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This Article Full Text Full Text (PDF) All Versions of this Article: AJPH.2008.153726v1 99/9/1626    most recent Submit a response View Shopping Cart Alert me when this article is cited Alert me when eLetters are posted Alert me if a correction is posted Services Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in Web of Science Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via Web of Science (1) Google Scholar Articles by Friedman, L. S. Articles by Richter, E. D. PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Friedman, L. S. Articles by Richter, E. D. Related Collections Epidemiology Injury/Emergency Care/Violence

Lee S. Friedman, PhD, Donald Hedeker, PhD and Elihu D. Richter, MD, MPH

Lee S. Friedman is with the Division of Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences, School of Public Health, University of Illinois, Chicago, and the Social Policy Research Institute, Skokie, IL. Donald Hedeker is with the Division of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, School of Public Health, University of Illinois, Chicago. Elihu D. Richter is with the Unit of Occupational and Environmental Medicine and Center for Injury Prevention, Hadassah School of Public Health and Community Medicine, Hebrew University, Jerusalem, Israel.

Correspondence: Correspondence should be sent to Lee S. Friedman, Social Policy Research Institute, 4001 Emerson, Skokie, IL (e-mail: lfriedman{at}tspri.org). Reprints can be ordered at http://www.ajph.org by clicking the "Reprints/Eprints" link.

Objectives. We examined the long-term effects of the 1995 repeal of federal speed limit controls on road fatalities and injuries in fatal crashes.

Methods. We used a Poisson mixed-regression model to assess changes in the number of fatalities and injuries in fatal crashes between 1995 and 2005 on rural interstates, where all US states have raised speed limits since the repeal, as well as on urban interstates and noninterstate roads, where many states have raised speed limits.

Results. We found a 3.2% increase in road fatalities attributable to the raised speed limits on all road types in the United States. The highest increases were on rural interstates (9.1%) and urban interstates (4.0%). We estimated that 12 545 deaths (95% confidence interval [CI] = 8739, 16 352) and 36 583 injuries in fatal crashes (95% CI = 29 322, 43 844) were attributable to increases in speed limits across the United States.

Conclusions. Reduced speed limits and improved enforcement with speed camera networks could immediately reduce speeds and save lives, in addition to reducing gas consumption, cutting emissions of air pollutants, saving valuable years of productivity, and reducing the cost of motor vehicle crashes.