An editorial by J. Tyson Stephens, sheriff of Emanuel County, in today’s Savannah Morning News takes aim at the recently passed “Super Speeders” law, calling it “nothing more than another tax (some legislators call it a fee) on our citizens and it mainly effects the working poor and lower middle class in this state.”
The law levies $200 fines on motorists caught going 75 mph on two-lane roads. Motorists flying down four lane roads would need to reach 85 mph before the increased fines kick in. The revenue generated by fines would help fund Georgia’s trauma centers, often the destination for those seriously injured in traffic crashes.
Stephens presents a hypothetical scenario in which “a single mother who is already having a hard time financially is running late for work and to drop off the kids at day care” when, “she finds herself behind a slower moving construction vehicle and increases her speed to pass it.” The result? “Officers stop her for speeding at 76 mph in a 55 mph zone.”
The the sheriff reminds us that, “In rural Georgia, there is no such thing as public transportation.” And that’s a big problem. But how does that make unsafe driving OK? Consider this information from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration:
Speeding is one of the most common contributing factors of traffic crashes. Data extracted from the Fatality Analysis Reporting System show that the driver-level attribute “driving too fast for conditions or in excess of posted speed limit” is the critical contributing factor in more than 99 percent of all speeding-related fatal crashes, as defined by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
I appreciate Stephens’ concern for the financial burden on Emanuel County citizens, but then there’s the suggestion that “car crashes cost U.S. motorists $164.2 billion a year, or about $1,051 per person.” This figure prompted one person to suggest that, “It’s time for motor vehicle crashes to be viewed as the public health threat they are.” Who said that? Some safety weenie or egghead who doesn’t understand the needs of rural drivers? Nope, the above quote comes from none other than Robert L. Darbelnet, president and chief executive of the American Automobile Association.
Driving too fast for conditions is one thing, but driving faster than a arbitrarily (and oftentimes politically) selected number on a sign, i.e. speeding, does not equal driving unsafely. How could it? All the police have to do to increase or decrease speeding is to adjust the number on the sign. So don’t tell me that driving faster then the posted speed limit is automatically unsafe.
Duh. It doesn’t target the poor. It targets lawbreakers. Don’t want to pay the fine? Don’t break the law. It’s a no-brainer.
Now fire the loon and hire a sheriff who has some respect for the law. I wonder what other laws he doesn’t think deserve being enforced.
Here here! It’s nice to hear someone standing up against the nanny state!
Chris:
Posted speed limits take into account a variety of factors such as the size of the road, the limits of visibility, and what’s on the road (residences, schools, high-traffic businesses). To the extent that speed limits are ‘politically selected,’ they’re often related to the expressed will of people to be able to cross the street in peace.
Put another way, the number on the sign doesn’t make driving faster unsafe, but the number on the sign represents the best estimate of what the maximum safe speed is.