When people identify me as a cycling advocate the conversation usually turns to scofflaw cyclists and I usually respond with the question "Do you always obey the speed limit as a motorist?" Which gets an affirmative response so I query further "Even on 83 or the beltway?" Now the responses get interesting as they usually follow the lines of "Of course not, you’d get killed if you did the speed limit there." <\/p>\n
Well at least one reader of Michael Dresser’s column calls for a different approach… more enforcement. <\/p>\n
"Maryland\u2019s drivers must be re-educated that the speed limit does not mean it is the minimum speed! "<\/p>\n
"People are going to die because of this lack of enforcement. The State, the County, and the City; and all of their executives OWN THIS PROBLEM! Re-educate the people." <\/p>\n
Even Michael Dresser says "As one who had a near-terminal experience on the Jones Falls Expressway when a speeding driver spun out in front of me, I can sympathize."<\/p>\n
I really have to ask when are we going to look at traffic "accidents" differently? 80-90% of them are preventable and the cost on human lives is not worth trying to shave a few minutes off of travel time. <\/p>\n