Published: 04 February 2010
Dear Editor,
The recent column by Erika Neldner (“Don’t handcuff speed enforcement,” Jan. 13) repeats all of the arguments that we should just slow down.
Her first two examples are of motorcycle drivers; it’s well-known that their rate of fatal accidents is several times those of automobile drivers. As for the SUV rollover, no surprise there. We’ve seen the videos of those types of vehicles overturning at 35 mph.
It’s a real revelation to drive in Europe and hit speeds of more than 100 mph, and get passed by the faster cars. Is their rate of accidents per 1,000 miles driven higher than ours? No, it isn’t.
Then there are the statistics that most accidents happen within 20 miles from home and under 35 mph. Other statistics verify that drunk driving or distracted driving does result in fatalities.
It’s not the speed. When the national speed limit jumped from 55 to 70, it did not result in a bloodbath on the highways as the author’s theory suggested. Indeed, she admits that “deaths have decreased over the last few years” but urges us not to reduce the number of police on the highways issuing tickets.
What the tickets will do, especially with the $200 surcharge, is victimize ordinary people just going about their business on highways designed and built to handle high speeds. Another newspaper, some years ago, printed a multi-part study called “Pedal to the Metal.” In that series, we learned that the Department of Transportation had recommended a speed limit on the local interstates that was the 85th percentile of what people were already driving. In other words, with that speed limit, only 15 percent of the drivers would be in violation.
This turned out to be a speed limit in excess of 80 mph. The Legislature decided on 55 mph anywhere near the city, and 65 outside of that. For some people, a $300 speeding ticket would be a disaster. It’s easy to say that poor people should drive slowly, but, when the speed limits are too low and everyone is speeding, you have keep up.
Small cities in the area see tickets as being a lucrative means of financing operations. The entire metro area is one big speed trap in their eyes, and they want a piece of the action.
The question is whether they should be allowed to do it.
Robert Holroyd, Woodstock
