[Decolliber]

U.S. Auto-Safety Regulators
Plan Crackdown on Speeding

By KAREN LUNDEGAARD
Staff Reporter of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
March 15, 2005; Page D6

CHARLOTTE, N.C. – The U.S.'s top auto-safety regulator said the government intends to crack down on speeding, by using high-visibility enforcement, targeting the worst speeders and expanding the use of technology such as camera systems that automatically send tickets to violators.

Until now, excessive speed hasn't been a priority for the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, which instead has focused its efforts on issues like combating drunken driving, increasing seat-belt use and decreasing the number of rollover fatalities.

But several studies since the government abolished the 55-mile-per-hour speed limit in 1995 have concluded that higher speed limits have led to increased fatalities. One study said fatalities jumped 38% when speed limits were raised to 75 miles per hour from 65 mph and climbed 35% when raised to 70 mph from 65 mph.

The federal government's decision to take aim at speeding comes as the auto industry is promoting high horsepower and 0-to-60 mph acceleration with a vigor that recalls the muscle-car era of the late 1960s. General Motors Corp., for example, is touting a new line of Cadillac cars that can accelerate from 0-to-60 mph in less than five seconds. DaimlerChrysler AG's Chrysler Group is racking up profit and market-share gains on its heavily promoted "Hemi" V-8 engines. Ford Motor Co. plans to unveil a pumped-up version of its Mustang sport coupe at next week's New York Auto Show.

NHTSA Administrator Jeffrey Runge outlined the new antispeeding strategies at a Lifesavers conference here for about 1,800 traffic-safety officials and advocates from around the country.

In an interview, Dr. Runge said his agency has been working for two years to develop a comprehensive strategy to help states combat speeding. His office teamed up with the Federal Highway Administration and the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration to identify all aspects of the issue, from where speeding fatalities are occurring to how speed limits are set.

"It's really not a state highway patrol interstate problem," Dr. Runge said. "The problem is on local roads." Indeed, the fatality rate on local roads is more than three times the rate on interstates.

Programs to curb speeding are a tougher sell because so many people do it, Dr. Runge said.

Often, high-visibility enforcement programs, such as NHTSA's Click It or Ticket seat-belt program, come with federal dollars to pay local law enforcement overtime and spend money on advertising. But Dr. Runge said there aren't any additional federal dollars now. "There is plenty of money [already] out there for this," he said, referring to federal dollars state highway safety offices receive for their top highway safety problems.

Some of the measures Dr. Runge mentioned could encounter resistance. Just four states and Washington, D.C., allow speed cameras, which can be used on interstates or local roads, although other states are experimenting with them. Jim Champagne, Lousiana's top highway safety official and current chair of the Governors Highway Safety Association, said highway safety offices will need to "start talking with their legislatures."

Mr. Champagne has focused his yearlong chairmanship on the speeding issue. The former highway patrol officer said the key is getting law-enforcement officers to write more tickets. "You have to change it one person at a time," he said.

NHTSA's antispeed rhetoric was welcomed by safety advocates, who have long complained about the auto industry's speed-oriented marketing. "It's about time" NHTSA addressed the speed issue, said Judie Stone, president of Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety, a Washington-based lobbying organization funded by the insurance industry.