Bill to increase the speed limit hits another off ramp

The bill to raise Iowa’s speed limit has come to a halt at the statehouse. Last week, House Republican Leader Christopher Rants of Sioux City said the bill would be debated in the House this week. Now, he’s put it in reverse.(as he said in previous cut) Rants says he’s “trying to avoid a crash on the House floor,” so he’s “going to put the brakes on” the bill.Rants says legislators are only hearing from Iowans who oppose raising the speed limit.Rants believes a majority of Iowans favor raising the speed limit, but he says “they’ve chosen to press down with their right foot on the gas pedal rather than pick up the phone and call their legislator.”Rants says the bill doesn’t have the votes to pass the House. He wants people who favor raising the speed limit to call their legislators.A Des Moines Register analysis released this morning found 50 of Iowa’s 150 lawmakers have been ticketed for speeding in the past five years. Rants has received two speeding tickets since ’99, he got a ticket for failing to obey a traffic sign and he got a ticket for driving with an expired license.