OK now. As anyone who can read that little caption under my column can see, I’m a freshman in journalism. I’m no expert in criminology, politics, sociology or anything else. Still, I’m not blind. There are some things that everyone knows.

Even those of us who’ve never taken a sociology course in our lives probably know that there are such things as victimless crimes, where the only person hurt is the perpetrator. These include gambling, drug abuse and prostitution. In America, these are crimes and are technically punishable in a court of law, while in Europe there’s more of an effort to rehabilitate perpetrators without really punishing them.

In America, we all know these crimes happen anyway. In many places, victimless crimes are winked at and looked over by everyone, especially when committed by people with some money. We all know there are people on campus smoking marijuana, probably this very second. Underage drinking and violation of open container laws are rampant, as they are on pretty much every college campus throughout America. Even OSU’s simple restriction on smoking near an entrance to a campus building is almost entirely ignored.

Crimes such as these are usually unenforceable. Even if they made a concentrated effort, police could only begin to scratch the surface of these everyday crimes.

The other unenforceable, victimless crime that almost all the civilized world is guilty of is speeding.

That’s right. I just compared speeding to shooting up heroin.

But seriously, speeding laws, much like the drinking age and other drug laws in the United States, need to be addressed by today’s politicians. And exactly like these other laws, today’s politicians won’t touch it.

Speeding in itself isn’t a ridiculous notion. There is probably a speed that’s too fast for certain roads, but 35 mph isn’t that speed. Neither is 65 mph on the highway. It gets even worse. Twenty-five mph is always going to be freakishly slow unless you’re in a thick fog or a foot of snow. Twenty-five mph is never an acceptable limit unless the road is too dangerous to be driven on in the first place.

I think the entire problem could be fixed if the United States came to its senses and realized the current limits have really become more like “advised speeds.” On the highway, you almost never see someone going 60 mph in a 60 zone. What you also never see is anyone going slower than that. In fact, if they did, it’d be more likely to get them killed than going 80.

Advocates of the current speed limits (it’s hard to believe, but they must really exist. Otherwise we wouldn’t have them in the first place) believe that official caps on speed help prevent deadly accidents, but in truth it’s the exact opposite. Because no one obeys the limit laws, those trying to follow the rules are putting themselves in huge danger. People don’t expect to round the corner and see someone patiently scooting along at 30 mph, and by then they’re already piled up in a tangled heap.

So, someone needs to act. Either jack the speed limits up to something sane or abolish them completely. Leave it to the cop’s discretion if someone is driving recklessly, but eliminate the costly and damaging speeding charge. The public of the United States needs to say something together in unison and let our leaders know that speed limits are obsolete. I know there’s a lot going on in the world today, but this is an issue that we need to stop ignoring.

Then maybe we can work on the drug laws.

Richard Poskozim is a freshman in journalism. He can be reached at [email protected].