ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1995, Roanoke Times
DATE: Friday, December 22, 1995 TAG: 9512230003
SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE: A-10 EDITION: METRO
FEDERAL transportation officials have estimated that between 5,000 and 7,000 additional deaths will occur each year as a result of Congress' repeal of the 55 mph speed limit on most interstate highways.
Those are unsettling figures. Let's hope the estimates are on the high side.
Let's hope, too, that highway officials talked with people at the Census Bureau before making the estimates. Otherwise, they could be understating the danger.
That's because Census Bureau data about travel trends suggest that more people are spending more time in their cars, presumably meaning more are vulnerable to speed-related accidents.
Reports the Census Bureau:
Americans are commuting longer distances to and from work. The reason, it seems, is that more folks have moved farther away from jobs in urban centers into suburbs and rural areas.
Cheap gasoline has encouraged more people to become long-distance commuters.
And not only are they driving longer and farther to get to work; more are driving alone. In 1990, 73 percent of American commuters went solo, compared to 64 percent in 1980.
Car-pooling, once more fashionable, dropped from 19 percent to 13 percent. Mass-transit use fell from 6.5 percent to 5.3 percent.
Yes, we do love our wheels.
Taxophobia being what it is, we wouldn't want to spoil anyone's holidays by suggesting that higher gas taxes might prompt car-pooling to come back into vogue, might prompt more people to reconsider mass transit and alternative modes (especially bicycling), and might improve the environment - not to mention our health and life expectancy, with fewer vehicles on the roads.
We'll wait until after the holidays to bring this up again. Suffice for now to say to each and every one out there in his or her own car: Drive safely.
LENGTH: Short : 43 linesby CNB