news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20050613/ap_on_re_us/autos_speeding
AP Survey: Most States Allow Speed Cushion By KEN THOMAS, Associated Press Writer Mon Jun 13, 7:50 AM ET WASHINGTON - Authorities patrolling US highways tend to give motorists a cushion of up to 10 miles per hour above the speed limit before pullin g them over, says a survey by a group of state traffic safety officials.
This practice creates an unsafe comfort level at high speeds and is a pot ential safety hazard, according to the report being released Monday by t he Governors Highway Safety Association. The group found that 42 states allow drivers to regularly exceed the speed limit before they are stoppe d "This cushion truly exists across this country and in some cases is more than 10 mph above posted limits," said Jim Champagne, the association's chairman. "Law enforcement needs to be given the political will to enforce speed li mits and the public must get the message that speeding will not be toler ated," said Champagne, who also is executive director of the Louisiana H ighway Safety Commission. Since 1994, 38 states have increased their speed limit, the report said. Congress in 1995 allowed states to raise limits above 55 mph in urban ar eas and 65 mph on rural roads.
Institute for Highway Safety estimated an increase in deaths on interstates and freeways of about 15 p ercent in the 24 states that had raised their speed limit in late 1995 a nd 1996. The survey's release comes ahead of the association's forum this week on ways to address speeding. The goal is to make recommendations for states to consider. "As a country, if we are going to reduce the carnage on our roadways, spe eding must be given the same level of attention that has been given to o ccupant protection and impaired driving," Champagne said. States reported that highway patrol officers and other authorities said e nforcing traffic laws has become difficult because of uncertainty in hig hway safety budgets, the focus on homeland security and a shortage of of ficers due to retirements. Nineteen states lack a statewide database to log speed-related citation d ata, the survey found. That makes it hard for policy-makers to reach con clusions about the effectiveness of their enforcement efforts. The survey said 10 states have some kind of aggressive driving law: Arizo na, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Maryland, Nevada, North Carolina, Rhode Island, Utah and Virginia.
The informati on contained in the AP News report may not be published, broadcast, rewr itten or redistributed without the prior written authority of The Associ ated Press.
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