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Slow down on the roads

2 min read

The Observer-Reporter’s Aug. 21 editorial on the National Safety Council’s finding that highway fatalities are projected to rise 25 percent this year noted that two main reasons are speeding, which we can take measures to control, and distracted driving, which is a lot more difficult to control.

One need only drive on I-79 to Erie to view drivers traveling at speeds that are, quite frankly, excessive. As anyone who drives on I-79 from Washington to Pittsburgh through the Kirwan Heights and Carnegie interchanges knows, that three-lane stretch of road is a racetrack. The speed limit is 55 mph, but few drivers adhere to it, with some pushing 80 mph and beyond, with no following distance or space cushion. The speed limit in the work zone at I-70 between the north and south interchanges of I-79, which is posted at 45 mph, is not followed. Speed limits, generally, are not enforced.

Speeding is one activity that can be controlled. EZ Pass uses cameras. Why not use cameras to nab speeders at undisclosed, rotating locations? It seems to work in other states. And lowering speed limits would save lives and gasoline.

Education can help where distracted driving is concerned, but some sort of action is needed, as the cellphone will not go away, and new, distracting features will be added to them.

If fatalities are increasing by 25 percent, as the National Safety Council reports, then certainly this should gain the attention of everyone.

Jim Hassett

Jefferson

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