In 1964, over 1,000 persons died as a result of traffic accidents on Virginia's highways, while many other thousands were injured and maimed. Besides this tragic loss of life and mutilating injuries, many millions of dollars of property damage was also incurred. All this occurred despite Virginia's efforts over the past several years to develop one of the best over-all traffic safety programs to be found among the several states. In fact, we believe Virginia's Highway Safety Program is the envy of every other state in the nation.

As a continuing effort to improve safety on Virginia's highways, and to continually re-evaluate every aspect of our overall safety program, the General Assembly, at its 1964 Session, directed the Virginia Advisory Legislative Council, through House Joint Resolution 25, to make a study and report on the need for laws authorizing the governing bodies of counties and towns to fix speed limits on State highways passing through unincorporated communities and towns where they are not now specifically authorized to fix such speed limits.