(Pre)Pay-To-Speed: Nevada Candidate's Proposal To Fill State Coffers
Would you pre-pay $25 in order to drive at ninety for twenty-four hours on Nevada’s highway’s? Nonpartisan Nevada gubernatorial candidate Eugene “Gino” DiSimone thinks so. According to his projections, his so called “free (fee?) limit plan” would generate $1.3 billion per year, helping solve Nevada’s budget crisis. The math seems a little sketchy, but here it is:
The cornerstone of his Nevada Three Step Recovery Plan (#2 is to deport all illegal aliens) is to get enrolled in the program, have a vehicle safety check, purchase a transponder, and pay for the privilege of speeding via your cell phone. And just how did Gino cpme up with that number? (from his website):
IT IS JUST THAT SIMPLE…The FREE LIMIT PLAN… Now for the math….
By questioning numerous NV Highway Patrol Officers, I asked this question:
Question:
If there was a law that allowed people to purchase the privilege to drive fast, say up to 90 mph for $25 a day, on any given day, what percentage of drivers would do it?
Answer:
About 30 – 40%
That is about 3 or 4 out of 10 drivers! WOW! However, let us be much more conservative and lower the estimate to 10% of the drivers. (Conversely that says 90% will not be interested.) Based on my lower estimate (1 out of 10), here is the math:
10% of 1.7 Million drivers = 170,000 drivers
On any given day, at 25$ this comes to: $25 times 170,000 = $4.25 Million per day
Assume only 6 days per week we get: $25.5 Million per week
Each year this comes to: $1.3 Billion per year!!!
Call me a skeptic, but I wonder…Nevada’s current limit is 75. If Nevada enforcement is like in the rest of the West, ten miles over the limit is the grace window, or 85. That’s five miles under ninety. Will there be a grace for that too? And how many cops are there on the mostly remote stretches of Nevada’s highways?
According to a Fox News story: “The Nevada Highway Patrol isn’t keen on the idea, saying it would lead to increased injuries and traffic deaths.”
Anyway, how about a graduated plan? $50 for one hundred mph? $75 for one-ten? How about a fee to just turn the clock back to 1973, when Nevada didn’t have a posted speed limit. How much would you pay for that?
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I think the idea is lame and not well thought out. In Nevada, there are only 2 interstates, I-80 and I-15, and both are mainly oriented east-west. There are no north-south interstates or other expressways, mainly just 2 lane roads with conventional intersections. As many have pointed out, the interstate speed limits are mostly 75 mph, with the usual grace amount for going a little faster. The 2-lane roads in most rural areas are posted at 70 mph, higher than in almost any other state, which is plenty fast given the terrain, pavement condition (mostly good in my experience), and relative lack of traffic.
Raise the limit from 90 to 150 and I'll pay. It'd still be far cheaper than the $1000 or so I pay regularly between flights and car rental fees to drive on the Autobahn. But, as many have commented before, lane discipline would have to be very strictly enforced.