DRIVER'S SIDE DIATRIBE
By Al Vinikour     

I live in a state where drivers show little if any regard for speed limits. Speed limit signs are like figuring tips on restaurant checks…add 15%-20%. Why does this nation have one flag, one national anthem and even a self-proscribed national pastime…but yet we seem to have 50 different plans for speed limits? Whatever happened to consistency?

In the 1970s, the United States was in the midst of a fuel shortage that put the entire country in panic mode. As part of this national hysteria Congress set a national speed limit of 55 miles per hour. That’s a speed that some scuff-shoed, tweed-jacketed eggheads determined was the ideal number to squeeze out the most miles per gallon and “end our dependence on foreign oil.” I’ve heard that phrase more than I ever heard my parents tell me to quit popping my knuckles or I’d eventually have hands like claws.

Eventually calmer heads and better mileage through technology at least raised the limit to 65 on most limited-access freeways throughout the country. However, some states smelled cash and kept their speed limits to 55 mph – even on major freeways — and used the excuse that because of heavy residential presence it was for safety. Balderdash!  What do people who live alongside limited access highways do…pole vault or broad jump across? There is one reason…and one reason only for having an archaic speed limit like 55 mph in the 21st century — revenue enhancement!

Don’t ask this question of state revenue offices but is protecting the lives of citizens in New Jersey and Pennsylvania worth more than those of Michigan or Georgia? Why is it okay to drive 70 mph up I-275 in the Detroit suburbs less “dangerous and fuel-efficient” than having to drive 55 on I-80 through parts of New Jersey? Conversely, why should vehicles be limited to drive 75 mph on roads where for hundreds of miles the only scenery is cactuses mating?

Let’s leave freeways for a few paragraphs.

Why is it necessary to drive 35 mph over a four-mile stretch of a suburb we’ll call “Alville”…but at the intersection of Jim and Bowie – where Alville becomes “Bedlam” – the speed limit becomes 45 mph? There’s the same concentration of fast food establishments, strip malls and gas stations. Could it be that Alville is looking to increase its revenue base or that it’s run by a cabal of Visigoths? Or is it that Bedlam is more progressive and has already entered the 21st century.

I’m not advocating freeway speeds on residential streets…but I’m appalled by communities and states that try to fix residential speeds on freeways. There’s nothing wrong with capping residential speeds at 45. City speeds aren’t really an issue because traffic generally crawls along at a speed that’s lower than anything that could be posted – like 35 mph. But I see no reason there has to be a cap of 70 or 75 on desert highways, either.

With few exceptions, driving on the legendary German Autobahn is among the safest and most courteous in the world…and there’s generally no speed limit. Is the road to Dresden any more important than that to Tucumcari?

My advice to city managers is this: spend less time worrying about milking speeding tickets out of people driving in your communities and more time synchronizing stop lights so that people can count on driving at a a steady speed. If you really want extra revenue from driving violations there are hundreds, if not thousands waiting to contribute.

Every state has a law mandating turn signals. Enforce it!  Every community has laws making it illegal to run red lights. Enforce them! Every state has a law mandating using a signal to indicate a lane change. Enforce it! Some poor schlub driving an extra 5 or 10 miles per hour faster than the posted limit is not going to kill anyone. But somebody weaving in and out of traffic at a high rate of speed, with a pint of Jack Daniels held between his legs, will.

We all have priorities. Don’t waste yours!