Safety Impacts and Other Implications of Raised Speed Limits on High-Speed Roads (2006)

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151 A Questionnaire Used in Survey of State DOTs Survey of Speed Limits on High-Speed Roads A Survey of State DOTs Conducted by Charles River Associates The AASHTO-sponsored National Cooperative Highway Research Program (NCHRP) has recently initiated a project titled "Safety Impacts and Other Implications of Raised Speed Limits on High Speed Roads" (project number 17-23). The objectives of the project are (1) to determine the effects of raised speed limits on high-speed roads; and (2) to develop methods that will assist highway agencies to determine when and where speed limits should be changed. The consulting firm Charles River Associates, in association with Profs. Kara Kockelman and Charles Lave, have been selected to carry out this work. In this context, high-speed roads are those with speed limits of 55 mph or greater, including freeways and non-freeways, in both rural and urban environments. We are particularly interested in speed limit changes made since the National Highway System Designation Act of 1995 repealed the National Maximum Speed Limit (NMSL) and returned to States full authority over speed limits on their roadway systems. As part of the project, we are conducting a survey to identify and collect data on the experiences of State Departments of Transportation that have raised speed limits. The survey questions are presented below, grouped into sections that deal with related issues. As you will see, some of the questions ask for specific information, while others simply ask you to direct us to a person whom we may contact for more detailed or more voluminous data. It may be that your Department has already compiled some of the data that we are requesting. If you prefer, you may indicate such cases while filling out the questionnaire, and we will extract the relevant data from reports or studies. We want to take as little of your time as possible. But your informative responses are very important for the success of this project, so please respond carefully to each question. If there are any aspects of your responses that you would like to remain confidential, please indicate them and we will certainly accommodate your wish. If you have any questions about this survey, don't hesitate to contact Jon Bottom at jbottom@crai.com or call (617) 425-3392. Before beginning the survey, please provide your contact information: Name and Title: Phone: Email:

152 This survey consists of five short sections: ƒ Section A, Speed Limit Change Data ƒ Section B, Background Data ƒ Section C, Speed Limit Enforcement Decisions ƒ Section D, Speed Limit Change Decisions ƒ Section E, General Comments Please respond carefully to all the questions listed under each of these five sections. A. Speed Limit Change Data A-1) Did your Department raise posted speed limits on any high-speed road sections following the repeal of the National Maximum Speed Limit (NSML) in 1995? If so, please provide the contact information (Name and Title, Phone and Email) of the relevant person(s) we should contact for information about these changes. A-2) Has your Department studied the traffic impacts (for example, on speeds, highway safety, volumes and composition, route choice, etc.) of these speed limit changes? If so, please briefly describe the study. Please also provide the contact information (Name and Title, Phone and Email) of the relevant person(s) we should contact to access the study (if it is accessible). A-3) Has your Department studied other impacts of the speed limit changes? Examples might include impacts on environmental factors (air quality and/or noise), business and commercial activities, or other areas. If so, please briefly describe the study. Please also provide the contact information (Name and Title, Phone and Email) of the relevant person(s) we should contact to access the study (if it is accessible). A-4) Has your department studied the overall benefits and costs associated with the changes? If so, please briefly describe the study. Please also provide the contact information (Name and Title, Phone and Email) of the relevant person(s) we should contact to access the study (if it is accessible). B. Background Data B-1) What traffic data (such as volume and composition, speeds, number of accidents and accident rates) does your Department collect and maintain on a regular basis? Please provide the contact information (Name and Title, Phone and Email) of the relevant person(s) we should contact to access the data (if it is accessible). B-2) Does your Department operate any instrumented highways (roadway facilities with a high density of traffic sensors and detectors collecting and recording data at short time intervals on an ongoing basis)?

153 If so, please describe the highways’ location and characteristics, the date the system was implemented, and the main features (e.g., type and size) of the traffic data collection system (e.g., double- or single-loop detectors). Please also provide the contact information (Name and Title, Phone and Email) of the relevant person(s) we should contact to access the data (if it is accessible) from these facilities. C. Speed Limit Enforcement Decisions C-1) What role, if any, does your State DOT play in determining the levels and location of highway patrol deployments for speed limit enforcement on high-speed roads? C-2) If the Department is involved in such decisions, how does it decide where and how intensively speed limits should be enforced? C-3) Were there changes in your State’s enforcement policy following the repeal of the National Maximum Speed Limit in 1995? If so, please describe them. C-4) What are the levels of traffic fine for different degrees of speeding? Are there other penalties as well (e.g. driver’s license revocation)? C-5) What is the legal Blood Alcohol Content (BAC) in your State, and how and when has it changed in the last decade? C-6) Does your State have graduated driver’s licenses and if so, how and when did these arise? What sorts of restrictions on young drivers are in place? C-7) Please suggest someone we might contact in another State agency (Department of Public Safety, State Police, etc.) for further information on speed limit enforcement decisions. D. Speed Limit Change Decisions D-1) Please describe how speed limits are determined for high-speed roadways in your State. In determining speed limits, how much importance is given to design speeds versus observed uncongested operating speeds? Have any datasets been generated that compare speed limits, design speeds and operating speeds in your State? If so, please provide the contact information (Name and Title, Phone and Email) of the relevant person(s) we should contact to access these datasets (if it is accessible).

154 D-2) Please describe in detail the process by which your Department decides to modify (raise or lower) the posted speed limit on high-speed roads, either for individual road sections or for an entire class of facility (e.g. rural or urban interstates, other limited access facilities, other high- speed roadway). D-3) Has the Department established any written rules or guidelines to be followed when making these decisions? If so, please identify and describe them. D-4) Please describe other factors (legal limitations, public opinion, interest groups, political considerations, etc.) that play a role in making decisions about raising speed limits. D-5) Please provide the contact information (Name and Title, Phone and Email) of the relevant person(s) we should contact for further information about the speed limit change decisions. E. General Comments E-1) We welcome any observations that you may have about the impacts of speed limit changes on high-speed roads in your State. As an example, you might have comments on the following questions: 1. Overall, has the repeal of the NMSL affected traffic safety in your State? 2. Have speed limit changes on high-speed roads influenced driver behavior and/or traffic safety on other road classes as well? 3. Have truck route choices changed since the NMSL repeal? Are some portions of your State’s roadway network either safer or less safe because of this? 4. Has the elimination of NMSL-related speed enforcement mandates changed the focus of highway patrol activities? Has this had an effect on traffic safety? 5. Have changes in speed limits on high-speed roads impacted the environment? the business community? public opinion? other impacts? 6. Any other issues that you would like to raise? We will value any and all insights that you share with us, and we promise that no identifying information will be included in our summaries of this question’s results. Thank you for taking your valuable time to complete the survey