Raising The Speed

Armed with evidence that traffic fatalities dropped on Maryland's 65-mph roads in the past year, Gov. Parris N. Glendening yesterday gave the green light to raising speed limits to 60 mph and 65 mph on eight state highways.The new limits, most of which will take effect in the next two weeks as workers erect roadside signs, will cover 85 miles, including stretches along some of the busiest thoroughfares in the state.They include Interstate 95 between Washington and Baltimore (60 mph), U.S. 50 from Martin Luther King Jr. Highway to Interstate 97 (60 mph)

Drivers may get the chance to legally travel 65 mph on a Maryland highway for the first time in two decades, but it could come at the expense of their radar detectors.The General Assembly launched debate yesterday on whether to raise the speed limit to 65 mph on parts of some rural highways, and indications are that some version of the measure is likely to become law.In years past, bills to increase the speed limit faced one major roadblock: William Donald Schaefer. As governor, he vetoed a 65-mph- bill in 1991, and his veto threats stalled similar legislation each year since.

With its citizens' lives at stake, Maryland officials should commission a study to examine the potential effects of raising speed limits on interstate highways in rural areas to 65 mph.If the governor does not veto the bill passed by the 1991 General Assembly, the speed limit on about 160 miles of Maryland's 312 miles of federal interstate rural highways would be increased to 65 mph.As enacted, the measure provides for the State Highway Administration to...

Will more people die on the highways if the speed limit is raised to 65 mph on rural interstates in Maryland?One group, led by the Government Employees Insurance Co. (GEICO), contends that the price of raising the speed limit above 55 mph would be more deaths and injuries. Opponents of the higher speed limit point to a bundle of reports that document a significant increase in highway deaths in many states that have a 65 mph speed limit.However, those who favor the higher speed limit say it would not lead to highway carnage.

JOHN HANSON Highway between Annapolis and the Prince George's County line is also known as U.S. 50 and 301.Here's another name: Interstate 595.The highway that runs east and west, to and from Washington -- better known as the way to reach the beach -- has been designated an interstate, State Highway Administration spokeswoman Valerie Burnette Edgar said.Don't look for any signs bearing the I-595 logo."That would be too confusing to drivers," Edgar said. "They've written books about Route 50, drivers know it as Route 50 -- and we've decided to keep the signs up that say Route 50 only."

Fatalities nearly doubled on 65-mph highways in Maryland during the second year of the higher speeds, but state officials are proceeding with a plan to raise the speed limit on Interstate 95 between the Washington and Baltimore beltways.Thirty-four people died on roads with 65 mph limits in the 12-month period ending July 1997. There were 18 deaths during the same period a year earlier, the first year that Maryland had speed limits above 55 mph.Safety advocates say Maryland is making a mistake by raising the speed limit from 55 mph to 65 mph on the stretch of I-95 -- one of the state's most congested highways -- beginning Monday afternoon.

The casual driver on Interstate 95 between Baltimore and Washington probably didn't notice yesterday afternoon when Maryland officially bumped the speed limit on that stretch of highway from 55 mph to 65 mph.That's because most drivers, oblivious as ever to the posted speed, continued to motor along at the same rates they always have -- many at more than 60 mph and some at more than 70 mph."What speed limit? Seventy-five [mph] is what everyone is doing," John Starkey of Wheelersburg, Ohio, said as he took a break at the southbound I-95 rest stop in Savage.

55 mph: Vestige of the Gas CrisisIn response to your Dec. 27 editorial concerning the proposed raising of the speed limit on interstate highways to 65 mph, there are some facts which you failed to notice and consider in your opposition.The speed limit . . . does not have to be raised to 65 mph. It only needs to be made legal since the traveling public exceeds the current 55 mph anyway. . . .Keeping the limit at that level only serves to make our otherwise law-abiding traveling public chronic lawbreakers, subject to harassment and fines.

If traffic on Interstate 95 in Maryland seems slower than usual Sunday afternoon, you can thank a group that wants you to go faster.A local leader of the National Motorists Association says 20 to 25 members will be doing something they loathe -- driving at the speed limit -- in an effort to fuel public support for higher speed limits on interstate highways.The group's Maryland chapter will form a rolling roadblock as members drive 55 mph in most or all of the interstate's northbound lanes, coordinator Charles Terlizzi said.

ANNAPOLIS -- It's the sort of power play that occurs sometimes near the end of the General Assembly session, but few could recall so blatant an example of legislative "hostage-taking" as occurred over Senate Bill 812.In an extraordinary show of political muscle, the chairman of a Senate committee managed to change the mind of the House of Delegates last week on his bill taking away some money for legal services for the poor, according to legislators and...