Lawmakers urged to vote against SF 213

To the editor:

Each year we have (on average) 400 driving deaths per year in Iowa and every day new drivers approach the road with intermediate licenses.

These new drivers are told to leave a two second gap between them and the next car, but most do not, choosing to speed up almost to the point of bumper to bumper driving.

In fact, most drivers already go 75. Legally raising the speed limit would encourage these drivers to go 80 miles per hour instead. While these changes would only affect a handful of roads, we don't want new drivers going 80 miles per hour anywhere.

Driving close enough to any car at any speed can be dangerous, but going 75 miles per hour and ramming into the next car is fatal. So, we have to think not about how well we drive, but how well the drivers around us drive. Some of you may be thinking if fines would help. I don't think they would for the reason that it is only a slap on the wrist type of punishment. The individual has not learned a lesson until a major accident occurs.

Vote no to the bill, not for your safety, but the safety of others around you, and I urge all people reading this to talk to your locallegislators, and to convince them to vote down Senate File 213.

Spencer Weyland

Toddville