Higher Speed Limit to Be Strictly Enforced, CHP Says : Safety: Newly appointed chief says drivers will be comfortable with 65 and 70 mph levels that begin taking effect Sunday. He also predicts fewer tickets.

The commissioner of the California Highway Patrol promised Tuesday that higher speed limits that start going into effect Sunday will be strictly enforced, but suggested that faster speeds may result in fewer tickets to motorists.

Newly appointed CHP chief D.O. “Spike” Helmick said drivers will obey the new maximum speeds of 65 mph and 70 mph because they will feel “comfortable” at such speeds, just as they did before the limits were reduced to 55 mph nationally 21 years ago and drivers began routinely ignoring the lower limit within a few years.

Based on engineering and safety studies, the speed limit on 2,800 miles of selected California freeways will jump to 65 mph from 55 mph Sunday. Early next month, the limit will be boosted to 70 mph from 65 mph on stretches of another 1,400 miles of rural freeways in desert regions, over the Grapevine and across the vast Central Valley.

“I believe that people are going to drive [at] these limits,” Helmick told reporters. “There may even be a slight drop [in speeding tickets], quite honestly.”

Helmick, state Transportation Director James W. van Loben Sels and state Sen. Quentin L. Kopp (I-San Francisco), who attended a news conference announcing the higher speed limits, said the new limits will be rigorously enforced, with no “cushion” for cruising slightly over the limit without fear of getting caught.

“I wouldn’t suggest anybody try us at 67 mph,” Helmick said.

The new speed limits will become effective as soon as the signs are changed, but the 55 mph limit for big trucks will remain.

Safety advocates, fearful that higher speeds would result in more deaths and injuries, fought Congress and President Clinton over legislation that now gives states the authority to set their own speed limits.

To emphasize that speeders won’t be tolerated, actor Dennis Franz, who portrays a police detective on television’s “NYPD Blue,” will appear in public service commercials reminding drivers to obey the posted limit.

Van Loben Sels said crews will begin posting the new 65 mph signs Sunday and should be finished Monday. To create the 65 mph sign, crews will stick a decal with the numeral 6 on top of the first 5 in 55. About 2,600 decals were ordered at a cost of $24,000, he said.

Total cost of re-signing the entire state, including the new 70 mph limit and additional 55 mph speed limit postings for trucks, will be $60,000, he estimated.

State and local government engineers also will examine other roadways and make decisions by March 31 on which can be increased to 65. The 55 mph limit will remain unchanged on about 1,500 miles of freeways, mostly in congested urban areas, officials said.

Meanwhile, a coalition of business, labor and government organizations warned Tuesday against emphasizing increased speed while the state’s highway system is struggling with a large budget shortfall in construction and maintenance.

“We have grave concerns about whether many sections of California’s deteriorating highway system can safely accommodate higher speeds,” said Jack D. Maltester of San Leandro, president of Californians for Better Transportation.