Caution on speed limits.

Byline: The Register-Guard

Gov. Ted Kulongoski should have vetoed a bill that could result in higher speed limits on Oregon's interstate highways. But he signed the bill - and now that it's law, it is reassuring that the Oregon Department of Transportation and its governing commission are planning to take all the time needed before deciding on where speed limits will indeed be raised.

The 2003 Legislature approved a bill allowing the speed limit for automobiles to increase to 70 mph from its current 65 mph. The bill allows the limit for trucks to be raised to 65 mph from the current 55 mph. The change applies only to certain rural stretches of interstate freeways, to be designated by ODOT.

The push for higher speed limits came, as it has for several legislative sessions, from Rep. Randy Miller, R-West Linn, who argued that motorists regularly exceed the posted speed limits and, therefore, should be allowed to drive faster. He convinced his legislative colleagues and the governor that raising the speed limit would simply reflect the reality of the highways.

Miller's argument overlooks another reality, a tragic one: Study after study shows that the chance of being seriously injured or killed in a traffic accident doubles for every 10 mph above 50 mph. By anyone's math, raising the speed limit to 70 mph will cause more injuries and deaths on Oregon highways.

Enforcing the higher speed limits presents another problem. Since 1980, the number of state troopers in the highway patrol division has plummeted, to 329 from 665. In the past two years alone, 132 of patrol positions have been lost. Enforcement is so thin that people can already drive 70 mph or faster on the freeways with impunity. Higher speed limits would mean they'd be able to drive 75 or 80 mph without attracting a trooper's attention.

But under ODOT's welcome slow-down plan for implementing Miller's bill, advocates must first petition for faster speeds along rural interstates. ODOT will analyze the safety implications of raising speed limits on particular freeway sections. Law enforcement officials and traffic safety engineers will have much influence over the final decisions. Then, a soon-to-be-created Speed Zone Review Panel, comprised of law enforcement and local government officials, will review the petitions and make recommendations to the Oregon Transportation Commission, which has the final say.

A sensible approach would be to first consider petitions for increased speeds on flat, thinly populated freeway stretches in Eastern or Central Oregon. Raising the speed limit on Interstate 5 - either on the crowded Willamette Valley sections or on the mountainous Southern Oregon portions - should come later, or not at all. Traffic already moves faster than the speed limit on I-5, and raising the legal speed to 70 mph would encourage it to move faster still.

The agencies and experts involved must exercise great care and caution before raising the speed limit on any Oregon interstate.