Crittenden Advises Drivers To Get Used To 65 MPH

Topics:  Bradford M. Crittenden

Lodi News-Sentinel
March 21, 1959

SACRAMENTO, Mar. 20. (CNS)—Bradford M. Crittenden, newly appointed Commissioner of the California Highway Patrol, said Californians best had get used to driving 65 miles an hour or less and this definitely included bus drivers.

Crittenden, former San Joaquin district attorney, has been on the job only a few days. He said he intends to take a long, hard and determined look at the CHP, wth an eye toward increasing efficiency, but has some rather definite ideas on traffic and safety.

In a capitol news conference, he was asked if the CHP would be ordered to enforce the new 65 mph maximum recently signed into law by Gov. Edmund G. Brown at once. The law actually does not take effect until next Jan. 1. Under the present law, the limit is 55 mph, unless it can be shown a higher speed was safe and reasonable.

"Well, the Highway Patrol in my own county already has taken a dim view of anyone going over 65," Crittenden said.

Crittenden said he believed both the use of radar and unmarked patrol cars "have a definite place in enforcement." He noted, however, a bill to permit unmarked CHP vehicles already has been killed in the legislature.

Following several questions from newsmen about high speeds traveled by bus drivers, Crittenden said he would review the matter thoroughly and would expect trucks and buses to obey the laws the same as any motorist, if not more so. In fact, Crittenden said he once made a citizen's arrest, his only one, of a bus driver who was exceeding the speed limit.

On the once touchy subject of the CHP's new uniforms, adopted several months ago, Crittendent said he believed they were "sharp looking outfits." He said he did not believe the new piping and braid makes the officers "over-dressed."