The following is the transcript of a live chat sponsored by Court TV in the Odeon on Tuesday, December 5, 1995. The subject was the repeal of the cap on the national speed limit, and the guests were Henry Jasny from Advocates for Public Safety, a group that opposed the repeal, and Bob Morrow, from the National Motorists Association, a group that supported the repeal.
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OnlineHost: Your host is Norma II (CSEmcee 11)!
AOLiveMC11: Good evening and welcome to America Online!
NMA Home: My name is Bob Morrow, and I work for the National Motorists
Association,
NMA Home: the organization that pushed the repeal through Congress.
GuestCTV: glad to be here.
GuestCTV: hope u
GuestCTV: hope you
GuestCTV: I am the lawyer for Advocates a highway safety group.
AOLiveMC11: Ready for some questions?
AOLiveMC11: Here is the first:
Question: People do not obey the speed limits now..How much faster will they
travel above NEW higher
Question: limits?
NMA Home: Not any higher. Properly set limits are self-enforcing; people
don't exceed a limit "just
NMA Home: because they can".
Question: what is the position of insurance companies on this issue? Will
higher speed limits mean
Question: higher insurance premiums?
GuestCTV: People will drive above any limit by 5-10 MPH
NMA Home: Not with properly set speed limits, which for the past 21 years we
haven't had.
Question: Mr Morrow, Will VA repeal its spped limit anytime soon?
GuestCTV: Setting higher speed limits gives a green light to faster travel
speeds.
GuestCTV: Higher speed limits may cause higher premiums because of more
crashes and more serious
NMA Home: Repeal it? Don't count on that. Raise? Maybe, but not anytime
soon. Of course
GuestCTV: injuries
NMA Home: higher limits give higher travel speeds. That's the point. They
also reduce accidents an
NMA Home: d injuries by smoothing out the flow of traffic.
Question: )Germans are able to handle unlimited speeds on the Autobaun. Are
Americans too dumb?!?!
NMA Home: No, but again, don't expect -no- limit in any state other than
Montana. However, having '
GuestCTV: Not too dumb but driving conditions and habits are very different.
NMA Home: lived in MT for 8 years, their $5 ticket is/was a "no speed limit"
law so there will be
NMA Home: little change from the present situation.
GuestCTV: German drivers obey other travel rules and don't pass on right.
NMA Home: We would too if given decent speed limits. 55 caused the horrendous
lane discipline and
NMA Home: disregard for other laws on the road since we were too busy
focusing on catching
NMA Home: speeders...
Question: isn't Montana going to not have a speed limit?
NMA Home: Yes, on Friday Montana will have no daytime speed limit and 55/65
at night. This is in
GuestCTV: Montana will have no daytime limit on Interstates.
NMA Home: the realization that people won't purposely go out and hurt
themselves.
GuestCTV: It will have high limits on other roads.
Question: Will the 75mph speed limit be on all interstates in the US?
NMA Home: On all roads, not just interstates....
NMA Home: The speed limit on interstates will be determined by each state.
Some will be 75, most
GuestCTV: It can be, that is now up to the states. 65 will be commom on 2
lane state roads.
NMA Home: probably 70.
Question: What is Virginia's proposed speed limit, now that these changes
have been made?
GuestCTV: 70 & 75 is far too fast for humans to survive a crash.
NMA Home: Don't know about VA, but until the signs change, that's the limit.
GuestCTV: Gov Allen was talking about 70 mph.
AOLiveMC11: You may want to comment on this remark.
Comment: I do see reason to raise the limit is wide open spaces like Montana,
Utah and such...but
Comment: state like Ill, Ia and such have too many entrances and exits and
cars forever coming on and off.
Comment: Trucker will be the hardest to contend with.They have SIZE!
NMA Home: 55 is also too fast for humans to survive. The lethal velocity is
as low as 40.
GuestCTV: That's true but airbags and safety belts help too.
NMA Home: The interstates are surprisingly forgiving. The minimum design
speed is 70 mph, meaning
NMA Home: that you can safely travel that road at a minimum of 70.
Question: Mr. Jasny, what hard evidence do you have that higher speed limits
actually increase
Question: highway fatalities? I have read that fatality rates per miles
traveled actually decreased when
Question: the speed limit was changed to 65m.p.h.
GuestCTV: Design speed is only in the mind of the engineers, not real bodies
in real crashes.
Question: how about proposing a minimum speed limit of 55 and no max on the
fast lane
GuestCTV: No. Speeds and fatalities both increased in most places.
NMA Home: Not really a good idea. The mix of low speed and high speeds isn't
the safest. What is
GuestCTV: I don't think you can separate lanes by speeds.
NMA Home: safest is the speed (any speed) of traffic.
