Tennessee drivers and other motorists in the state who have a yen for speed could pay a hefty penalty for their predilection to travel well above posted limits if a bill currently in the Tennessee Senate wins approval. The well-intentioned legislation should help make the state’s roads safer. It deserves passage.
The “super speeder” bill, sponsored by Sen. Jack Johnson, R-Franklin, would levy a $200 fine on drivers traveling 25 miles above the posted speed limit. That’s in addition to the usual speeding fine and the court costs and fees assessed in such matters. Supporters of the new legislation believe that the heavy fine will help reduce the number of deaths and serious injuries on state roads. That is a logical assumption.
The connection between high speed and vehicular accidents is well established. Indeed, speed is a contributing factor in about a third of all fatal vehicle crashes, according to public safety experts. Consequently, any reduction in the number of those who routinely drive at a high rate of speed arguably will cut the number of accidents and the number of fatalities and serious injuries associated with them.
That’s an attractive prospect in a state where adherence to posted speed limits is notoriously weak. The Tennessee Department of Transportation’s newest traffic study indicates that 70.5 percent of drivers exceeded the limit on freeways with 55 mph limit, while nearly 44 percent drove faster than a posted 70 mph limit. Current rules and regulations — and the fines attached to them — obviously are not effective. Raising the financial ante should increase compliance.
Moreover, the additional fines will serve a useful purpose in addition to deterrence. If the current proposal stands, super speeder money will augment funding for the state’s trauma hospitals. That would be doubly beneficial.
Many of the state’s trauma facilities are overworked and underfunded — chronic conditions that could be eased by additional funds. Moreover, a significant number of cases treated at trauma hospitals arise from vehicular accidents. It’s just, in a sense, that super speeder fines help pay for that care.
Critics of the bill argue that the super speeder designation would undercut reckless driving citations and fines and that the heavy fine could be viewed as a “fee grab.” Nonsense. Law enforcement and judges still could apply the former, and the notion of fee grabbing when lives are at stake is a non-starter.
The proposed super speeder law is entirely appropriate. Need proof? Just think how comforting it would be to see a motorist who zipped past you at a high rate of speed heading west in the Ridge Cut be stopped and ticketed somewhere between the Fourth Avenue and Rossville Boulevard exits on I-24.