Voices: Need for less speed

City wants to buy weather radios for those without

Phil Jones had been working on a construction project outside his house all day on May 22 and was unaware that a tornado watch had been issued. Once he was inside, though, his weather radio went off, and he learned that a warning had been issued.

Opinion

Discussion

June 29, 2009

Anonymous The Joplin Globe Mon Jun 29, 2009, 07:31 PM CDT

A costly accident Friday on the Oklahoma turnpike might suggest the need for trucks to be driven slower than the car limit of 75 mph. Even with excellent brakes, the weight of loaded trucks keeps them moving long after a well-driven automobile could have been stopped.

If this truck was driven into the stopped automobiles “at full speed,” as is reported, that’s even more to be regretted than if he simply was unable to stop the vehicle after sighting the no-longer moving vehicles ahead.

Such accidents are extremely rare, but perhaps need to be anticipated. Would a truck-only lane be possible as a means of separating the trucks from the much-smaller vehicles most of us drive? On the turnpike, I’ve been passed by trucks being driven much faster than the posted limit, and I’ve passed many more which were being kept under the legal speed limit. Most truck drivers are gentlemen and courteous. Not all are.

Ray Downen

Joplin

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