Legislature raises possibility of raising speed limit

All vehicles but semis would be allowed to legally go 70 miles per hour on Iowa Interstates if a bill that cleared a House committee becomes law. Sixty-five would be the speed limit for truckers; 70 the limit for everybody else. That two-tiered speed limit is why Representative Russell Eddie of Storm Lake voted for the bill.Eddie says gets nervous when driving on I-80 as truckers driving much faster than he zoom up behind, tailgate, then pass. He says he’s driven in Illinois, Indiana and Michigan and hasn’t worried about tailgating truckers.The bill passed the committee on a 13 to seven vote. Representative David Heaton of Mount Pleasant voted against raising the limit, as he fears most drivers would begin driving much faster than 70.Heaton remembers when the speed limit was 70 miles per hour, and he says it was “scary” to drive on the Interstate as people routinely went 80. He says there’s some sanity in having the speed limit at 65.The speed limit bill will next be considered by the full 100-member House. Representative David Johnson of Ocheydan doesn’t know whether the bill will fare any better than it did last year. He says fines bogged down the bill last time and may again.Some lawmakers are pushing to significantly raise the fines for speeding, and require strict enforcement of the higher 70-mile-per-hour limit.