SOUNDING OFF: Time to reinstate 55 mph speed limit

An alarming and increasingly more prevalent public attitude has become “laws are not meant for me to obey.� There must be a major change in attitudes and habits of the American public toward obeying our laws, and it has to begin in the home.

Examine only one small aspect of our daily life involving driving attitudes. Drive the freeways and see how few drivers obey speed laws. Set your cruise control at 70 mph (in a 65 mph speed zone?), and you will get run over. Obviously the motoring public does not consider that exceeding the speed limit as “breaking the law,� and certainly doesn’t consider matters of public safety or fuel conservation.

Drivers complain about the high cost of gasoline. “Regular� is approaching $4 a gallon, and soon could exceed this figure. The Department of Energy (fueleconomy.gov) reports most vehicles achieve maximum fuel efficiency at driving speeds between 45 to 60 mph. Department research indicates that every 5 mph more than 60 mph a motorist travels is like his/her paying an added 20 cents per gallon of gas. That by itself should be some incentive to slow down. Something has to be done to change the motoring public’s habits and attitudes to recognize the need to slow down and “conserve� — fuel, lives and money. It is time to reinstate a mandated 55 mph maximum speed limit (such as we had during the 1970s era of gas shortages) with a resultant gas conservation and reduction in accident severity (life saving). This time violation penalties must be so high that drivers just might pay attention to speed laws.

There is a very serious need for a change of public attitudes toward our existing laws and habits, and not just in the area of driving either. We are a nation of laws. Without them there is anarchy. Laws are made for everybody to obey.

DON KNAPP lives in Laguna Beach.