Those Who Fail To Learn From History

Are Forced to Re-Live It…


As I recall, it was President Jimmy Carter that oversaw the second “energy crisis” during his presidency in the late 1970’s.

I was just an idiot kid back then, driving my second car, a Chevy Camaro, and worrying about gas prices jumping from 60 cents a gallon to 93 cents a gallon.

We were all told that we had to do our civic duty by conserving energy…buying crappy cheep shit cars like Datsuns and Toyotas and turning our home thermostats up to 78 in the Summer and down to 68 in the winter.

Then Jimmy produced the famous national speed limit laws requiring states reduce the speed limits on their highways to 55 and 65 MPH in order to be eligible to receive federal funding.

Oh Boy…

Police departments, county and state coffers bulged at the seams with the revenue originating from the speeding tickets that resulted, but meanwhile oil prices and availability settled down and in 1995 the Fed’s decided to get out of the speed limit business…

So good, so far…

Unfortunately, today we seem to be having a bad case of relapse:

Washington, DC--- On December 8, 1995, the repeal of the National Maximum Speed Limit (NMSL) went into effect. The repeal ended the federal requirement that states keep speed limits at a maximum of 65 miles per hour (mph) in rural areas and 55 mph in urban areas. A recent survey of Governors Highway Safety Association (GHSA) members indicated that 40 GHSA jurisdictions had increased their speed limits since the repeal. Of particular concern is information from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) indicating 31 states have increased their speed limits to 70 mph or higher on some portion of their roadways.

While national statistics indicate fatalities have remained level since the NMSL repeal, this is hardly cause for celebration. According to GHSA Chair Lt. Colonel Jim Champagne, "The nation should have experienced a significant decline in total fatalities and injuries given the tremendous increase in safety belt use coupled with the increasingly safe design of vehicles. However, it appears these benefits have been offset both by increasing speed limits and the public exceeding these increased posted limits." He says, "Drunk driving, failure to wear safety belts and speeding-these are the big three killers on our roadways. These three issues deserve priority of attention if we are going to make significant progress in reducing deaths."

I used to drive around with a radar detector in both of my cars.

I was an idiot.

I used to operate my vehicle like I was a fighter pilot in a combat zone.

I was an idiot.

Today I own a ten year old Chevy Suburban with a 454 cubic inch engine that gets 10 MPG.

I might just die driving that Subruban because I love it, and I bought it out of necessity in 1995 to support my construction business rather than as a fashion choice to drive to the mall and to church.

My selection of a vehicle and gas mileage is my choice as an individual citizen, but my behavior on the public roads and highways is a matter of law. If it cost me $2 to go 2 miles, so be it, but I would appreciate a little help in other areas of motor vehicle operation.

Today I see people routinely run roughshod over basic driving laws like using turn signals, running stop signs/signals, and generally ignoring the “rules of the road,” but all the Governors’ Highway Safety Association (GHSA) can worry about is lowering the speed limits to those of the Carter legacy.

Where is the GHSA's stand on stupid, arrogant, discourteous drivers?

Instead of limiting my driving rights, what about going out and kicking the stupid asses of the stupid assed idiots I see driving around me?

Personally, I want to replace my headlights with 50 caliber machine guns, and possibly a grenade launcher.

That aught to solve the problem with discourteous drivers, at least locally…