PATROL WOULD ENFORCE NEW SPEED LIMIT

While a legislative committee sets the final guidelines for the state's speed limits, the Missouri Highway Patrol plans to strictly enforce the increased speed limit with little excessiveness allowed.

Sgt. Brent Davis of the patrol's Troop E said more people will be involved in accidents and die as a result of raising the speed limit. "You hate to see a value put on life but people feel the increased speed is worth it," he said.

Davis said he didn't expect drastic increases in the number of accidents or fatalities but anytime speeds are increased the chances of being killed or involved in an accident increase.

"I'm not saying don't raise the speed limit," he said, "but if it is raised, drivers better adhere to it.

Davis said patrolmen didn't have a policy of allowing a few more miles per hour than the posted speed limit, but the public sometimes believed they could get by doing 3 or 4 mph over the limit. If the speed limit increases, Davis said motorists would quickly become aware that they can't set the cruise at 75 and avoid being stopped.

At 70 mph, a car travels at 100 feet per second. Davis said if a motorist glances away from the road, then looks back and realizes he has to stop, at least a football field's worth of distance would be covered before coming to a full stop by someone who reacts immediately.

"At 70 mph, we're going to increase the severity of accidents and have more fatality accidents," he said. "So my advice is adhere to that speed limit, because you surely don't need to go any faster than that."

A conference committee of five members from each of the legislative bodies, the Missouri House and Senate, will merge two bills passed on their respective floors before it is forwarded to the governor for his signature.

A measure passed recently by the House would set speeds on rural interstates at 70, four-lane highways at 65, urban interstates at 60, federal two-lane highways at 60 and state two-lane highways at 55.

The measure passed in the Senate differs only slightly with the speeds on interstates and all four-lane highways set at 70 and all two-lane highways set at 60.

If the conference committee doesn't reach a compromise bill by April 3, Missouri will revert to the speed limits in effect prior to the federal changes in 1974, or 70 mph on most federal highways.

Davis said even if the speed limits prior to 1974 were instituted, he didn't believe troopers would see the number of fatalities they saw then.

"Cars and roads are engineered better," he said, "And we have airbags and more people are using seat belts. The highway patrol also has more people in the road for enforcement."