Troopers See Slight Rise In Tickets, Accidents But Officials Say It’s Too Soon To Know Impact Of State’s Higher Speed Limits

There’s been a slight increase in traffic tickets and accidents on Washington highways since speed limits were raised in March, but authorities say it’s too soon to assess the impact.

And one Washington State Patrol officer says he’s actually seeing less speeding.

“When the limit was 65, it wasn’t anything to see people going 80, 85, 90. Now people are sticking right around 70 most of the time,” said Yakima-based Trooper Trent Cain.

“When I’m out there, it’s harder for me to find the violations.”

But troopers statewide are finding some. The number of speeding tickets issued in May increased 9.3 percent over May 1995 - from 15,661 to 17,259.

That follows boosting of the speed limit from 65 to 70 mph for non-urban-area interstates, and from 55 to 60 mph on interstate stretches through metropolitan areas and on selected state highways.

Jack Sareault, Olympia-based spokesman for the Washington State Patrol, credited the increase in citations to aggressive enforcement and more troopers. Twenty-seven troopers graduated from the police academy in January, and the patrol has tried to minimize desk duty since Chief Annette Sandberg took over last year.

Trooper Jim Backlund, based in Vancouver, said he catches most of his speeders in the 55 mph or 60 mph zones, not in the 70 mph zones.

“For most people, that seems to be fast enough,” said Backlund, 48, a 27-year patrol veteran.

“Then you’ve always got the occasional guy who’d speed no matter what. Even if the speed limit were 90 mph, he’d be going faster,”

Speeds have increased an average of only 2 mph on the interstates since the limit went up, said Rick Olson, spokesman for the state Department of Transportation.

Motorists approached recently at an Interstate 82 rest stop about 10 miles north of Yakima were mildly concerned about safety issues with the higher speed limits.

Carrie Lawrence, 23, a University of Minnesota graduate student in theater design, was nearing the end of her trip from Minneapolis to Seattle when she took a break to read “The Mists of Avalon” and let her overheated car cool down.

She cautiously endorsed the higher speed limits, noting that her jalopy can barely manage 70.

“I think the speed limits are all right as long as people drive them appropriately,” Lawrence said.

“For the most part, I feel safe except for these curvy, mountain roads. I’m not used to mountains.”

Barbara Dumbleton, 41, of Eugene, Ore., said she drives the posted limit even though she feels uncomfortable at 70 mph. The speed limit has not been increased yet in her home state.

“The higher speed makes me feel unsafe, especially with people who drive too close,” Dumbleton said, taking a break for a picnic with her partner during a leisurely trip to British Columbia. “I think it probably causes worse accidents.”

Fatal accidents on state roadways did increase this year, with 40 recorded by July 31, up from 37 during the same period in 1995, according to state Department of Transportation records.

But 12 of those accidents occurred before the increase.

The federal speed limit dropped to 55 in 1973 as a fuel conservation move. Safety figures subsequently improved a bit, according to state Traffic Safety Commission records.

When the federal limit was lifted to 65 mph in 1987, there was no appreciable increase in fatal accidents, the commission said.