by: F.R. Duplantier

"One of the Republican Congress' first and most popular initiatives back in 1995 was to repeal the 55-mile-per-hour speed limit," recalls Stephen Moore of the Cato Institute. "At the time," he notes, "the highway safety lobby made apocalyptic predictions about increased death and carnage on the roads if posted speed limits were raised." Citing data from 1996 and 1997, Moore claims "almost all of the predictions of increased deaths and injuries have been discredited."

It turns out that Ralph Nader and other naysayers "were all wrong in 1995 when they predicted a huge loss of human life as a result of repealing the 55-mile-per-hour limit. Higher speed limits have not led to a surge in deaths, but to the best highway safety record in history," Moore insists. "Meanwhile, Americans have saved billions of hours of time spent on the road. In addition, Americans are saving a net estimated $2 billion to $3 billion a year because of higher speed limits."

Moore emphasizes that, "by repealing the federal speed limit law, Congress did not raise speed limits in the states. It allowed states to raise the speed limits as they saw fit. One of the most compelling arguments made by members of Congress in favor of repealing the federal speed limit law," he observes, "was that it violated states' rights to set their own limits as they wished. Southern and western states complained that, although a 55-mile-per-hour requirement might be justified in the densely populated states of the northeast, it made little sense in expansive states like Texas, Utah, and Wyoming with very little traffic congestion."

The most important reason for increased driving safety even at higher speeds is that "cars are much better built today," Stephen Moore emphasizes. "The modern safety features of autos -- including power steering, power brakes, seat belts, and so forth -- have dramatically reduced fatalities from crashes." Moore points out that "the roads and highways are much wider, better maintained, and better engineered with improved surfaces and better guardrail systems." He also notes that "states have gotten tough on drunk and reckless drivers, who are the major cause of accidents, injuries, and deaths on the highways."

If the worrywarts in Washington were wrong about speed limits, how many hundreds of other things have they also minsconstrued? More important, what right did they have to dictate our driving habits in the first place? Enough already. Let's stop this nonsense. The enumerated powers of the federal government are few, and well defined. Everything else is the prerogative of the states or the people, as stipulated in the Ninth and Tenth Amendments. Mr. President, Members of Congress, Justices of the Supreme Court, please read the Constitution -- and start abiding by it!