Low speed limits lack sensibility

It was a hot weekday morning about a year and a half ago that a group of Georgia State students piled into five cars and decided to do the unthinkable (and very stupid): they went the speed limit, 55 miles per hour, in formation down I-285 and caused a massive roadblock.

The immediate result was many a traffic violation committed by recalcitrant detainees of the expansive vehicular parade. The secondary result was a superficial but lasting impression that underscores the ridiculousness of the highway's speed law, simmered and stewed by the trickle of media that found this a good story way back when.

Now I'm sure most Tech students have already heard about this. It's not new, and the incident also happened to make for a so-so entry in the 2006 Campus MovieFest, which means it's also had a fairly sizeable public relations run, all newsprint aside.

Why it's being brought up here and now is neither in admiration of the messy affair nor with the intention of repeating it. Rather, this little instance of traffic satire comes to mind whenever I'm driving on the interstate and pass by one of those white speed limit signs ablaze in the noonday sunlight with the double five emblazoned into them. It is a constant reminder of absurdity.

So, I have had a nightmarish two weeks of traffic and parking violations, which reminded me of all the fancifully nutty little scenarios that driving (and parking) can spawn. That video just happened to perfectly epitomize one aspect of my chagrin regarding certain malfunctions on the part of the political, as well as the transportation, systems.

Firstly, 55 is not an adequate speed limit for any of our interstate highways. If going the speed limit will pose a safety hazard without exception, the limit ought to be rethought and modified to conform to actual driving standards.

But wouldn't a higher speed limit cause more traffic accidents?

No, because driving slower does not necessarily mean driving more safely; likewise, driving down the interstate under license of a higher speed limit does not mandate actually driving faster than normal. Since (as of last Tuesday) I am already a guilty speeder, just like all of you out there who go faster than 55, a revision would simply make it okay for drivers to go with the flow, thus promoting safety and cohesion, right?

The 55 miles per hour speed limit zones were implemented in the '70s under the direction of then President Richard Nixon, who decided making it a federal law might be a good way to curb oil consumption-remember, this was during the oil crisis. Well, next thing you know, this dinosaur piece of legislation rears its balky head, and smack-fast-forward to the 21st century.

While the federal law that mandated the low limits was repealed in 1995, we in the Atlanta area are still plagued with bogus regulations that allow police officers their choice of the lot. In most other states, the situation has already been remedied.

According to Stephen Moore, director of fiscal policy studies at the Cato Institute, "All of the evidence thus far indicates that Americans have not responded to higher speed limits by converting the highways into stretches of the Indianapolis 500."

So why aren't we getting ready to raise those double digits by just a tad? The most popular conjecture regarding this question is that the lag can be attributed quite simply to a case of money. A lot of money is made from the issuing of traffic citations, and when everyone is speeding, the job isn't too prickly.

Once, when an innocent driver going only a few miles over the limit was pulled over in lieu of another more extreme transgressor, a police officer related a catchy little anecdote that had to do with fishing.

"When you go fishing, do you try to catch every fish in the lake, or do you just take what you can get?" Harsh, but so true.

Now, I am quite glad to have our highway and state patrols, mind you, not to mention our campus police. They usually do not pull people over or issue citations on frivolous bases, and I mostly trust their judgment in keeping law and order.

On the occasion, however, that a student feels unjustly condemned, it is a hassle to pay a fine that is equivalent to a week's worth of student income, watch as insurance rates rise and pencil a court date into an already hectic schedule. I am also not a proponent of hiking up speed limits in residential areas, for reasons that are more or less obvious. Highways, however, were meant to be fast and free, and to get a speeding ticket for traveling with the pack as opposed to the lowest common denominator is just looking for trouble where there isn't any.