Slower Isn’t the Answer

* Re “Slow Down and Arrive Alive,” June 18 editorial:

You say “Although the number of fatalities on freeways has not gone up despite higher speeds, clearly there is a need to keep an eye on the speedometer and a lighter foot on the gas pedal. Drive fast enough, and air bags, seat belts and 5,000-pound vehicles won’t prevent deaths.”

What a remarkable statement. Just how fast would that be? Absolute zero would be pretty safe but certainly a little impractical. The last statistics I read stated that 65% of automobile fatalities were at under 45 mph on [surface] street corners. The freeways, with their high speeds, are the absolute safest place to drive.

The quality of any road is based on the number of vehicles it will carry over a given distance over a given time. If the road is crowded there are two ways of solving or helping the problem. One is to build more lanes at a cost of billions. The other is to allow people to go faster. The highway patrol will be the first to tell you that speed does not kill. What kills is people driving at different speeds, cutting in and out, that sort of thing.

What’s sad about this whole thing is we never learn. We cut the speed limit to 55 mph to save tires and to conserve fuel. The fuel shortage was manufactured and death rate, if anything, increased. Yet we still have people telling us to slow down.

JOHN WAUGEN, Anaheim