Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, March 4, 1992 TAG: 9203040280
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B-3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: GREG SCHNEIDER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: RICHMOND LENGTH: Medium
Moments after rejecting the proposal, one senator asked that it be reconsidered and the body agreed. Now it faces another vote today.
"Obviously there is an effort to put on a full-court press during the evening to change the vote," said Sen. Charles Waddell, D-Loudoun County. "Hopefully, we can withstand the pressure."
Waddell is chairman of the Senate Committee on Transportation. He fought the measure there and on the Senate floor.
The General Assembly voted in 1988 to raise rural interstate speed limits from 55 mph to 65 mph for cars but opted to leave trucks at the lower limit. None of the states surrounding Virginia has a double speed limit, and a recent study at the University of Virginia suggested that a uniform limit would be safer.
But opponents of raising the limit for trucks say the big rigs already go too fast.
Allowing 65 mph "would be a danger to people on the highway," said Sen. Robert Scott, D-Newport News.
The 11-vote margin against the bill would seem insurmountable, but Waddell warned that Republican supporters of the increase may push for party unity. If all 18 Republicans in the 40-member Senate stuck together, they would need only three Democrats to pass the bill.
Three Democrats - Yvonne Miller of Norfolk, Virgil Goode of Rocky Mount and Edward Houck of Spotsylvania - voted for it Tuesday.
"A major policy change in Virginia shouldn't be looked at in a partisan manner," Waddell warned. He had been unable to thwart the measure in his committee, where no one spoke against it in a public hearing.
The trucking lobby, long regarded as one of the assembly's most influential, has tried to stay out of the speed-limit debate.
"We favor a uniform speed limit and that limit should be 55 mph for all vehicles," said P. Dale Bennett, executive vice president of the Virginia Trucking Association.
But given that the legislature is not about to lower the limit for cars, Bennett said, "Our support of the uniform speed limit then would say the trucks should go 65 mph."
One senator tried to make the bill more palatable by amending it so that a trucker caught going 75 mph could be charged with reckless driving. For cars on rural interstates, 80 mph or higher is considered reckless.
"I'm not sure this bill is very good, but I think this will surely help it," said Sen. Frank Nolen, D-Augusta. The Senate approved the amendment, and it will be part of the bill when it is considered again today.
YEA OR NAY\ ON RAISING TRACTOR-TRAILERS' INTERSTATE SPEED LIMIT\ \ IN FAVOR: Sens. Virgil Goode, D-Rocky Mount; Malfourd "Bo" Trumbo, R-Fincastle;\ William Wampler, R-Bristol.\ \ OPPOSED: Sens. Brandon Bell, R-Roanoke; Madison Marye, D-Shawsville; Frank\ Nolen, D-New Hope; Elliot Schewel, D-Lynchburg.\ \ NOT VOTING: Sen. Jack Reasor, D-Bluefield.
Keywords:
GENERAL ASSEMBLY
by CNB