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To all who live or drive in Virginia:

A bill passed to increase the speed limit in virginia on rural interstate highways to 70 MPH from 65 MPH. This in itself is not bad, however consider the following:

In Virginia, driving 20 MPH or more above posted speed is reckless driving. Additionally, driving at any speed above 80 MPH is reckless driving regardless of the posted speed limit. The penalty for reckless driving is mandatory court appearance, a fine of $750, and possible jail time(although jail time is rarely imposed).

Just think of the possible circumstance, you are driving at a speed which is safe for the traffic, say maybe 73 MPH and then there is someone going 60 in the right lane. You change lanes to pass and in order to not cause a danger for the faster drivers in that lane, you speed up to 81 MPH. This would be considered reckless driving. It is not hard in traffic especially to be doing 11 miles over the speed limit for a short time. Those of us who live here know Virginia police probably will give reckless driving tickets for such.

Lexus GS460 Parts

Stick to the facts… Speed historically is NOT a problem at SML OR anywhere across the county (USCG Stats below) and it ranked only 4th in the number of accidents and 6th in fatalities as the contributing factor. PLUS speeding is only defined as operating above a safe speed. That could be 10mph. Careless operation, operator inattention & operator Inexperience are 1-2-3. We support education, but if operators are inexperienced & reckless & not paying attention…they’re going to cause an issue at any speed.

Plus how is DGIF going to inforce it? Where does a “safe speed” fall if a posted speed is now up? 35MPH at night can be WAY TOO FAST in some conditions…what happens then. How about the speedo’s in most boats…are they right most of the time? I think not. Fact is…IF YOU EDUCATE ALL CAPTAINS THEN FOR THE MOST PART, THEY WILL ABIDE BY SAFE BOATING TECHNIQUES.

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY BOATING STATISTICS - 2004
�� In 2004, States and jurisdictions reported a total of 12,781,476 registered
recreational boats compared to 12,794,616 in 2003. The 4,904 boating accidents
reported in 2004 resulted in 676 fatalities, 3,363 injuries, and $35,038,306 in property
damage.
�� Approximately seventy percent of all fatal boating accident victims drowned
(484 out of 676). Approximately 90 percent of the victims who drowned were not
wearing their personal flotation device (PFD or lifejacket). Overall, fatal accident
data show approximately 431 lives could have been saved last year if boaters had
worn their lifejackets.
�� The most reported type of accident was a collision with another vessel. However,
capsizing and falls overboard are the most reported types of fatal accidents and
accounted for over half (57%) of all boating fatalities. Boat operators need to pay
attention to the capacity label on their boat and be careful not to overload small boats
(less than 16 feet) with passengers and/or gear.
�� Overall, carelessness/reckless operation, operator inattention, operator
inexperience, and excessive speed are the leading contributing factors of all reported
accidents.