PELTZMAN EFFECTS. Stephen Moore is unimpressed with claims that higher speed limits lead to more traffic deaths. Key observation: "The study found that deaths on rural highways had risen by 35 percent because of the new law." Rural highways are not equivalent to interstate highways, where the higher speed limits are more common. (Illinois only allows 65 on rural Interstates -- a law honored more in the breach than in the observance -- and Wisconsin permits 65 on some divided limited-access highways, which I refer to as the Cheddarbahns.) Rural highways are less likely to be safe for a number of reasons: two lanes, people taking risks in the passing zones, stop signs at blind intersections thanks to the tall corn, which makes defensive driving techniques in anticipation of inattentive cross-traffic more difficult, farm equipment headed to or from the field, and development bringing greater traffic volumes.

Curiously, some of the plains states have taken measures in the interest of safety that might raise the accident rates. A few years ago, I noticed railway-style gates that can be used to block access to interstate highways in Minnesota, a practice that Wisconsin has adapted through Kenosha and Racine counties. These gates have the effects of diverting traffic from the interstates to the rural roads, putting the people with get-home-itis on the more dangerous roads.