Road hazards
The one in 10 drivers who obey the speed laws are considered road hazards. After being conscientious drivers we now will be footing the bill for new speed limit signs, higher insurance rates and a chance of losing our lives.
Come to think of it, though, if we're hit by someone going 85 mph -- when the limit is 75 mph someone surely will exceed it -- there won't be anything left to take to Shock Trauma.
Thus the cost of insurance may actually be reduced.
Unfortunately our loved ones will be smeared all over the highway.
Joan L. Lease
Baltimore
Right to speed?
The state speed limit should remain 55 mph, the limit originally set to save lives and conserve gas. Both reasons remain valid.
However, if the limit is to be raised to 65, then the law definitely should also ban radar detectors and impose strict penalties for speeding.
Radar detector supporters argue the detectors "make motorists more aware of their speeds." Perhaps, but only when the radar detector goes off; if those drivers really cared how fast they were going they wouldn't need a speed alarm.
The real purpose of a radar detector is to break the law and get away with it. Everybody knows this, though some apparently have trouble admitting it.
Del. John Morgan feels drivers should be "on par with government surveillance." But speeders are not innocent citizens being harassed; they are lawbreakers. Why do they need or deserve protection by legislators?
Would the legislator be in favor, for example, of a device that let bank robbers scramble a security video camera image, to put them "on par with government surveillance"?
The public is tired of protecting lawbreakers' "rights." Speeders kill with a car instead of a bullet, but the victims are just as dead. Speeders should be caught and punished like any other lawbreaker.
Martin F. Schmidt Jr.
Finksburg
Car laws
In the two recent controversies concerning Maryland's motor vehicles, some important points seem not to have been discussed.
On the matter of the emissions testing, nothing has been said about the high minimum cost of repairs and its effect on poor persons and employment.
Many low-paid workers need their clunkers to get to their jobs. They would not be able to afford emissions-mandated repairs, and surely couldn't afford to purchase another car. Hence, back to the unemployment rolls, and maybe welfare.
The recent compromise of returning to the $150 minimum the first year is not much help, since the minimum escalates in the following years.
Incidentally, even though the part of the test having a tester "drive" the car on a treadmill has been delayed, I offer a compromise. Suppose the owner stays in the car and "drives" it?
My second point is that I favor increasing the speed limit to 70 mph, not that I want to drive faster, but because I paid for it.
It costs more to design and construct a highway intended for 70 mph than for 55 mph. Let's remember, before the national 55 mph law went into effect, I-95 between Baltimore and Washington as well as a portion of the Washington Beltway were 70 mph roads.
If I were rich, I would file a taxpayers' class-action suit against the governments, seeking a refund of the difference between the costs of highways built for 70 mph on which only 55 mph is permitted, and highways built for 55 mph.
But since I can't afford the lawsuit, we'll have to go with the alternative, increasing the speed limit to the nationally-permitted mph, as partial compensation for my costs.
Or could it be that Maryland wants to be a speed trap for those visiting, unsuspecting, motorists from all those 40-some states that permit 65 mph?
Harry E. Bennett Jr.
Baltimore
Spousal abuse
This letter is in response to the "Spousal abuse" letter published in The Forum Feb. 15. I feel that deterrents are an answer in some cases of spousal abuse. But I know from personal experience that the most important factor for the victim is to get away from the aggressor.
The initiative stays with the person being abused, whether or not the abuser is in the jail.
There is a lot of help out there. I just wish that I could get one person to stand up and not be intimidated, hurt or abused.
Luann Fowler
Towson
Balanced views
A Baltimore radio station now presents on a regular schedule Rush Limbaugh, Ron Smith and Ellen Sauerbrey.
As that loveable hypocrite Archie Bunker might have observed, "Now there's your perfect balanced ticket."
W. K. Lester
Round Bay
Do children have a right not to learn?
I work with a mentorship program called Peers Achieving Positive Action sponsored by the Urban League in conjunction with the Baltimore City Public Schools. I and six other students from Baltimore City Community College work with about 30 students at Lemmel Middle School to advocate for the needs of disruptive youth.
I am upset because even though I am willing to give my time and efforts to help these children they are in an environment that makes it very hard for them to see any further than the next day.
When you have a class that is 45 minutes long, and it takes 15-20 of those minutes just to get students in the class and in their seats, how can you give directions, assign projects and teach with just 25 minutes left?
How, as an educator, can you teach when you have to play referee during fights and bouncer when other students are trying to disrupt the class on a constant basis?
In the hallways there are students who have been put out of their classrooms because they could not control themselves, but since they have nowhere to go they roam the halls banging on doors and disturbing others who are trying to learn.
I remember when I was their age being in the classroom and having teachers who did not allow me to run rampant. I remember the days when a teacher would not hesitate to call my parents and how when they got there I knew I would be in trouble.
Today, when a parent comes to the school they more often than not are upset with the teacher for disturbing them. These parents feel that teachers should be able to handle children whom the parents themselves can't handle at home.
Today we tell our children that teachers cannot touch them or make them stay after school or write more than 200-word essays because students have "rights." But what happened to the rights of students who come to school to learn and not to have their education interrupted by those who attend only because it's too cold outside to do anything else?
Many of these students do not want to learn or follow directions, and they have no respect for authority. Have we given our children the right to refuse their own education?
Rosalind Houchins
Baltimore
Winter cheer
I read Jacques Kelly's Feb. 7 column on the woes of winter and thought I was reading an article written by my husband. Then I realized my husband doesn't write that well.
Poor Mr. Kelly is getting old. I'm over 50 and I still enjoy winter fires (even if the room smells woodsy the next day), getting on the Flexible Flyer and speeding down the hill behind the neighborhood church when the snow is just right, having snowshakes (one can usually find enough clean snow for a drink) and just sitting by the window and watching the flakes come down.
I love summer, but I wouldn't trade winter for anything.
Michele Rosenberg
Baltimore