Letter to the editor: Addressing speed on highways

Whenever there is a crash and/or traffic fatalities, the blame is always put on anything and everything other than “driving too fast for conditions” or increased speed limits. People will blame the weather, the road or a mistake a driver made, but speed is one sacred demon you don’t dare touch, even though crashes and fatalities went up immediately and significantly on highways when speed limits were increased.

The bean counters cleverly dump these ugly numbers into the “total/statewide statistics” (which declined some) to dupe the public into thinking speed doesn’t matter. Our lawmakers keep increasing speed limits (to appease big business/big money/big trucking) so they can say “speed wasn’t a factor” in crashes. They’d like to get rid of speed limits completely so they can say “speed wasn’t a factor” in any crashes.

Lawmakers cater to big money/big businesses, places where their election money comes from. That money doesn’t come from the people/places who want crash prevention.

Technology could stop speeding, driving too fast for conditions, and texting and phone use while driving. But big money/big business and our lawmakers won’t allow it. They call it an intrusion on our freedoms.

Go online and search “intelligent speed adaptation.” This would be a far better system than cameras or any kind of speed enforcement. The heavy-foot zealots would blow a fuse if it were introduced. Their time, profits and schedules are more important than the lives that get in their way.

Herman Lenz

Sumner, Iowa