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60 °F Forecast | Road Cams Tuesday, April 19, 2005 Today's News | Shop Our Valley | Tempo | Health | Community | Home Delivery | Contact Us SECTIONS Home Page Local News Sports Business Obituaries Life Opinion Tempo AP News Weather Classified Archives Site Map SPECIAL SECTIONS Since We Asked Outdoor Journal Menu Guide How To Guide Health Readers' Choice Real Estate Showcase Real Estate Guide Joy Magazine Homelife Magazine Wedding Guide Passport to the Rogue Valley SHOP OUR VALLEY AutoFinder HomeFinder JobFinder Classified Place an ad TOP JOBS EXTRA Ashland News NIE Personals Movie Times TV Times E The People Volunteer Moving here? eSouthernOregon CUSTOMER SERVICE FAQ's Advertise with us Home Delivery Employment Contact Us Media Kit Oregon Road Conditions & Cams Email Story to a Friend April 19, 2005 Witnesses oppose speed-limit boost The expert testimony may doom a state bill to increase speeds on rural interstates to 70 By DON JEPSEN for the Mail Tribune SALEM — The chairman of the House Transportation Committee said Monday a bill to bump the speed limit on rural interstate highways from 65 to 70 mph was probably dead for this session. "I’ll have to talk to my caucus members," said Rep. George Gilman, R-Medford. "But I don’t think this is going to come out because it is too broadly written." Witnesses ranging from a Tualatin orthopedist to an Oregon State Police officer to the chairman of the Governor’s Transportation Safety Committee testified against the bill. Their message: Speed kills. "Any increase in speed will result in an increase in crashes. More crashes mean more injuries and more deaths," said Lt. Gary G. Miller, assistant director of OSP’s patrol services division. Advertisement Dr. John R. Tongue, an orthopedist and member of the Oregon Department of Transportation’s Speed Zone Review Panel, said speeders kill more Oregonians than drunk drivers. "Forty percent of deaths caused by excessive speed are innocent people, disproportionally children, women and seniors," he said. Last year 500 Oregon residents died in highway crashes with 70 injuries per death, he noted. "Increasing the speed limit would result in an additional 40 deaths," Tongue predicted. In 2003 the Legislature approved a bill authorizing a maximum posted speed of 70 mph for cars and 65 mph for trucks on interstate highways. The law did not directly raise posted speeds, but directed ODOT to conduct a study to determine safe and maximum speed limits. After completing a "thorough study," according to Troy E. Costales, head of ODOT’s Transportation Safety Division, the Oregon Transportation Commission concluded raising the speed limit would result in an increased number of deaths and injuries. "No state has experienced fewer deaths after raising the speed limit," Costales said. "Oregon has stood out from the crowd and maintained a sense of responsibility and security for the roadways of the state." Other witnesses said a higher freeway speed would probably result in drivers exiting to secondary roads going too fast — a phenomenon known as "velocity." The bill would not change the 55 mph speed limit on the interstate within the city limits of Portland, Salem, Eugene or Medford, nor on an 11-mile stretch over the Siskiyou Summit. Rep. Chuck Burly, R-Bend, quizzed Costales on why the Transportation Commission couldn’t increase the speed limit on freeways east of the mountains where traffic is lighter. Costales responded that fewer state police patrols east of the mountains, highway design and the lack of trained medical personnel or hospitals capable of dealing with serious injuries were factors that also were considered in the commission’s decision not to raise the speed limit. Don Jepsen is a free-lance writer living in Salem. Mail Tribune Home | Local News | Sports | Business | Obituaries | Life | Opinion AP News | Archives | Site Map | Community | Classified Copyright © 1997-2005 Mail Tribune, Inc. All rights reserved. Privacy Policy | Terms & Conditions | Website Feedback Free Music Downloads Conference Calls - $50/Month Home Security Systems Trunks, Footlocker, Trunk, Footlockers home equity loans helzberg Distance Education Diamonds Online Poker Slippers Student Loans tcg student loan consolidation teleconferencing Memory Foam Mattress w2 forms Tatoo Tatoos Advertisement s