OSHP among those against higher speed limit

COLUMBUS (AP) — Despite warnings from safety advocates, a group of lawmakers wants Ohio to join 32 other states that have raised speed limits to 70 mph or higher on certain roads.

The move comes as gasoline prices remain about $2.30 per gallon, much lower than a year ago, and as a new state law will allow semitrailer drivers to go 65 mph on Ohio’s interstate system instead of 55 mph beginning July 1.

Ohio needs to catch up with other states that allow passenger cars to go 70 mph, said state Rep. Dan Dodd, a Democrat from Hebron and a sponsor of the legislation. A House transportation committee was scheduled to hold a hearing on the bill today.

The plan already faces opposition from the State Highway Patrol, which helps police the nation’s fourth-largest interstate system. Ohio also has the seventh-largest highway network in the United States, according to the state Department of Transportation.

“Year after year, the number one contributing factor in fatal crashes continues to be people driving too fast for conditions or excessive speed,” patrol spokesman Lt. Shawn Davis said. “This bill would allow them to go even faster.”

Ever since Congress repealed a national speed limit law in 1995, the trend has been for states to keep pushing speed limits higher, said Russ Rader, a spokesman for the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety. Texas and Utah have an 80-mph limit on some roads.

Last year, when gas prices soared toward $4 a gallon nationally, lawmakers in some states, including Connecticut, proposed ratcheting down speed limits to help reduce fuel consumption. But those efforts didn’t gain traction.

Rader said studies have shown that many people drive 5 to 10 mph above the posted speed limit — a threshold they think will allow them to avoid getting a traffic ticket. So when states raise the top speed to 70, they actually increase the speeds people travel to 75 or 80 mph, he said.

“And the fact is you can’t have police officers everywhere at all times,” Rader said.

Of states that surround Ohio, only Pennsylvania has kept its speed limit at 65. Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, and West Virginia all raised their limits to 70 on certain roads.

The Ohio bill allows the state Transportation Department to determine which roads would make the jump to 70 mph, although the intent is to raise speed limits mostly in rural areas where traffic isn’t as heavy, said state Rep. Timothy DeGeeter, a Parma Democrat who is the bill’s other main sponsor.

DeGeeter said he doesn’t believe a 70-mph speed limit would pose a significant safety risk because cars are safer and other states have made the increase.

Republicans who control the Senate have yet to review the bill but will give it fair consideration should it pass the House, said Maggie Ostrowski, a spokeswoman for Senate President Bill Harris.

Rick Oxender, a lobbyist for the Ohio Conference of AAA Clubs, said the group has not taken a position on the bill but urges lawmakers to make a decision based on engineering and traffic studies.