The proposal to raise fines for speeding on Iowa’s streets and highways has recently been made by Gov. Tom Vilsack. The governor’s 2004 budget plan beginning on July 1 includes an additional 2.5 million dollars in fine revenue.

The increase is accounted for by an across-the-board bump ranging from $15 to $40 per violation. House Republicans are a little more than hesitant toward the increase and have voiced ideas on possible compromise, one that should not even be considered.

House Speaker Christopher Rants, a Republican from Sioux City, was quoted in a Des Moines Register news article saying, “If we raised the speed limit, I’m all for raising the fines.”

Sen. Jeff Lamberti, chairman of the senate appropriations committee, echoed Rants’ concerns.

“Without raising the speed limit, I probably wouldn’t be inclined to go along with this. I think it would be a pretty hard sell standing by itself,” he said.

Vilsack, standing beside his hard-line beliefs regarding his opposition to higher speed limits, has responded to the suggestion saying he is not looking for a deal.

And why should he?

The idea of a fine increase dependent on the bump of the speed limit is ludicrous. This type of blatant extortion is reminiscent of lawmakers’ claims that the federal government was blackmailing states into adopting a .08 legal blood alcohol limit.

God forbid the reason may lie in the public’s welfare and safety.

According to a February 2002 updated report on speed limits in Iowa, the Iowa Safety Management System’s findings support Vilsack’s uncompromising stance on raising Iowa’s speed limit.

The task force is comprised of representatives from state agencies ranging from the Iowa State Patrol and Department of Public Health to the Department of Transportation.

In its findings, the task force reported that from 1996 to 2001 out of the surrounding states that had raised speed limits — Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska and South Dakota — interstate fatalities had jumped anywhere from 8 percent in South Dakota all the way up to an incredible 58 percent in Nebraska.

Meanwhile Iowa, not raising the speed limit, saw a 3 percent decline in fatalities by 2001. A comparison was also made of total traffic fatalities for Iowa and the surrounding states and in that comparison Iowa was the only state out of the five to see an overall decline in traffic-related deaths.

So the question needs to be asked: Why should an attempt to preserve life and increase safety be hindered by something as trivial as a few miles per hour?

Editorial Board: Cavan Reagan, Amber Billings, Ayrel Clark, Charlie Weaver