It’s a sunny fall day and you’re driving to Portland. With a straight stretch of road ahead, you press the gas pedal. Your speed climbs quickly to 85 mph.
Perhaps you worry that the blue and red lights of an Oregon State Police trooper will flash behind you.
Chances are, they won’t. Budget cuts between 2000 and 2004 have reduced the number of troopers by 36 percent, according to statistics reported Wednesday in The Register-Guard.
Meanwhile, speeding citations have dropped 29 percent, driving complaints have increased 70 percent and crash complaints have increased 32 percent.
Speeding may not sound like a serious offense. Yet it’s a factor in about one-third of motor vehicle fatalities, according to 2003 information from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
By contrast, alcohol was the sole cause of 25 percent of traffic fatalities in Oregon in 2003, according to The Associated Press.
The risks of speeding are even greater for people in their first few years of college. About 33 percent of males and about 19 percent of females ages 21 to 24 involved in fatal crashes were speeding, according to the NHTSA.
Drivers are also speeding faster than before. More than half of speeding tickets issued by troopers in 2004 were to people traveling faster than 80 mph, according to The Register-Guard article. Oregon citations for speeding at 90 mph and faster have increased 4 percent during the past five years, according to The Associated Press.
The solution to increased speeding is two-fold. Foremost, drivers must understand the risks of speeding and slow down.
Oregon’s Legislature must also find ways to prioritize funding for public safety, specifically putting more troopers back on the roads.
Using gas-tax revenue or a surcharge on car insurance premiums, methods that lawmakers have considered in recent years, would be a slight cost relative to the benefits of safer highways.
Speeders should also shoulder the burden. State Sen. Floyd Prozanski, D-Eugene, managed to pass a bill that will give speeders up to a $1,000 fine and possible suspension of their licenses if they exceed 100 mph or have repeated offenses. These harsher penalties will help, but they aren’t strong enough. Drivers traveling 80 mph in a 65 mph zone deserve more than a $237 fine.
Let’s put the pedal to the metal when finding ways to reduce speeding, not when driving around our state.