IIHS study: Seattle residents in fewer injury crashes after speed limits lowered
had a significant effect on the likelihood that people would be injured in a crash. After the speed limits changed, the IIHS found that drivers had a 17 percent lower chance of injury in the city’s downtown area. Things were even better on arterial roads, where drivers had a 20 percent lower chance of being injured.
In an earlier study that looked at Seattle's first round of speed reductions, the IIHS compared three control cities in Washington state where limits weren't changed, vs. Seattle. By late 2019, Seattle had changed the speed limits in a quarter of its major neighborhoods. Most crashes happen on arterial roads in all of the cities, but Seattle saw a decline in crashes with injuries while control cities saw increases.
City officials took notice of the study and, in 2020, lowered most of the remaining speed limits on arterial roads to 25 mph. The effort involved removing hundreds of old speed signs and replacing them with 2,600 new ones. The new signs are more densely installed to ensure everyone knows about the change.
Though Seattle’s arterial roads saw improvement, there were no changes in the likelihood of injury during crashes on neighborhood streets and tight downtown streets. The IIHS points out that the narrow roads may naturally limit drivers’“When we talk about the, we always stress that nobody should have to die because of a mistake,” said IIHS President David Harkey. “These results illustrate the value of rethinking speed limits.
“These results suggest that communities can reap substantial benefits by lowering speed limits,” said IIHS Senior Research Transportation Engineer Wen Hu, the study's lead author. “To reduce injuries even further, communities should combine lower speed limits with engineering solutions, public education about the importance of reduced speeds, and high-visibility enforcement.”
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