This writer says Arizona is not the place to test out looser traffic laws

The new Arizona legislative session hasn’t even started, and there are already proposed laws that are getting people talking.

And two of those come from Rep. Nick Kupper (R-Surprise). One would reduce the age at which a teenager can get their driving permit to 15 years, down from 15 and 6 months.

And the other would remove speed limits on some rural interstates, beginning with a pilot program between Yuma and Casa Grande. That’s right — no speed limits on some rural roads. The only requirement would be to drive at a “reasonable and prudent” speed.

Tim Steller writes an opinion column for The Arizona Daily Star in Tucson and says Arizona may not be the place to test out loosening traffic laws.

Full conversation

LAUREN GILGER: So you're arguing that Arizona has one of the worst traffic death problems in the country, in fact. Tell us what the problem looks like here. 

TIM STELLER: Well, yeah, I mean, there's a few different ways to measure this, but the way that the Insurance Institute [for Highway Safety] … relies on is deaths per 100 million vehicle miles travel.

So it's a rate, and Arizona has the second highest rate out of all the states, plus D.C. and Puerto Rico — 1.73 fatalities per 100 million vehicle miles traveled. As usual, were spared from being the worst in the country by Mississippi, which has a rate of 1.79 deaths per 100 million vehicle miles traveled.

So, you know, we don't fare well when it comes to traffic fatalities by comparison. Just in case your listeners want to know, the best state was Massachusetts, with 0.56 deaths per 100 million vehicle miles traveled.

So, anyway, we have a problem. And, you know, this representative's proposals purport to aim to address it, and I just don't, I'm not quite sure I believe that that would work.

GILGER: Right. So let's talk about that. So, Rep. Kupper did an interview about this with Howie Fisher of Capitol Media Services, and he said he kind of totally understands, like if people think this is a crazy idea, that it will lead to deaths. 

But he argued that there's data to prove otherwise. He said states where there are lower ages for driver's permits, for example, they have lower rates of teen traffic fatalities and that under his bill, teens would actually have their permits longer. 

But you took this to that institute. What did they have to say? 

STELLER: Well, Howie did that, and they said no, the lower … essentially what they argue for is not about – the lower the age for driving is worse, is their, their point of view. And they do the research on this themselves.

But more than that, there's an issue within this, which is not about the age at which a person gets a permit, but about the amount of time they're required to drive with a licensed driver in order to practice.

GILGER: Right. 

STELLER: In Arizona right now, we only require 30 hours with a licensed driver. There are other ways also to make this by taking a driver class, that sort of thing. And another group that I've interviewed, it's called, Advocates for Traffic Safety. They recommend 70 hours as a standard.

And so the thing about Kupper's bill as it pertains to learning is that it changes the time during which a person may have a permit, but it doesn't change the amount of driving that they might have to do in order to practice to get their license.

GILGER: Yeah. The idea of lowering the age limit at which you can get a permit has been attempted before at the state Legislature, and it was opposed at the time from the state's major insurance companies. Do you anticipate that happening again here?

STELLER: Sure. Yeah. You know, this is early times in this session. Who knows how these bills might change or whether to even get a hearing. So I'm sure that there will be some, some pushback on this.

GILGER: There have been states that have tried the other issue at hand here, this no speed limits on interstates thing, kind of, you know, years or decades ago, even Nevada. Montana didn't have speed limits on some roads for a long time. 

Is it just sort of a classic libertarian individual rights issue from your point of view?

STELLER: I mean, I smell that in the proposal. But, you know, I must acknowledge that he cites Montana, a couple of states, Montana, as an example. And there is some data, some research to show that when they eliminated speed limits on some rural interstates, safety did not get worse. In fact, it may have improved, especially in the daytime. You know, you have to have a daytime, a nighttime limit and daytime no limit.

But an issue that these traffic safety advocates brought up to me is, is enforcement. So the standard becomes reasonable and prudent. Is a speed reasonable and prudent? You know, how on earth is a state trooper to determine that? I'm sure it would be spelled out in law, but, it seems rather like a grey area.

GILGER: Yeah. And in the last minute here, Tim, along the lines of those state troopers, our state troopers have been sounding the alarm for years now about understaffing and pay like they say, there are huge stretches of time when there are no troopers on those rural roads outside of cities in the middle of the night, especially. 

Is there anyone out there to enforce this kind of thing anyway?

STELLER: Well, yeah, that's a good point. I mean, enforcement overall is necessary if these traffic laws are going to make any difference. So, yeah, I mean, there would have to be enforcement.

However, when you talk about training or other aspects of traffic safety, those don't require troopers on the road. You know, if we're going to require more driving practice for permit holders, that's just them being out there with their parents or some guardian or something.

I mean, other states require, 12 or more other states require vehicle safety inspections every year or two. We don't, of course, do that. And so there's all kinds of things we don't do that aren't, involving state troopers pulling people over on the interstates or other roads.