AAA Urges Legislators To Vote Against Speed Limit Bill
On April 29, AAA urged Illinois legislators to vote "no on SB 2356," which would increase the speed limit to 70 mph on Illinois' roadways. The bill has already passed through the Illinois Senate and awaits a full vote by the Illinois House.
"The Illinois legislature should not ignore the enormous speeding problem Illinois already has on its roadways," said Brad Roeber, President of AAA Chicago. "Speeding accounts for more than half of Illinois' over 900 roadway fatalities, and this problem cannot be fixed by letting cars and trucks travel faster."
From 2008-2011, Illinois' roadway fatalities dropped 12 percent; but those fatalities due to speeding rose nearly 14 percent. Furthermore, in 2010 and 2011, Illinois speed limits for large trucks were raised to 65 mph. Over this time, there has been a 39 percent increase in fatalities involving large trucks.
"Make no mistake, this bill allows large trucks to travel even faster on our roadways. The majority of large-truck fatalities involve motorists, who unfortunately don't stand a chance against an 80,000 pound vehicle traveling at high speeds," said Roeber.
The cost of traveling faster also needs to be thoroughly examined. In 2011, AAA noted in their Crashes vs. Congestion study that a conservative estimate of the cost to society for each fatal crash was $6 million. At that rate, the cost of speeding fatalities in Illinois is already over $2.6 billion.