Greatest of the Greats: Kia, Toyota, etc. How much longer will it take to drive one of the Japanese imports when it comes down to being on the street with all our local drivers? It seems many have the same problems. It’s time to start watching our driving habits as well. The problem that I see here is the fact that it was not the auto manufacturers, but their employees who caused the problem in the first place. I have lived in Seattle for some time now, and it’s just gotten worse, people here do not adhere to the laws as much as say New York, or Los Angeles, but its getting better. I have no problem with a speed limit of 70, 80 or whatever is in place for specific stretches of the road, when you see the same people doing over it, what else should they do? Slow down for idiots? I have an issue with people going in and out of intersections when the lights are red, or pedestrians running out, but hey if they are going to break the law why not make them suffer from their actions. I think traffic needs to be better managed, I don’t think speed limits should be abolished, I think police needs to be more active and more efficient, and I think there needs to be more people on the road during rush hour, (for example I’ve seen the streets clogged with people on bikes), and I think people should start paying more attention to traffic rules. I’m not saying we need to be completely inhuman, but as an intelligent human being, you must be able to control yourself, if you can’t, then the proper option is take an intelligent step. I will be glad when someone takes charge of something. The only question that remains is, will it be the government, and will we the people really pay attention, and make this a reality? I think the traffic laws in WA state are terrible! I am not sure what they were thinking when they decided to give drivers the freedom to decide their own speeds, and the police will only enforce the law when they want too. Some of the traffic laws I think they need to change: a.) Speed limit at 55 miles an hour in school zones or b.) 35 miles an hour while the crossing guard is out. I would also consider not having a cell phone on while driving as well. If you have a cell phone, have it turned off. I don’t think so. You know, the guy that ran into that car in the photo might have thought that it would be more prudent to slow down a bit before the light changed. Instead he decided to plow through the intersection just because he could. Just because the limit on the street was 40 and he wanted to go 45. “When it comes down to it you’re the driver, not the computer!” I think that the only reason there are speed limits is to remind drivers that, unlike the computer, they are in charge. There are just as many variables in operating a car as there are in operating a computer: factors like tires, engine performance, tires life, wind, etc. But we allow computers to do what we cannot or should not be doing, mainly because of time constraints. There should be no speed limit at all and that is where I disagree with Mr. Schnittman. I say take drivers license away. I say do not let anyone drive unless they pass a test. I know it’s not going to happen but until this comes to be we should enforce speed limits by means of radar cameras all over and tickets for speeding. What most people fail to do is realize that they do not own the road, the road has been built for traffic and there will always be traffic. Let’s try to limit the speed and then get these so-called ‘labs’ out of the road. I do not think that there should be any speed limits on the city streets. I think that it should be the driver’s responsibility to obey the laws, whether that be speed limits, traffic laws, etc. They’re the ones in control of the vehicle, not the other way around. I agree with everything he says. I feel that it is the person behind the wheel’s responsibility to drive safely, whether it’s on the freeway or the local street. If you are speeding on a freeway, you should certainly not be given a free pass simply because you were speeding at lower speeds on a local street. There is nothing special about a 40 mph street as compared to a 35 mph street. They are all meant to promote safety. I understand that people speed regardless, but people drive recklessly and without the necessary attention regardless of where they are driving. This is why I think that there should be increased enforcement of laws and fewer laws. It is true that a lower speed limit might encourage people to go faster, but I would think that the majority of people would respect a law if they knew that it was enforced. I do not know of any law that is a “good” law if you get caught breaking it. If people are willing to drive at such a high speed and are so disrespectful of laws, they will continue to break them regardless of the increased severity. I agree with almost everything you said but there is one thing I don’t agree with, you say, “Let’s take our foot off the pedal and take the attitude back to the ’60s and ’70s.” I like the ’60s, ’70s and the present, but it depends on where you are. If you are in Europe, yes, the attitude is that you can kill and drive on the wrong side of the road. If you are in Korea, the attitude is that you have to drive safely, obey the speed limit, and don’t drive recklessly and without paying attention. I agree that speed limits on the freeway are not necessary. Although there are a lot of speeders who drive above the speed limit there are also a lot of people who drive above the limit as well and they’re often police officers, people like him. I drive a Honda, so I can safely drive above the speed limit with all of the computers in place. The problem with people speeding on the freeway is that the enforcement is very lax. And that’s a big problem, especially since the speed limit on the freeway is already set so low. If they raise the speed limit to 80 or 90 on the freeway, it will encourage people to go above the speed limit by about 5-10 mph. In one way, yes, it will encourage people to drive safer, but it will also encourage other people to speed even faster, since some people don’t like to be behind someone going faster than they are. I am okay with a speed limit of 60 on the freeway, or if you were to remove speed limit signs all together. That would reduce the risk of someone doing something wrong on the freeway and it would keep people more safe on the highway. I also believe that more people will drive safely if you get rid of the speed limit and replace it with law enforcement officers who watch the speedometer. The problem is that it costs more money, so people don’t do it. If you take away the speed limit and get rid of all of the speed enforcement, then everyone will drive at speeds that they feel are safe, that is, what they believe to be safe. The problem with the speed limit is that people will go fast when there is no police to stop them, and there will be accidents that they would not have in a no-speed limit world. The result of all of this is that there will be even more cars on the road, and more traffic, since drivers will be going faster because it is okay to go faster. Traffic will be safer, except for the accidents caused by people not paying attention and going too fast. I do not think that people should have a speed limit on the city streets. It is their duty to drive safely. As long as there is no law enforcement of speed limits, they should be driving as fast as they want. The government should not have any say in the way that cars operate. I find it disgusting that the government uses law enforcement, or law enforcement is used to protect those who choose to speed. I do not think that traffic laws or speed limits should exist on city streets. If you are going fast on the streets, you should be ready to stop at any moment and a police officer could be anywhere. I think they should be done away with all together. If people would obey the law, we would