OK Misha...I'm curious, so please teach me. I have no doubt you know a lot more about cars than I do, and one of the reasons I'm here is because I want to learn more.
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After doing some research, I realize I was dead wrong about this! I am so sorry. Normally I don't talk out of my 'butt'! I apologize to you all...in fact, FATALITIES WENT DOWN with no speed limit. This is a really interesting article:
In 1999, after 4 years of no numerical or posted daytime speed limit on these classifications of highways, outside of urban areas, Montana recorded its lowest fatality rate.
Research scientists and engineers have long known that there are sometimes unexpected results from changes in public policies. Ironically, the paradox of no posted speed limits and low fatalities is no surprise to the traffic safety engineering community.
For years, motorists' advocates have used engineering-based facts against artificially low speed limits. They have claimed that by raising speed limits to reasonable levels, accident and fatality rates will actually be reduced. This seemingly wild assertion has been documented by the traffic engineering profession for 50 plus years. This fact-based position has again been proven to be true by the repeal of the National Speed Limit. The nation has recorded the lowest highway fatality rate since such records have been kept.
What about the extreme of No Speed Limits on 4 lane Interstate and rural federal-aid primary two lane highways? These same fact-based engineers point to the German Autobahn, where, with no speed limits, authorities are consistently reporting lower fatality rates than comparable US highways.
For the last 5 months of no daytime limits in Montana, the period after its Supreme Court had ruled that the Reasonable and Prudent law was unconstitutional, reported fatal accident rate declined to a record low. Fixed speed limits were reinstated on Memorial Day weekend 1999. Since then, fatal accidents have begun to rise again.
This begs the question, do people change the way they drive when there is no speed limit? The evidence suggests the answer is yes. The measured vehicle speeds only changed a few miles per hour as predicted - comparable to data collected from other western states. What changed? The two most obvious changes were improved lane courtesy and increased seat belt use. Did other driving habits and patterns change as well?
The lower-than-US fatality rates on the German Autobahn (where flow management is the primary safety strategy), and now Montana's experience, would indicate that using speed limits and speed enforcement as the cornerstone of US highway safety policy is a major mistake. It is time to accept the fact that increases in traffic speeds are the natural byproduct of advancing technology. People do, in fact, act in a reasonable and responsible manner without constant government intervention.
My only other thought would be that for very young drivers (teens), I'd still expect fatalities to rise because they tend to not have the experience to drive at fast speeds, and in crowded cars with friends encouraging them to show off.
Joined: Aug 02, 2006
Posts: 705
Location: McLean, VA, USA
Posted:
Mon May 31, 2010 10:00 am
You did a good job Chief and saved me a lot of explaining! Seriously, I quite respect the people who can admit to being wrong, I think it's a sign of maturity
The site you found is great, it is a grassroot organization that was behind the national speed limit repeal. The best source of speed related stats and info, as far as I am concerned.
As for teens - are you sure they obey speed limits now, especially when get challenged by peers? I am not that sure
I didn't know of that site motorists.org before I Googled but it does look like they're a good source of information.
I am sure all teens don't follow speed limits, but some do I think...do you have any opinions on whether teens should be allowed to drive? I think it's also because of the end of the school year and graduation, but it seems there is an accident involving teens every day in the newspapers here. It seems so sad and preventable
Who said speed does not kills. It kills. Even an expert can make mistake. My brother is a driver living in Texas doing this job for nearly 12 years. But sometimes he makes mistake.
I had a van with massive power and low gears, so the top speed was 62 mph. That was fast enough to make me nervous, with only a lap belt and the door opening on every bump. In a car I've gone up to 100 a few times on long highway rides.
Speed differential is one of the real problems when most folks exceed the speed limit. If your flying past other cars at 40 or 50 mph faster than they are traveling you are asking for it. Even 30 mph is a huge speed differential. .
And this problem is made much worse because when they come upon this slower traffic they do not even set the car up for braking. That is to say; they have not started to gently come off the throttle and prepared the car for braking and / or a direction change.
Other things that lead the average driver into high speed crashes (but by No means all of them) Speeding on an unfamiliar road. Even when I was 17 years old I had a hard and fast rule of never flying down a road I didn't know.
As I got more into high speed driving I refined this a lot. As an example, I knew the traffic patterns on the roads I would fly on. I knew at what times of the day and what days of the week certain things were likely to occur: Like for instance the entire middle lane slowing down for no apparent reason between 4 pm and 5:30 pm every weekday.
Not paying attention as has been mentioned is a huge factor. But far worse is this: most drivers have no idea of what is going to happen when they have to brake hard from a high rate of speed. Furthermore, they have No idea how to it correctly.
Tailgating: the different rates of deceleration that different cars can achieve is staggering. I have been fortunate because even when I was very young people always wanted me to drive their cars (and their parents cars) to give them my opinion of it, so at a very early age I knew that cars don't only look different. Not to mention that tailgating also really limits how far you can see down the road; even if your smart enough to look through their windshields to see what’s in front of them. And sadly I think a lot of tailgaters are not even doing that!!
The list is almost endless but I think I hit a few of the biggies here.
I wrote about the subject of speed in the past. My notion was that drivers who roam in high speeds excuse it by stating that the statistics in most Western countries (made by the same authorities that enforce speed limits) show speeding as being the factor of 4% to 6% of the collisions. This claim is problematic because it assumes that the same authorities which are criticised by fast drivers, are now considered reliable.
Essentialy, my claim is that speed can never be the direct factor of a crash. How on earth can it be? However, most crashes are a result of a combination of factors, and it's hard to point one nominal factor. Besides, a contributing factor can have just as much an effect as what might be considered a "direct" factor. If we look at speed like that, we will find that about 15% of the collisions are speed related, many of them quite severe.
All in all, I reach a conclusion where speed must be matched to the conditions. Simple. The speed should be not higher or slower than the speed allowed not only by the nominal speed limit, but by the visual field, driver's feeling of safety and road grip. Too slow a speed, like too much of it, will put the driver at risk. I am intending to write an article about traffic management, which will elaborate on some related subjects (a few of which rised in Gerard's post).
The person behind the wheel would be the same as the murderer firing the gun, it's the person that kills, speed is the gun powder and vehicle is the bullet.
When we say speed kills, it's meant as speed for conditions, many people usually young and inexperienced drivers go too fast and lose control, killing themselves, occupants or other road users.
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OK Misha...I'm curious, so please teach me. I have no doubt you know a lot more about cars than I do, and one of the reasons I'm here is because I want to learn more.
