ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Tuesday, January 14, 1997 TAG: 9701140035
SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE: A4 EDITION: METRO
FOR THE second year in a row, the number of highway fatalities has declined in Virginia. The trend is encouraging, but shouldn't become a rationale for reckless abandonment of safety concerns.
Not by drivers, certainly, who travel the highways - nor by lawmakers who set the rules of the road.
The statistics, for instance, in no way justify increasing the speed limit on interstates to 70 mph, as the General Assembly doubtless will be pressured again by the trucking industry and others to do.
Proponents of a higher speed limit could point out that many drivers routinely do 70 on interstates now, and yet there were about 250 fewer fatalities in 1996 than a decade ago, before the speed limit on most interstates was raised from 55 mph to 65 mph.
But surely none would be so foolhardy as to suggest fewer deaths resulted because people drove faster. High speed is to blame in at least one-third of all fatal crashes. It thus does not bode well for a continuing decline in the state's fatalities when David McAllister, head of the Virginia Crash Investigation Team, says, ``There's no question. People are driving faster than last year, the year before that and the year before that.''
Recent annual reductions in highway deaths are more likely due to a combination of factors. These include safer cars, many of which are now equipped with air bags and anti-lock brakes (though these devices have come under recent criticism); increased use of seat belts; better-built and better-designed roads; educational campaigns against drunken driving; and better law enforcement. (McAllister's point that people are driving faster, for instance, is partially based on the number of speeding tickets issued in Virginia.)
Whatever the reason for the decline in fatalities, it can be of no comfort to the family members and friends of the 860 people who died in crashes on Virginia roads last year. And it's surely no reason for the General Assembly to raise the speed limit. If anything, legislators should insist that police crack down even harder on those who break the speed limits and other laws intended to prevent such tragedies.
LENGTH: Short : 45 lines KEYWORDS: FATALITYby CNB