June 13, 2003

The Honorable Rod R. Blagojevich
207 State Capitol Building
Springfield, IL 62706-0001

Dear Governor Blagojevich:

I’m writing to urge you to sign into law House Bill 1186, the legislation that eliminates the lower speed limit now in place for trucks.

Passage of this bill will in no way compromise highway safety on Illinois highways.

Highway safety engineers have long recognized that highways are safest when all vehicles are traveling at the same speed regardless of the speed limit. In fact, the safety research in this area is irrefutable.

According to Julie Cirillo, former assistant administrator and chief safety officer for the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration:

“In 1963, David Solomon reported that deviation from the mean speed of traffic in both the negative and positive direction contributed significantly to the occurrence of accidents. In fact, Solomon showed that vehicles traveling 10 to 15 mph slower than the mean speed of traffic were much more likely to be involved in accidents than vehicles traveling slightly above the mean speed. Solomon presented his results in the now famous “U-shaped” curve, which relates variance from mean speed to involvement in accidents.

Solomon’s study was conducted on two- and four-lane main rural highways. A similar analysis was conducted on the interstate that has higher operating speeds. The data for this study was collected by 20 state highway departments.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration subsequently contracted with Indiana University to conduct a speed-safety study. The study confirmed the “U-shaped” curve established by Solomon and the interstate study.”

The Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association is the national association representing the national’s small business professional truck drivers. OOIDA has over 4000 members in Illinois that care deeply about highway safety for themselves, their families and all others with which they share our highways. To these professional men and women truck drivers, safety is a top priority. More truck drivers die on the job than any other occupation in America. Our members drive in excess of 110,000 miles each year delivering the essential items we all must have. They witness the dangers of split speed limits regularly.

It is also very disappointing to hear that the AAA is opposing this legislation. AAA should clearly know better. In 1979 and again in 1981, the AAA Foundation for Highway Safety provided funding for research conducted by the University of Virginia on split speed limits and lane restrictions. Both studies concluded there are no safety benefits to split speed limits or lane restrictions.

AAA’s motives on this issue are clearly something other than safety on the state’s highways.

Clearly, your signing this legislation is in the interest of highway safety. I hope considering these important benefits you will sign this legislation into law at your earliest convenience.

Sincerely,

Jim Johnston
President