Column: Outside Looking In

In the summer of 1995, I worked a three month internship at The Warroad Pioneer, which I'm sorry to say has since ceased operation. This was the first professional newspaper that I worked for in my career, and it turned out to be a wonderful experience. I had only worked at Bemidji State University's newspaper for about a year and half before landing the internship. At The Pioneer I gained experience in sports, feature, beat and government reporting. I designed pages, took and developed photographs and was responsible for community relations. The best part is that I remain friends with the owners nearly 30 years later.

June 27, 1995

By Devlyn Brooks

Let me take you, if you will, to a land of chaos. A land of automobile drivers who don't know what the heck the speed limit is, and a land where each state can set its own speed limits.

You see, last week in Congress, a bill was introduced that would grant each individual state the authority to set speed limits.

I'm not a big fan of the idea. It just seems ludicrous to have each state setting its own speed limits.

Here in Minnesota we could have a speed limit of 60 miles per hour, and then when you reach the North Dakota border the speed limit could be 65 MPH. In states like Montana, they could justify setting the limit at 75 MPH, just because there are great expanses of nothing.

Doesn't this all seem rather silly? Don't we have reasonable speed limits such as 55 MPH and 65 MPH for reasons, namely safety and gas conservation?

IT could be argued that the people who want to go 55 MPH still could, and when allowed those who want to go faster may, thanks to a new speed limit. This is exactly my point! Maybe, just maybe, those people who want to drive faster are the people who we shouldn't allow to drive faster.

Congressional proponents also argue that each state legislature and governor will know best at which speed to set their state's limits.

Oh c'mon, hasn't the public already set the speed limits at which they will travel? Show me a person that has ever been pulled over by a highway patrolmen in Minnesota for doing 60 MPH. It doesn't happen because unintentionally we, as a state, have already set our speed limit. We have decided that it is safe for us to drive above the posted 55 MPH.

Now, let's look at another scenario. Have you been to Chicago, or any other metro area? Do the people who use the metro freeways drive the posted 65 MPH? No, I don't think so. They're cruising faster than a cat on catnip. Sometimes faster than 80 MPH. I know they do; I spent about four days driving in Chicago once, and my neck is still recovering from whiplash that was caused by cars zooming by me. Do you ever see anybody pulled over for speeding on the freeways ... hardly. They too have already established their speed limit, regardless if it is legal or not.

Last, but not least, what about states like Montana? I have a friend that lives there who has told me that on the long rural stretches it is not uncommon to see people doing 80 MPH and not get pulled over. Doesn't it sound like Montana has already localized their speed limit, also?

Let's think about it another way. What if Congress did give each state the right to control their own speed limits. You know states are going to use that right to raise it and maybe not always in places where it should be raised.

For the most part, I believe politicians are not reasonable and safety wouldn't be their main concern. What are those politicians going to do when a constituent calls unhappy about a speed limit and wants it raised? Is the politician's first thought going to be: "Would it be safe to raise the speed limit?" No, a politician's first thought is going to be: "I have to please this potential vote!"

Don't get me wrong; I'm not trying to be self-righteous and say that I don't speed. Because I do ... on a fairly regular basis. Anyone who has seen me heading out to the County Commissioners meeting on Wednesday mornings can attest to the fact that I do speed. (I'm usually late.)

So my point is that if we allow states to start setting higher speed limits in rural areas, our roads are going to become more dangerous than they already are. If the speed limit is 70 MPH, we are all going to inch up over the limit to 75 MPH or 76 MPH. You know we will. We'll once again think: "Well, if I'm wearing my seat belt, the most I'll get is a warning." That is how we as humans work. We are not rational animals. We like to see what we can get away with, and breaking speed limits is one of our favorite pastimes.

Accidents are bound to increase. People who drive 55 MPH in bad weather conditions are in enough trouble, but what if they have permission to go 65 MPH in bad weather conditions? People who drive under the influence of alcohol are already deadly at the current speed limit; what happens if they can legally go faster? A drunk driver will be a 2,000-pound death wish, and probably not for himself.

Now look what I've gone and done. I don't even have room to discuss the aspect of conserving gas, the major reason the speed limit was lowered to 55 MPH. As a co-worker has said, "Just because we don't have a gas shortage now, doesn't mean we can't conserve." Sounds logical to me.

Why would we want to let states control their own speed limits? I just don't see the reasoning here. Letting states control their own speed limits would be like giving a kid a go-cart and telling him to stay under 30 MPH. They just aren't going to listen, and states just aren't going to leave speed limits alone. Remember Devlyn's first rule of government: Tinker with everything, fix nothing.