Page 9 - AAA Now! – AAA Schuylkill County – Spring 2021

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HIGHER ROAD SPEED LIMITS INCREASE
SAFETY RISK
Drivers want to save time, and local transportation agencies want to improve
traffic flow, but at what cost? With posted speed limits increasing on roadways around the country, a vehicle’s ability to protect drivers in crashes is in doubt.
Small speed increases can have huge effects
on crash outcomes, as shown in new crash tests
by the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety, the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) and Humanetics. The safety organizations conducted crashes at three different impact speeds (40, 50 and 56 mph). They found the slightly higher speeds were enough to increase the driver’s risk of severe injury or death.
Drivers often travel faster than posted speed limits, but when officials raise limits to match travel speeds, people still go faster. Today, 41 states allow 70 mph or higher speeds on some roadways, including eight states that have maximum speeds of 80 mph or more. A 2019 IIHS study found that rising speed limits have cost nearly 37,000 lives over 25 years. AAA and IIHS urge policymakers
to factor in this danger from higher speeds when considering speed limit changes.
The AAA Foundation collaborated with IIHS and Humanetics to examine how speed affects the likelihood and severity of occupant injury in a crash. Three 2010 Honda CR-V EX crossovers were used because they represented the average age (11.8 years) of a typical vehicle on U.S. roadways and earned the top rating in the IIHS moderate overlap front test.
As the crash speed increased in the tests, researchers found more structural damage and greater forces on the dummy’s entire body.
“Higher speed limits cancel out the benefits
of vehicle safety improvements like airbags and improved structural designs,” said Dr. David Harkey, IIHS president. “The faster a driver is going before
a crash, the less likely it is that they’ll be able to
get down to a survivable speed even if they have a chance to brake before impact.”
At the 40mph impact speed, there was minimal intrusion into the driver’s space. But at the 50mph impact speed, there was noticeable deformation of the driver side door opening, dashboard and foot area. At 56 mph, the vehicle interior was significantly compromised, with the dummy’s sensors registering severe neck injuries and a
likelihood of fractures to the long bones in the lower leg.
“Our crash test dummies are instrumented with hundreds of sensors to measure the injury risk so that we understand the scientific limits of safety and injury prevention. Understanding that the risk of serious and permanent injury becomes significantly higher in crashes beyond statutory speed limits clearly demonstrates why there are limits in the first place,” commented Jack Jensen, vice president of engineering at Humanetics.
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