Speed kills?

[ctogher]

^_^ OK. For those never blessed with a visit to sunny South Africa, a brief introduction to the issue.

 

Despite all the wonderful points that can be made about SA, the one undeniable negative has to do with road safety. In relation to Easter weeekend there could be anywhere upward of 1500 people killed in three days on our roads. This may sound shocking but this figure is conservative.

 

Now, the usual knee-jerk reaction from those in office is to start discussing, (and discussing and discussing...), the need for stricter legislation in order to combat this issue. Statements widely publicized, (Speed Kills!), are used in TV ads on a daily basis in some attempt to reduce the carnage. To little effect.

 

The reasons are various, (bad driving, overloading, unroadworthy vehicles, drunken driving, etc...), but the one they have identified and decided to publicise is SPEED. Being of average intelligence I have one or two problems with this:

 

1] In all my years on the road, (including 8 years repping where I could do 800km in a week), I have witnessed quite a few accidents. None of which had anything to do with speeding. In most cases bad driving was the culprit, (two were drunk).

 

2] If you apply a law and see no significant decline in the death toll, surely you would deduce that this approach has failed and perhaps a rethink is required.

 

3] The average condition of the roads is fairly good, but not in the event of wet weather. In Europe, roads are designed to be convex to ensure runoff. Not so over here. Some roads become virtual rivers, particlurly in the Limpopo, Northern Province regions, (closer to Kruger National Park).

 

Despite years of increasing deaths on the roads, the authorities continue to wear their blinkers and insist that the main cause for this is speed.

 

I say - sometimes - but its perhaps time to actually think about the issue - heftier fines have evidently no impact.

[Shakkara]

In Germany there are no speed limits on certain roads, and there aren't many accidents there. Sais enough for me.

 

Within cities I think enforcing speed limits is a good idea though. And not on the big roads (which is all they seem to police here, rather idiotic since the speed limit is usualy too low on them, 50 or 80 kph while the road itself is spaceous enough to allow higher speeds), but rather on the ones going through the cities itself.

[ThetaOrionis01]

Actually in the UK it has been shown that the introduction of speed cameras has led to a dramatic decrease in accident rates:

 

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/2513023.stm

 

http://www.findarticles.com/cf_dls/m0999/n...1/article.jhtml

 

http://www.dft.gov.uk/stellent/groups/dft_...fety_026034.pdf

[vandorssen]

Here in the States we’ve had speed regulations for well on 100 years, with only a couple of exceptions. For those in the rest of the world, we have a sort of national “standard” speed limit on interstate roads of 70 MPH, or about 112-113 KPH. In my state, the standard speed limit on 4-lane highways is 65MPH (104KPH), 55MPH (88KPH) on two lane roads, and 30MPH (48KPH) in towns/residential areas. Montana did away with speed restrictions on some of their roads a while back, but they re-instated them under threat of having federal highway money held back. And look what it (speed limits) have gotten us… more car accidents than any other country I the world. That in itself should not be surprising, as we have more drivers than anyone else, but it is surprising when taken on a per capita basis, where we are almost triple that of other “industrialized” countries.

 

To be fair, one of the reasons Germany can have areas of autobahn with no speed restrictions, and still have better than average safety is that they take immaculate care of their roads, and the safety standards for cars is generally higher. (I remember the first time I came up to a sign signaling the end of speed restrictions… I remember very well… :D ). US auto manufacturers do not have the same dedication to safety that, say, Volkswagen, BMW, or Volvo has. German roads are amazing compared to even a newly laid road in the States. And the group in Germany that supports no speed restrictions is, to the German government, as powerful as our Firearms lobby.

[Mojlnir]

Fair points by all. though I think it unwise to downplay the role of speed in traffic accidents. The accident may not directly by the result of speeding, though I would wager that increased speeds exacerbated the situation. In the US, posted speed limits of 70 MPH on the interstate are generally viewed as loose guidelines and the majority of drivers operate under the assumption that 75-77 MPH is acceptable. This is often reinforced by patrol officers, case in point this past weekend, coming back from Seattle I was stopped for doing 72 MPH in a 60 MPH zone. I received a warning and was let go.

 

Any American who says they obey the speed limit on the Interstates is either lying or is over the age of 65. You will be repeatedly passed if you travel at the posted rate. When traveling at 75 MPH you and your vehicle are covering 1.25 miles per minute. That means that you are covering 110 feet per second. Blinking your eyes take 1/10th of a second...in which time you've covered 11 feet. Any condition encountered on the road is going to be magnified by the rate at which the vehicle is travelling. Slower speeds therefore allow for more reaction time, hopefully leading to better judgment calls and fewer accidents.

