Oklahomans trust ``cushion'' when speeding

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) A new national survey indicates Oklahoma motorists think law enforcement officers allow a 10 mph ``cushion'' over the speed limit before issuing speeding citations. <br/><br/>The

Wednesday, June 15th 2005, 6:07 am

By: News On 6

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) A new national survey indicates Oklahoma motorists think law enforcement officers allow a 10 mph ``cushion'' over the speed limit before issuing speeding citations.

The Governors Highway Safety Association survey, released Monday, suggests speeding is a national problem because law enforcement officials in 42 states allow motorists between a 5 and 10 mile per hour cushion.

Oklahoma Highway Patrol spokesman Brandon Kopepasah takes exception to the survey's conclusions.

``No such thing,'' Kopepasah said Tuesday. ``You can get stopped for going one mile an hour over the speed limit and still get cited. We don't have a quota giving motorists a cushion.

``If states are doing that, well, that's a shame. Speeding is still our No. 1 cause of fatalities.''

In 2004, 33.2 percent of the state's vehicle fatalities were speed related, according to the Oklahoma Highway Safety Office. A year earlier 26.3 percent of the state's fatalities were attributed to speed.

``Speed kills, and I don't know how much more blunt a person can be,'' said Joe McDonald, director of the Oklahoma Highway Safety Office, an agency that works with law enforcement, local government, state agencies and others on programs to address highway safety issues.

``My personal opinion is that all law enforcement needs to do is enforce the law, and enforce the speed limits.''

Congress repealed the National Maximum Speed Limit in December 1995. The law required states to keep speed limits at 55 mph hour in urban areas and 65 mph in rural areas. Oklahomans witnessed 69 more speed-related fatalities on state highways the following year, and according to McDonald, the state has tried to combat speeding ever since.

Oklahoma committed 40 percent of federal highway safety dollars to reducing speed this year, the survey stated.

Governors Highway Safety Association chair Jim Champagne thinks states are failing.

``As a country, if we are going to reduce the carnage on our roadways, speeding must be given the same level of attention that has been given to occupant protection and impaired driving,'' Champagne said.

Eric Skrum, National Motorists Association communication director, calls Champagne's comments and his organization's survey ``a disservice to the public.''

``First of all, we don't have carnage on our roadways,'' Skrum said. ``Our roadways have never been safer. If there is this 10 mph cushion, as the survey says, then that really suggests that the speed limits are not where they are supposed to be. They are too low.''