Travelling Speed And The Risk Of Crash Involvement On Rural Roads

"Data collected in a case control study (Kloeden, McLean, Moore and Ponte, 1997) were reanalysed using logistic regression modelling" -- P. i.

Casualty crash reductions from reducing various levels of speeding are estimated by applying the relative risk of involvement in a casualty crash to the proportion of vehicles travelling at a given speed. The greatest overall effect on casualty crashes involving vehicles travelling at speeds from 1 to 20 km/h above the speed limit will come from reducing speeds just above that limit in almost all cases. Analysis of where injury and fatal crashes occur indicates that while speed reductions of any type would be expected to reduce injuries and fatalities, the greatest potential gains for reducing injuries appear to be in targeting low level speeding on Adelaide low speed roads. For fatalities this would be extended to include low level speeding on high speed rural roads.

TRB Special Report 254 - Managing Speed: Review of Current Practices for Setting and Enforcing Speed Limits reviews practices for setting and enforcing speed limits on all types of roads and provides guidance to state and local governments on appropriate methods of setting speed limits and related enforcement strategies. Following an executive summary, the report is presented in six chapters and five appendices.