Interesting Speed Article

Pretty lame article. It doesn't get into why it happened; are there more accidents because there are more vehicles on the road, because drunk driving has increased, or is it really because people can't help but crash when they drive slower?

Though it's true that "North American speed limits are absurdly low."

 

I think this is a good article and it raises some interesting questions about the correlation between speed and accidents. While the increase in accidents when the speed limit in the US may be questionable because of other variables (volume of traffic etc....though you'd think they'd have used figures from the year prior to the change in law) the finding in Germany, where the autobahn has same accident rate as "limited" highways kind of puts the lie to this insurance company authored "speed kills" dogma.

If the insurance companies had their way we'd all be driving bumper cars in a circle at a maximum of 5 mph.

 

If the article does not try to explain why, it might just be because they don't have enough information to say so without speculating. If that is the case, then it is good factual reporting.

As for raising the speed limits, I used to follow this issue as reported by Car & Driver and other such magazines back in the late 80s and 90s. A few things that were repeatedly cited:

- when speed limits were raised from 55mph in the U.S., accident or fatality (I don't remember which) rates dropped
- when you are puttering along at 55mph, you are likely to pay less attention, get bored, etc., vs. when you go faster, you are more involved
- the variance of speed between vehicles was one of the main contributors to accidents. There are roughly two kinds of drivers: Those who adhere to or near the speed limit, and those who go the speed they want to. When the speed limits were raised, the speed limit drivers went faster, but the go-the-speed-they-want-to drivers did not; they kept doing what they always did. The result was that the variance of speed between vehicles narrowed.

On top of that, I'd offer that when you're not keeping an eye out for police and worried about getting a ticket, you are more focused on everything else around you; not having to worry about getting a ticket is one less distraction.

 

This makes logical sense... perhaps if the speed limit were higher, the less skilled and more timid drivers would stay the hell OFF the freeways. And perhaps if more people were traveling at say 80-90 mph, they would be more concerned about being distracted, and have that F$%!@ cell phone surgically removed from the side of thier head!!

If insurance companies want to lobby against something that is resulting in outrageous numbers of claims... they should lobby for laws ENFORCING hands-free cell phone use. The law should be simple, get caught holding your cell phone once, $1000 (undisputable) fine, and the officer gets to pummel your phone into the pavement. get caught a second time, 3rd, etc., $5000 fine and lose your license for a year.
This law would eliminate about 80% of women under 35 from our roads!! It would also increase city/county revenue, and perhaps afford more law enforcement officers!