Question: Why are we so worried about the raising of the speed limit, when
studies show that most
Question: drivers tend to drive at a particular speed regardless of the
limit?
NMA Home: Just to make them legal. Right now those drivers are safe but
illegal.
Question: Why is the speed limit such a big deal? The limit in the seventies
was 65 and the cars
Question: were not as good.
GuestCTV: No. Most drivers did obey speed limits before efforts to repeal
those limits.
NMA Home: Good question. Cars are better, tires are better, roads are better.
Now the laws can
NMA Home: catch up.
Question: Isn't the average speed on USA hwys today about 70-75? Hasn't the
number of fatalities
Question: gone down EVERY YEAR even though avg. speeds have gone up?
GuestCTV: No. The fatality RATE stopped going down in 1993.
GuestCTV: We are saving lives for other reasons but killing more people each
year with speed.
NMA Home: That's because there is no data for 1994 yet...
Question: Since the inception of the national 55 mph speed limit, how many
lives were saved?
NMA Home: It's hard to pin down a number due to a speed limit. The number of
fataliteis has been go
NMA Home: ing down each year since the '20's.
GuestCTV: 94 is even higher, the data is in. And 95 is higher than 94.
Question: Do you agree 55mph limit is simply a cash cow for the small rural
town who's only source
Question: of income is through speeding tickets?? This must be stopped.
NMA Home: Yes! Did you know that some states are beginning to enact laws to
prevent speed traps?
Comment: I favor repeal of the speed limit. Anyone who has lived or traveled
across the midwest
Comment: should agree.
GuestCTV: The Mayberry's in U.S. always made that money, even before
Interstates.
NMA Home: true.
Question: I usually drive fast and I find the only time I get worried is if
the frictional speed
Question: increases (i.e. the folks next to me are 5 to 10 mph slower) In
this case I slow down. Have
Question: you got any reaction to a frictional speed limit?
NMA Home: We call it "speed differential". On four-laners, it's not too
hazardous, but on two-lane
NMA Home: roads it's deadly. Forces people to pull out and pass.
GuestCTV: Stay away from "packs" of cars.
GuestCTV: Bur speed differential is only part of problem.
GuestCTV: Many crashes are single vehicle run-off-the-road type.
OnlineHost: If you joined in late, we are discussing the Nat'l Speed Limit
OnlineHost: with Henry Jasny and Bob Morrow!
Question: Now that the gas crisis is not on the forefront of our daily
worries, what would be the
Question: justification for a national speed limit?
NMA Home: Fairness and safety. Setting speed limits to equal the speed of
traffic not only makes
NMA Home: most drivers legal, it is the safest possible speed. This lets the
cops go after those
NMA Home: that are the real hazards, not play revenue-agent.
Question: Mr. Morrow, what would you say should determine the speed limit in
any particular
Question: circumstance?
GuestCTV: I could care less about state revenue.
GuestCTV: Slower uniform speed limits save lives.
GuestCTV: Even the Congress realized that in 1974.
NMA Home: The speed of traffic. Proven time and time again to be the safest.
Congress enacted 55
NMA Home: simply to save gas. Fatalities dropped the next year because
people simply weren't drivin
NMA Home: g. Look at the charts, the number of miles driven took a nosedive
that year. Stay off th
NMA Home: e road, you live. Simple as that.
AOLiveMC11: A comment from someone in Montana:
Comment: I'm in Montana & we're thrilled.
GuestCTV: Not True. National Academy of Sciences study proved that 3-5K
lives saved by 55 alone.
NMA Home: I used ot live in Great Falls! I'd love to be back there.
Question: I live in Texas and some highways here just don't need speed
limits, do you agree?
GuestCTV: I heard MT may cap speed limit at 70?
NMA Home: As I said before, it's unlikely that no speed limit will take the
day. Is is okay? Sure.
NMA Home: Most don't drive to kill themselves.
Question: Mr. Jasny, I'll ask you the same question I asked Mr. Morrow: What
should determine the
Question: speed limit under a particular circumstance.
Question: Are cars designed for the higher speed limits?
NMA Home: Yes. They've been handling higher limits for the past few years.
GuestCTV: Speed may well result in more crashes because you have less time to
react.
GuestCTV: You also need more distance in which to stop the car.
NMA Home: But the purpose of driving is to avoid an accident int he first
place, which happens when
NMA Home: you're going at the speed of traffic...
Question: is Guest suggesting that there is something INHERENTLY dangerous
about higher speeds, or
Question: is it more a function of imprpoer training?
GuestCTV: Not just speed or training.
GuestCTV: Crashes do occur for many reasons.
GuestCTV: When they happen at higher speeds the results are more severs.
NMA Home: Improper training over speed, "excessive speed" as a causative
factor is present in less t
NMA Home: han 5% of all accidents.