 

Germany, as an example of relative safety at high speeds, has extremely stringent policies on vehicle safety and they heavily penalize drunk driving. You simply lose your license. End of story. The same is true in Norway. It's just gone, never to return. Road design and up keep are critical as well, as mentioned before.

 

So, I posit that speed does in fact play a strong role in accident situations. I think the information presented by Theta backs this conclusion pretty well.

[Breton Thief Oriana]

Any American who says they obey the speed limit on the Interstates is either lying or is over the age of 65. You will be repeatedly passed if you travel at the posted rate. When traveling at 75 MPH you and your vehicle are covering 1.25 miles per minute. That means that you are covering 110 feet per second. Blinking your eyes take 1/10th of a second...in which time you've covered 11 feet. Any condition encountered on the road is going to be magnified by the rate at which the vehicle is travelling. Slower speeds therefore allow for more reaction time, hopefully leading to better judgment calls and fewer accidents.

 

Right, but most traffic accidents dont happen on the interstate, they happen in dense population areas. There, the speed limit is different so that accidents are prevented, and some are. This makes speed not the primary accident cause, but other things instead, such as DUI and Bad Driving, which is exactly what was said above. And also, even though YOU are moving that fast, SO IS EVERYONE ELSE. Still, the way us americans are we should keep the speed limits the way they are and enforce them more...

[Zmid]

Any American who says they obey the speed limit on the Interstates is either lying or is over the age of 65. You will be repeatedly passed if you travel at the posted rate. When traveling at 75 MPH you and your vehicle are covering 1.25 miles per minute. That means that you are covering 110 feet per second. Blinking your eyes take 1/10th of a second...in which time you've covered 11 feet. Any condition encountered on the road is going to be magnified by the rate at which the vehicle is travelling. Slower speeds therefore allow for more reaction time, hopefully leading to better judgment calls and fewer accidents.

 

Right, but most traffic accidents dont happen on the interstate, they happen in dense population areas. There, the speed limit is different so that accidents are prevented, and some are. This makes speed not the primary accident cause, but other things instead, such as DUI and Bad Driving, which is exactly what was said above.

I can't speak for anywhere else, but there have been many, many accidents in the UK caused by speed, if not as the primary cause, then as a significant secondary factor. Put simply, speeding makes you more likely to have an accident, and makes any accident that does occur worse.

 

And also, even though YOU are moving that fast, SO IS EVERYONE ELSE.

 

First of all, it is not true that every vehicle is travelling at the same speed (on UK roads and motorways, anyway). Secondly, the fact there is more than one vehicle travelling at these speeds actually increases not decreases the likelihood and danger of an accident. One driver making a slight mistake and crashing on a busy motorway can (and has) snowballed into a multiple vehicle pile-up due to this. Thirdly, at least in built up areas, you also have to watch for pedestrians, cyclists, etc, who certainly move slower than you.

 

Still, the way us americans are we should keep the speed limits the way they are and enforce them more...

 

...and I would say this is true of Britain as well.

 

I would certainly say, however, that, going by ctogher's post, the South African authorities do seem to be focussing too much on one aspect of road safety. Making sure that people are aware of the dangers of speeding is important, but not to the exclusion of everything else.

[Breton Thief Oriana]

Right, but its not as if everyone is stopped and youre still going at upwards of 70 MPH. I meant it in reference to "Blinking" every 11 feet. Since you are going 70+ and so are most other people, you wont hit them if all you do is blink. Right, speed causes accidents, but it isnt the main cause. DUI is the main cause. Or, it is over here...

[Peregrine]

Right, but its not as if everyone is stopped and youre still going at upwards of 70 MPH. I meant it in reference to "Blinking" every 11 feet. Since you are going 70+ and so are most other people, you wont hit them if all you do is blink. Right, speed causes accidents, but it isnt the main cause. DUI is the main cause. Or, it is over here...

Of course it still matters. If the guy in front of you crashes, now you're going 70 and he's not moving. And the only way you've got to stop in time (assuming you can even react before you close the distance), is to hit the brakes and pray. Of course you can't stop as fast without crashing as well, so better hope you're on your god's good side.

[Breton Thief Oriana]

Hey, its better than nothing. Not that I was doubting him, but its not like youre a maniac and just blowing past 100 for the hell of it. In a parking lot.

 

This reminds me, remember the guy who won the darwin awards, cause he strapped a rocket engine to his car and flew over canyon into a solid wall of rock? Thats the worst speed can do. Speed can do much more death too, but it isnt the biggest cause. Thats obvious in america, we want to put an end to drunk driving instead, even though it should be ALL dui. If you want to get high, thats fine, but stay at home or ride a bike to the corner store to satisfy yourself, dont drive...you could kill me, and I might be one of your customers that buys weed from you! how would that be? loss of profit margin because YOU had to be a Dui...