MEDICAL GROUP OPPOSES HIGHER SPEEDS

In a rare move, the Cape Girardeau County Medical Society Monday came out against any attempt to raise Missouri's speed limit.

Dr. Walter Schroeder Jr., president of the group, said Monday night's action was the first time the medical society has passed a resolution regarding a contentious public issue.

Raising the speed limit will increase the number of accidents and the number of fatalities on Missouri's highways, Schroeder said.

"This resolution says we should keep the current speed limits as a degree of safety," he said.

The local medical society will send its resolution later this month to the Missouri State Medical Society, a group that lobbies state legislators.

Schroeder said the state medical society will decide whether to take further action and lobby lawmakers.

"We might not be able to keep the current speed limits," he said. "but we wanted to make people think."

Since the federal government dropped the national speed limit last year, states are free to set their own limits. Proposals to raise Missouri's speed limits are pending in the state legislature.