By CHRIS GREEN

Harris News Service

TOPEKA -- The maximum speed limit on highways in Kansas would be dropped from 70 to 65 mph under a proposal set to receive further consideration from a state energy panel.

The Kansas Energy Council gave a preliminary nod Wednesday to reducing the state's speed limit as a way of encouraging more energy-efficient driving and reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

The decrease, which would require a change in state law, appears to be a long way from becoming reality. But supporters said they wanted to continue to debate the proposal.

"I guess I'm going to vote for this just as a way of advancing the public discussion," said Lt. Gov. Mark Parkinson, the council's co-chairman. "Gas has never been $4 a gallon. We're in a different environment."

However, state Sen. Janis Lee, D-Kensington, said the change stood no chance of making it through the Kansas Legislature.

"There's no way, shape or form this is going pass," said Lee, a member of the panel.

Speed limit one of many plans

Lowering the maximum speed limit was just one of several proposals brought before the panel as a way of helping Kansas curb man-made greenhouse gas emissions, which have been tied by scientists to global warming.

The 35-member council, created by Gov. Kathleen Sebelius in 2004 to study state energy policy, plans to take comments on its proposals from Sept. 8 through Oct. 10.

Co-chairman Ken Frahm said the group also plans at least two meetings where the public will be able to speak before the council finalizes its recommendations later this year.

Another recommendation endorsed by the panel would increase the fines for speeding by 50 percent. The council also is discussing reducing the so-called "10-mile exemption" on highways to 5 mph.

Under the present exemption, drivers can be ticketed for driving less than 10 mph over the speed limit, but such infractions wouldn't be counted as moving violations on their driving records.

Reducing the exemption would mean that drivers ticketed for driving more than 5 mph above the speed limit would face moving violations that could increase their auto insurance rates.

Panel members said that getting drivers to slow down even a little bit would make a difference in fuel efficiency and the amount of greenhouse gases being generated.

Reducing heat-trapping gases

Reducing driving speed from 70 mph to 65 mph is expected to increase fuel economy by 7 to 23 percent while also reducing carbon dioxide emissions and other heat-trapping gases, according to the council.

Secretary of Transportation Deb Miller said the average speed on Kansas highways posted with 70 mph limits is 78 mph. The average speed on rural roads posted with 65 mph limits is 75 mph, she said.

Most of the highways that would be affected by the 5 mph change would be interstate highways and heavily traveled federal or state highways, she said.

A better mousetrap

Michael J. Volker, an energy economist for Midwest Energy in Hays, said people living in the western part of the state would be disproportionately hurt by a decrease in the speed limit.

He said he'd prefer to see the council push for changes that would result in more fuel-efficient vehicles being out on the roads, such as requiring automakers to sell more gas-conserving models.

"We'd much rather see us build a better mousetrap rather than lower our standard of living by making us spend more time on the road."

We could do it now

However, Bruce Snead of Manhattan, who led the council committee studying ways to reduce greenhouse gases, said those changes would take time.

"It's something that can happen now," Snead said of the speed-limit reduction.

Wednesday's discussion came at the same time that Kansas drivers appear to be scaling back their driving in response to higher gasoline prices.

Travel on Kansas roads dropped by 6.7 percent in June compared to the amount of miles driven in that same month a year ago, the Federal Highway Administration announced Wednesday.

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Darryl from Wichita says....
This is a classic example of the few wanting to control the many. Nationwide, the State of Kansas is already viewed as being backwards and 25 years behind the times. If by some slim chance these hacks get their way and have the speed limit lowered, that will only serve to drive the point home as we will be the only state in the West outside of Oregon to be that slow; and we don't have nearly the scenic beauty they do for motorists to enjoy while tolerating such an unreasonably low speed limit! Seems they forget that Interstate 35 is the original NAFTA Highway and Interstate 70 is a major transcontinental corridor. They also need to be aware that both of them play a major role in interstate commerce and tourism. Lower the speed limit on these very important superhighways and you can be assured that the commerce and tourism aspect will be lowered just as well. Remember a few years ago the state legislators were considering raising the speed limit to 75 mph on these highways because the current 70 mph limit was deemed too low and that was one of the reasons a great deal of out of state traffic diverting to Nebraska (hence less tourists dollars spent in our state) because of that state’s 75 mph limit on Interstate 80? You think that we're losing tourism revenue now, just let this terrible idea become a reality! Fellow citizens, it's time all of us to move beyond this "we have to do something to make it look good" mentality every time the Hysteria of the Month Club conjures up another doom and gloom prediction that always turns out to be a completely false and unsubstantiated sham.
8/16/2008

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