Question: What will happen to highly travelled roads such as in Los Angeles
and New York? Will there
Question: be much change?
NMA Home: Not likely, at least not in the immediate future.
GuestCTV: If congested, no.
GuestCTV: But look out at night when people with a few drinks are doing 85
mph.
Question: Weren't the current limits put into effect because of the Gas Wars
of the '70's? Why
Question: weren't they lifted afterward?
NMA Home: Because people didn't bother to look further into the "Speed kills"
argument. Had they,
NMA Home: the truth would have come out sooner. BTW, 55 was originally
temporary.
GuestCTV: 55 was adopted to save oil - but there were 9,000 fewer deaths the
next year, most of that
GuestCTV: was due to 55.
Question: I've seen more accidents caused by slow highway drivers getting in
the way, why not a
Question: national minimum for highway driving?
NMA Home: We'd like to see that. Ideally, the minimum speed should be not
more than 5 mph less than
NMA Home: the speed of traffic.
GuestCTV: On Interstates that is okay, most states already have such laws.
Let's agree on national
GuestCTV: minimum AND reasonable maximum speed limits.
NMA Home: Well, not -national- minimum though.
NMA Home: or max...
Question: CTV, do you feel a speed limit is necessary on the two lane divided
highways like those of
Question: Kansas? They are quite sparsely driven and have near unlimited
visibility.
GuestCTV: So, if a driver at 80/85 swerves to avoid a rock or animal that
driver is dead. At 55/60
GuestCTV: the driver would survive. Maybe in good shape with airbag and
belt.
NMA Home: At 55/60 they'd fall asleep...
Question: I`f speeds are raised,what will be done to keep slower cars out of
passing lanes ?
NMA Home: Police would. They'd no longer be sitting wasting time on speed
traps and instead
NMA Home: out on the road enforcing the other 100 pages of the motor vehicle
code. We'd welcome
NMA Home: that.
GuestCTV: Nothing can be done. Slower drivers, the elderly too, have a right
to drive
GuestCTV: Higher speed limits only increases speed differential.
Question: Who do I send my letter to encouraging an increase in the speed
limit in my area?
NMA Home: To your state legislator. You'll find that info in the blue pages
of your phone book.
NMA Home: Also CC: one or two to the heads of the state house and senate
trans. committees.
Question: Do you think state's should more concern themselves with catching
speeders in
Question: neighborhoods filled with children than wide open interstates?? Is
this not looking in the wrong
Question: place?
GuestCTV: Also write to the tax dept because higher speeds will increase
health costs.
NMA Home: Not states, but municipalities. Yes, they should.
GuestCTV: State police should do one, local police the other.
NMA Home: And yes, they are looking in the wrong place. Were putting all our
enforcement efforts on
NMA Home: the interstates,which are thes afest roads!
Question: Didn't a Univ of Mich study prove that people will drive at the
speed they feel safe at on
Question: highways with no limits & that it is usually the slow driver that
causes accidents, not the
Question: speeder?
GuestCTV: I agree that Interstates are safer than state roads.
NMA Home: Yes. Have it here in the office.
GuestCTV: Not true. What study are you referring to?
NMA Home: (if we're talking about the same one)
Question: Do you anticipate higher speed limits ultimately driving up
insurance rates?
NMA Home: Not really. The insurance companies will no doubt try though.
GuestCTV: Possibly. It will depend on the state and the effect of the higher
speed limit.
Question: CTV - speed doesn't kill, difference in speed kills.
Statistically, how many accidents
Question: are with stationary objects on an interstate, v.s. how many
collisions between two vehicles in
Question: motion?
GuestCTV: About 60%.
NMA Home: The NY Dep't of Trans. last year started putting in "rumble strips"
onthe interstates to
NMA Home: reduce run-off accidents. The effect was a nearly 100 % reduction
in them.
AOLiveMC11: Looks like we are out of time. This will be the last question:
Question: Will there be any added focus on current road conditions if the
speed limits increase, and
Question: will this expense be picked up by the taxpayers?
NMA Home: Added focus? Not sure what you mean. The bill that repealed the
speed limit also included
GuestCTV: There will be no added focus. There is not connection between
highway funds and
GuestCTV: speed limits since repeal. Taxpayer will always pick up tab.
NMA Home: You mean a street full of potholes is safer than one without?
AOLiveMC11: It has been a pleasure having you join us for a and answering our
questions, Bob Marrow an
AOLiveMC11: And Henry Jasny!
NMA Home: Thanks for having me.
GuestCTV: Thanks from me too.
AOLiveMC11: Thanks to our audience for your questions. For a transcript of
AOLiveMC11: this event, Go To Keyword: Center Stage within the next 24 hours.
