I wasn't able to find support for that statement. Several reports point out that when the 55 speed limit was repealed, traffic deaths increased. Here are a cou

I wasn't able to find support for that statement. Several reports point out that when the 55 speed limit was repealed, traffic deaths increased. Here are a couple of citations: 1) "Rising speed limits over the past 25 years have cost nearly 37,000 lives, including more than 1,900 in 2017 alone, a new study by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety shows ... For the new study, Charles Farmer, IIHS vice president for research and statistical services, analyzed the effect of changes in the maximum posted speed limit in every state from 1993 to 2017. ... Farmer found that a 5 mph increase in the maximum speed limit was associated with an 8 percent increase in the fatality rate on interstates and freeways " - https://www.iihs.org/news/detail/speed-limit-increases-are-tied-to-37-000-deaths-over-25-years https://www.iihs.org/news/detail/speed-limit-increases-are-t... 2) "Long-Term Effects of Repealing the National Maximum Speed Limit in the United States" - https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2724439/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2724439/ > We examined the long-term effects of the 1995 repeal of federal speed limit controls on road fatalities and injuries in fatal crashes. ... 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." But that's after it was repealed. Going back to when the law was put into place, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Maximum_Speed_Law#Safety_impact https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Maximum_Speed_Law#Saf... states "The limit's effect on highway safety is unclear." https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5005740/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5005740/ shows "Joinpoint analysis of trends in motor vehicle traffic fatality rates, all ages, by sex, 1968 to 2010" in figure 2 you can see the decrease in fatalities after the law was put into place in 1973, followed by a regression to a decreasing mean. This is in agreement with Wikipedia's statement "Although the vast majority of states reported fewer traffic deaths in 1974 compared with 1973, there were in fact three states where traffic deaths actually increased ... According to the National Research Council, there was a decrease in fatalities of about 3,000 to 5,000 lives in 1974, and about 2,000 to 4,000 lives saved annually thereafter through 1983". It therefore doesn't appear that traffic deaths increased with the enactment of the National Maximum Speed Law.