Plea For MORE Legal Enforcement of Speeding Laws

It's not the safe speed of the ROAD BillRM. It's the safe speed of the traffic. The people. The pedestrians.

The speed limit protects YOU from people who are not able to make correct decisions on a safe speed.

I disagree. I say it's the speed limit that's causing the problem. The speed limit needs to be increased to 65.

I agree with max and BillRM.

Once more the 55 national speed limit of 55 could not be maintain as the public got sick of it with special note of out west where distances of the average travel tend to be far greater then in the east.

Then they should not be given licenses if they are that poor drivers.

Agreed. But they are. I wouldn't trust 1/3rd of the population with driving a car if it were up to me.

That fine however cars are the means that we moved around and get the business of the nation done.

Technology up to completely computer control cars might be the solution in a few years/decades.

Right now we have cars in production that if they sense a collision will apply the brakes themselves.

Only you would say that. The police are not just looking for drunk drivers, although it’s good they are, they’re also looking for speeders! Speed kills!

Hmmm MaPorsche

You said



The source you linked to said



There is a big difference between average speed and speed limit (although I notice that the web page pushes you into making this error with their own examples).

Ma,

I actually think there is a good argument to be made for lowering the speed limit. The increase in the number of accidents rates is well-documented.

I tend to react to a weak argument even if I agree with the conclusion.

Ok. So if the average speed is above the speed limit. Than you are MORE than 6 times as likely to get into an accident than if you are going the speed limit, correct (assuming the 6X number is correct)

Our highways are not set for 55 mph. It's 70. If it were 55 and the overwhelming majority of drivers were doing 70 the speed limit should be raised to 70. Most of us know what we are doing and the law should reflect that.

The claim is that if you are going 25% higher than the average speed then you are 6 times more likely to have an accident.

If you are going the average speed, you are not going higher than the average speed. Right?

The fact that the average speed is above the speed limit has nothing to do with this basic mathematical fact.

So sorry I spoke up in the male coliloquy.
I don't take my views as any more stupid than the next persons.

There's a street near my home that has a posted speed limit of 35 mph. I drive this road several times a week.

(Danica Patrick famously (at least locally) once got a speeding ticket driving on this particular stretch of road. I believe she was going 54 mph -- which isn't really all that fast on this particular road.)

The stretch in question is about a mile long, and it's one of those 5 lane jobs (2 lanes each way, and a center turning lane), and it rarely has any other traffic besides my car -- it's wide open. Driving 35 mph on this road is agonizingly slow, and there is simply no reason for that speed. I try to keep it to 45 driving on it, but 50 feels about right.

I road raced motorcycles for a few years and I think there are two things at work.

1. After being on a race track and experiencing how fast you can really go, going a little bit fast on the street doesn't have near as much attraction. I imagine this is the same for cars.

2. You do learn valuable skills about how to handle a vehicle at any speed.

I think safety has a lot more to do with ability and not being attentive. Speed makes things worse for sure, but it is secondary to the cause of an accident.

I am interested if you (maporsche) drive a Porsche. Do you always drive the speed limit. Any Porsche is a performance car.

No answer to my question? I have a hard time accepting a Porsche driver wanting a 55 mph speed limit. That's what, the end of first gear?

I'm sorry about your sister. I hope she has a speedy and full recovery.
First, let me say that we agree that our roads are dangerous. And that there are many problems that need to be fixed.
But speed ain't necessarily the problem.
Illogical speed limits are. Among other problems.
There are many countries that do not have posted speed limits and do not suffer that accidents we have in N. America. In the areas where limits are not enforced, traffic regulates itself.
In fact, speed related infractions are often inflated by the media and the police. Most speed violations are within 10-20 km (5-12mph) over the limit. And most tickets given are generally in areas where speed is not an issue. Artificial speed traps...
There are practical solutions to most traffic problems and speed zones - as in areas where high pedestrian traffic or schools are present are smart. However, schizophrenic speed limits usually do more harm than good. Residential streets, main roads, freeways, should be the SAME speed, all the time. Unless, there is construction. Residential, high pedestrian, parks - slow, main roads - through a high traffic areas, medium, and freeways, highways undetermined.. I lived in an area where speeds slip back and forth at whim, and where do the police sit?
The point is, this doesn't inspire good driving habits more than the memory of an elephant.

What other jurisdictions found is that instead of picking the generally safe speeder going a wee bit over the limit, or sending out a photo-radar ticket after the affair, they looked for drivers that were out of the norm. Drivers that ran red or yellow lights, or who speed up and drove through lights. They changed traffic patterns, no left at the lights, all rights.
They insisted that all drivers be educated, for all conditions, not just pass a test.
All cars had to be inspected and ensured that they were road worthy. Only certain vehicles are allowed on certain roads. Imagine highways sans combines or slow rvs, or at least made to stay in the slow lane. Most fatalities happen on rural roads.
Your sisters accidents sounds like less of a speed issue than a driver not stopping at a marked stop sign. Or bothering to yield or even check for oncoming traffic. Again, I'm not privy to the details, but I can tell you that accidents are rarely the fault of one bad decision. It's normally a collection or stupid actions that have catastrophic results.
Roads are designed for certain speeds, the crown of the road, the curve, the shoulders are all factors in building a road and it shouldn't be restricted because of one accident. Again, most drivers regulate themselves. Polices should be looking for the abnormal behavior. Cyclists and pedestrians should have safe paths or roadside lanes.
The number 1 cause of all fatalities is... a full 1/3 of all fatalities, accidents, injuries are caused by cell phones.
1/4 are caused by speed. Drunks barely register anymore. But they make great headlines. In fact, there are probably more legally impaired people (legally medicated drivers) than drunks anymore.
The problem isn't that drivers speed. Most drivers are capable of safely driving to the conditions. Enforcing artificially set speed limits without fixing the inherent problems solves nothing. People will continue to drive what they perceive as safe, risking tickets. Better to fix the problems, letting traffic flow unimpeded.
Traffic issues affect us all, whether it be the efficiency of public transportation, safety of the roads or the needs of industry/business it's in our best interest to improve the situation. But betting on one sore point is not going to make things better.

I find that hard to believe. (BTW, did you know that a full 65.4% of all statistics are made up?)

If a vehicle accident results in a fatality, does the presence of a cell phone in the car result in the conclusion that the accident was "caused" by the cell phone? Is there a distinction being made between drivers who are texting, and drivers who are merely talking? If someone is talking on a phone, how is the conclusion drawn that the phone conversation was the "cause" of the accident? How many accidents are "caused" by drivers talking with passengers?

Texting is a different story. I find it easy to believe that a high number of fatalities are the result of a driver texting at the time of the accident. It's not difficult to conclude that if a driver's attention was diverted from the road to the cell phone as they are typing a text, that they are not able to focus sufficiently on the road, and that could easily create a dangerous situation.

Strange if true as then you would have expected not a steady liner downward trend in highways deaths that been happening over the decades but a very sharp increase as cell phones became common in society.

None repeat none of the curves show any sharp increase as cell phones became more and more common however.