Study Shows Lowering the Speed Limit Works To Reduce Speeding - Upending Conventional Wisdom | Streetsblog

Headlines are quick hits from media outlets from Missouri and around the world. Follow the headline link for the full story. The source of this headline says:

Here’s some encouraging news for cities trying to reduce speeding: New research from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety shows that lowering posted speed limits appears to be effective at reducing driver speeds.

The IIHS study compared speeds before and after Boston lowered its speed limit from 30 mph to 25 mph in January, 2017 — and the results were clear: “Vehicles exceeding 25 mph, 30 mph, and 35 mph all declined at sites in Boston, with the largest reduction in proportions of vehicles exceeding 35 mph,” wrote the study authors Wen Hu and Jessica Cicchino.

Link: 

Study Shows Lowering the Speed Limit Works To Reduce Speeding - Upending Conventional Wisdom | Streetsblog

MoBikeFed comment: This is important because the received wisdom in traffic engineering and enforcement circles for many years has been that simply changing the speed limit has little or no effect on driver behavior.

This study and other similar recent studies pretty effectively debunk that idea.