ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Monday, October 13, 1996 TAG: 9610140101
SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE: A-4 EDITION: METRO
DRUNKEN DRIVING kills. So does speed. We better not slip into complacency about either.
Deaths involving drunken drivers rose by 8 percent in the nation last year - the first such increase in a decade. Meanwhile, more than half of the states raised their speed limits following the repeal in November of the federal speed limits on interstate highways.
The full impact of the latter is yet to be conclusively determined. An Associated Press survey found an increase in highway deaths in at least eight states that raised the speed limit, but a slight drop in four other states that did so. (Other states that upped the limit have yet to report their data.) In those states that experienced more fatalities, it could turn out that the increased speed limit was not as much the culprit as other factors - such as drunken driving.
But higher speeds surely increase the chance of fatalities as a result of highway accidents, whether the drivers involved are drunk or sober. Utah Highway Patrol Lt. Robert Flowers is quoted as saying: High-speed collision ``opens vehicles up. Doors come off, windows come in.'' The National Safety Council says the risk of a fatal injury doubles for each 10 mph of speed over 50 mph.
Last year, Virginia's General Assembly wisely voted down an effort to raise speed limits in the commonwealth. (It has not always been so wise - bowing, for instance, to truckers' demands to travel as fast as cars.)
At the 1997 assembly, there will likely be another push for Virginia to join other states that have raised the speed limit higher than 65 mph on so-called rural stretches, and to at least 65 on more-congested roads where 55 mph was the previous rule.
But a slight, initial decrease in fatalities in four states that raised the limits hardly exonerates higher speeds. It would be foolish in the extreme to turn Virginia into the Martinsville Speedway - especially in light of evidence that drunken driving may be picking up again. The assembly should support vigorous enforcement of laws against both drunken driving and existing speed limits.
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