SLOWING DOWN WILL SAVE LIVES ON RURAL ROADS

Congress' General Accounting Office recently cited all kinds of statistics to support its finding that two-lane roads in rural areas claim more lives per mile than urban expressways.

The bottom line of the study was that rural, two-lane roads maintained by local governments don't get enough federal funding.

A statistic to support that finding was that urban expressways got $80,900 in federal funds per lane mile in 1999, while rural, local roads received a mere $100 per mile.

Southeast Missouri and Southern Illinois residents won't find the GAO findings surprising since most of us spend a good deal of time on two-lane state and county roads, and we are well aware of the hazards that lurk.

While a windfall of federal money to make rural roads safer would be nice, the chances of that happening any time soon are slim.

Instead, the best way to send those fatality statistics downward in rural areas is for motorists to slow down since speed often is to blame for most fatal accidents on those roads.

Cape Girardeau County, for example, is already looking at possible ordinances to lower the speed limit on many county roads. These lower speed limits could help save lives.