Readers comment: Day One of the series

We have lived in Raleigh for 40 years and it seems that the law enforcement officers have given up on speeders, not only in Raleigh, but also the interstates.

We live inside the Beltline off Six Forks Road and frequent the North Hills shops and restaurants. Driving from North Hills south on Six Forks is 35 and 40 mph downhill...and the street narrows...most everyone passes us speeding.....once in my 20 years here have I seen motorcyle officers using radar on this stretch. Atlantic Avenue is a joke. I-40 is frightening as is the Beltline. We many times have visited Charlotte and never have seen any law enforcement officers, and they can't be in unmarked cars with everyone speeding as they do...and no, they can't be patrolling the rural roads, for we have rarely seen any on our country trips. What is funny, is when they announce a "crackdown".....ha, they should be doing that regularly.

Dan Carter
Raleigh

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Why is it that whenever North Carolina expands a road they lower the speed limit?

US 1 & 64 being the latest example. The limit was 65 after Cary Parkway going south. Now it is 55 all the way through past Highway 64. What is their point? If they don't want people to get there in a reasonable time why do they expand any road? Just leave all the cow paths like they are now, for example Holly Springs Road or Ten Ten Road in south Cary. Then all the New York people can come down and drive their 38 mph in a 45 and there won't be any need for limits or police radar etc.

LET THE PEOPLE DRIVE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

David Cutler
Apex

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I drive 160 miles a day to and from work. ... [W]hen traffic is flowing at a good pace between 65 and 75 miles per hour, there are those who for some ungodly reason have to do 90-100 miles per hour. Yesterday, as a matter of fact, a green Firebird whizzed by everyone and had to be doing in excess of 90 miles per hour.

It wasn't the speed that concerned me but the congestion. There were a lot of cars on the road, and he was changing lanes like he was doing time trials for NASCAR. But as dangerous as those individuals are, I find that the ones who do 60, or even 65, in the fast lanes cause more of an issue.

They cause the bottlenecks in the traffic that people speed up to try and avoid, and that's when you have your accidents. If you are not going to go with the flow of traffic, stay to the right.

Ed DiNatale
Kernersville

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The enforcement of speed limits on our highways and streets is atrocious.

People speed because they can. They expect to be able to do it, as if on a German Autobahn. They are annoyed when they cannot.

I drive from Hillsborough to Durham several times every week, via I-85. As you know, there has been much construction on I-85 in Durham, and so there are lots of extra signs about work zone speed limits, extra fines for speeding in a work zone, etc. The stretch of I-85 northbound between the Durham Freeway (NC 147) split and Hillandale Road is just over a mile. Every time I drive this stretch, I make sure my speed is in the 55-60 mph range. That's still speeding, technically. I am always the slowest car on the road. Always. It has been this way for several years. It persists despite some increase in speed traps there lately.

Mark Johnson
Durham

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According to the NC Highway Patrol Traffic Safety Dept., speeding accounts for the majority of traffic accidents across the state. Having driven around the state for more than 30 years, I concur with the Patrol's claim. I have written a safety manual for folks driving the church van and mini-bus which required a literature review to provide driving statistics for potential bus or van drivers. Most of the drivers are between the age of 25 and older. Driving around Raleigh and Wake County where the student population is high, I have observed most of the "speeders" are young men and women.