Limit†).   While these early studies certainly reinforced the fears of legislators who wished to keep the speed limits down, they also did little to dissuade other states from continuing to increase limits, driven on by motorists desire to go faster. In states like New Jersey, highly populated and heavily traveled, speed limits were often treated as mere suggestions.   In 1997, when the speed limits were finally increased in New Jersey, many hailed it as a success by those that had lobbied for a higher speed limit for years.   According to Stephen G. Carrellas, at the time the coordinator of the New Jersey chapter of the National Motorists Association, said: â€Å"Jersey drivers travel at a speed they feel is safe and comfortable for the conditions on the road at that point in time.   They are voting with their gas pedal that that speed is at least 65 miles per hour on a limited-access highway† (Herszenhorn).   The increased speed limits in New Jersey, while universally applauded by commuters, also set limitations on which roads would enjoy the increased speeds.   On roads like the New Jersey Turnpike, the Garden State Parkway, and the Interstate, the increased speed limits merely created a situation in which law -abiding motorists were no longer subject to speeders flying by them in right line at 65 or 70 m.p.h. while they followed the tradition 55 m.p.h. speed limit.   The irony of this fact is that it would seem to negate the claims that increased speed limits lead to more accidents, as had been claimed as the key counter argument against increased limits; and if anything, the increased speed limits actually made it safer along these certain stretches of road.   Governor Christine Todd Whitman, who originally opposed increased speed limits because of its potential dangers, agreed to support it once she learned that studies revealed the increased speed did not cause more accidents.   With an emphasis on road safety, the governor believed that increased speed limits on certain roads would help compliment the state’s anti-aggressive driving program, which at the time in the seven counties where the program operated traffic accidents fell by 18 percent (Herszenhorn).   While Go v. Whitman’s decision was based on research and her desire to make the roads in her state safer, it also illustrates how the research surrounding the fatality rate and its correlation to increased speed limits was severely lacking during these initial years after the Federal speed limit increased. The contradictory reports of whether increased speed limits also increase accidents and fatalities were difficult for many legislators as they decided whether to increase speed limits or keep them down.   While common sense would dictate increased speeds led to increased fatalities, it does not touch on whether increased speeds actually lead to more accidents.   Only through implementation of the increased speed limits and observation over time were researchers able to get a true picture of the impact of high speed limits.   The surprising picture is that with the increased speed limits on the nation’s highways, fatalities and injuries are down significantly.   In 2005, according to data from the National Highway Safety Administration, the rate of injuries per mile traveled was lower than at any time since the Interstate Highway System was built 50 years ago, and the fatality rate was the second lowest ever, slightly higher than the all-time low that occurred in 2004 ( â€Å"Safe at Any Speed†).   Despite all the fears that Federal and highway experts instilled in legislators, and despite all the protests that increasing speed limits would increase fatalities, a decade of implementation and research showed that all the fears were unfounded.   In the past decade, over thirty states have increased speed limits to about 70 m.p.h., and the results continue to be astounding with all but two states experience a decline in highway fatalities; per mile traveled, there were about 5,000 fewer deaths and almost one million fewer injuries in 2005 than in the mid-1990s (â€Å"Safe at Any Speed†).   These figures are made even more remarkable when one takes into account the proliferation of cell phones and the fact that so many people use them while driving.   While achieving proper speed limits for roads instead of a universal limit can be seen as a contributor to these lowered fatalities, it must also be acknowledged that technology cont inues to make safer cars, from brakes to airbags, and the highways of the country continue to improve with constant renovation.   With such numbers and the overwhelming lack of danger posed by increased speed limits, the questions arise as to why it took so long and why it faced so much opposition.   Like many things in the country, the answer is cost. The Federal speed limit was originally enacted because of costs, as well as its abolition.   It was believed that by the early 1990s as many as 95 percent of all drivers routinely exceeded the 55 m.p.h. speed limit, and it was considered the most disobeyed Federal law since Prohibition; and while the law garnered the reputation as a life-saver in later years, the truth behind its inception was to save gasoline during the Arab oil embargo during the 1970s (â€Å"Safe at Any Speed†).   When deciding to abolish the Federal limit, legislators were forced to consider whether increased expenses incurred because of accidents and fatalities would be greater than the money saved from motorists reaching their destinations sooner.   Using figures obtained from 1986 through 1993, researchers found that each person killed in a crash in effect contributed through the loss of his or her life $1.54 million, adjusted for inflation, to the value of the time that was saved by the faster dr iving of everyone during those seven years (Uchitelle).   By this conclusion that each individual life lost on the road was worth $1.54 million dollars illustrated the ultimate bottom line for the shifting speed limits, which was not human life so much as money.   Additionally, according to a study by the Cato Institute, since the increase in speed limits Americans have also arrived at their destinations sooner, worth an estimated $30 billion a year in time saved (â€Å"Safe at Any Speed†).   So, like the earliest studies of increased speed limits that focused on the social value of human life, the later studies also have their share of disparity when measuring the economic costs. Only hindsight can provide an accurate view of things sometimes, and hindsight certainly puts to bed the many fears opponents of increased speed limits once had.   Increased speed limits, when used logically and in the right places, actually do a great deal to reduce fatalities.   While improved automobile technology and stricter laws against aggressive and drunk drivers are also to credit for this decline, increased speed limits do little to create danger on the roads. : â€Å"Connecticut To Increase Speed Limit.† The New York Times. 1 Oct 1998. 24 Jun 2008. http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9B07E4D91738F932A35753C1A96E958260. Herszenhorn, David M.. â€Å"New Jersey to Raise Its Top Speed Limit to 65 M.P.H.† The New York Times. 13 Dec 1997. 24 Jun 2008. http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res= 9C0DE7DA1F3CF930A25751C1A961958260. â€Å"Safe at Any Speed.† Wall Street Journal. 7 Jul 2006. 24 Jun 2008. http://proquest.umi.com/pqdweb?did=1072989621sid=7Fmt=3clientId=394RQT=309VName=PQD. â€Å"Speed Limit.† Connecticut Department of Transportation. 6 Sep 2005. 24 Jun 2008. ct.gov/dot/cwp/view.asp?Q=259744a=1380. Uchitelle, Louis. â€Å"Accelerate To 65 M.P.H. Now Empty Your Pockets.† The New York Times. 7 Jul 2002. 24 Jun 2008. http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res= 9802E7D61031F934A35754C0A9649C8B63.