Editor:
About 25 years ago while we were living in southern Arizona, we were free to travel the Interstates any speed that we were comfortable with. My cars were comfortable at about 60 MPH. There was a wide range of speeds, though, between different vehicles, which is not the safest situation. My daughter had a car that could make it the 180 miles to Phoenix in less than 2 hours, which was still reasonably safe on the long, wide straight roads across the desert. Then, because of a perceived gas shortage, they put the 55 MPH limit on the Interstates, really jamming up traffic. It was later raised to 65. Most drivers respected the new limits, but not all. The Arizona Highway Patrol got some really hot cars, and actually patrolled the highways. On any trip, about every ten miles, you would notice a stopped car, getting a ticket. More often than not it was little red car.
After we moved to Georgia about 12 years ago, I tried to stay within 5 MPH over the speed limit, the same as I had for over 50 years, especially on the narrow, winding Georgia roads. I about got run over! There was always a car behind, sliding back and forth across my bumper impatient to get around me in the first small break in oncoming traffic. It seemed that everyone was passing me. When I set my cruse to 8 or 9 MPH over the limit instead of 5 over, I didn’t feel like such a road-block, but still almost everyone passes me.
What was most noticeable in Georgia was that I could travel many hours and never see a patrol car. The chances of getting caught speeding are almost zero, and people drive like it. The only time I know about when speeding tickets are written is when they set up a speed trap. These are done in areas where the normal traffic flow is well over the limit, and they pick about 1 out of every 200 cars to stop and ticket. The highwaymen are polite and kind, and only choose the cars to stop that they think may be able to afford the fines, and don’t bother the rest of the speeders. Obviously, their job is to raise fine money, not control speeding.
Now I read in the paper where the governor is proposing raising the speeding fines. You might think that he is trying to reduce speeding, but the actual result will be that they will have to catch and ticket fewer speeders to raise the same amount of fine money. You can see where the real priority is. Personally, I would like to see the Georgia Patrol actually out patrolling. They could catch hundreds of speeders per day. They would collect a lot more fine money (to make the politicians happy) and speeders might even slow down a little.
Jamie F. Appleton
Sylvania
About 25 years ago while we were living in southern Arizona, we were free to travel the Interstates any speed that we were comfortable with. My cars were comfortable at about 60 MPH. There was a wide range of speeds, though, between different vehicles, which is not the safest situation. My daughter had a car that could make it the 180 miles to Phoenix in less than 2 hours, which was still reasonably safe on the long, wide straight roads across the desert. Then, because of a perceived gas shortage, they put the 55 MPH limit on the Interstates, really jamming up traffic. It was later raised to 65. Most drivers respected the new limits, but not all. The Arizona Highway Patrol got some really hot cars, and actually patrolled the highways. On any trip, about every ten miles, you would notice a stopped car, getting a ticket. More often than not it was little red car.
After we moved to Georgia about 12 years ago, I tried to stay within 5 MPH over the speed limit, the same as I had for over 50 years, especially on the narrow, winding Georgia roads. I about got run over! There was always a car behind, sliding back and forth across my bumper impatient to get around me in the first small break in oncoming traffic. It seemed that everyone was passing me. When I set my cruse to 8 or 9 MPH over the limit instead of 5 over, I didn’t feel like such a road-block, but still almost everyone passes me.
What was most noticeable in Georgia was that I could travel many hours and never see a patrol car. The chances of getting caught speeding are almost zero, and people drive like it. The only time I know about when speeding tickets are written is when they set up a speed trap. These are done in areas where the normal traffic flow is well over the limit, and they pick about 1 out of every 200 cars to stop and ticket. The highwaymen are polite and kind, and only choose the cars to stop that they think may be able to afford the fines, and don’t bother the rest of the speeders. Obviously, their job is to raise fine money, not control speeding.
Now I read in the paper where the governor is proposing raising the speeding fines. You might think that he is trying to reduce speeding, but the actual result will be that they will have to catch and ticket fewer speeders to raise the same amount of fine money. You can see where the real priority is. Personally, I would like to see the Georgia Patrol actually out patrolling. They could catch hundreds of speeders per day. They would collect a lot more fine money (to make the politicians happy) and speeders might even slow down a little.
Jamie F. Appleton
Sylvania