Letters to the editor: Raising speed limit makes safe sense
7:51 PM, Oct. 10, 2013  |  Comments  I fully support (State)
Rep. Paul Tittl's proposal to raise our speed limits. I don't
understand why there is so much contention surrounding it. When
I was a kid, the federal government imposed a 55 mph speed limit
nationwide. It made sense when cars were inefficient and had no
ABS, air bags, or stability control. When control of speed
limits was turned back over to the states in the 1990s, I don't
recall the level of concern about Wisconsin bumping the freeway
speed limit to 65 as there is now.  Critics say if we raise
freeway limits to 70, people will speed and just go 80. I
believe this "prediction" isn't backed up with empirical
evidence. Earlier this year I visited Oklahoma and Texas on a
road trip across the U.S. I got my first culture shock in
Oklahoma when I was on a two lane road with a 65 mph speed
limit. It wasn't flat or straight, it had just as many twists
and hills as any county road in Wisconsin. I