Quote:
Originally Posted by The_Blur
This information is incomplete. You're forgetting about the consideration of reaction time and whether the car behind you or in front of you has stopping power on par with your own. You're forgetting that people driving slower cause lines of traffic which lead to erratic driving behavior. People have more accidents at intersections than on the highway, but highways are far faster than people turning left at a green arrow. Once again, speed is not the only or even primary factor in accidents. Stopping power doesn't necessarily prevent accidents. You might be able to stop before me by going 10 mph slower, but I'm going to be driving safely behind you or in another lane to compensate for the difference.
Safe, not necessarily defensive, driving stops accidents. Speed limits merely take the focus of driving away from the road and place that focus on the needle under the window.
On another note, speed limits, by their very name, reflect an absolute maximum that should be driven on any road. Why is it then that the vast majority of drivers drive the absolute limit or higher all of the time? Is it possible that the limit is too low that everyone feels safe at the same velocity? And from what are we safe? We don't go out on the roads worrying about collisions most of the time. Our main concern is getting pulled over.
Think of the benefits of increasing speed limits. Less traffic means less accidents. Less time traveling on the highway means less sleepy drivers on long commutes. I could go on, but this rant must continue instead.
I'm not sorry to say that speed limits contribute very little to safety and very much to inconvenience and citizen fear. It merely forces Americans to fear the police who are around to protect, yet their primary role on the highway is to punish. Perhaps punishment should be reserved for those significantly exceeding traffic rather than picking 1 out of every 15 cars that speed by the radar station. If the majority of Americans drive over the speed limit, that's a pretty democratic indicator that the speed limit should be raised. Instead, the majority of Americans are the bad guys. Logic isn't backing the obvious. It's a democratic system, yet the speed limits reflect the seeds of an authoritarian police state.
In a country where the plurality rules, does it really make sense that such a large number of drivers break the rules regularly have no say in the rules they are breaking?
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+1
Too many buy into the sound byte dillusion that "speed kills," with no critical thought to the source. There are a plethora of factors that play into accidents, and unfortunately, root cause of these accidents is not the one that law enforcement goes after. Speeding is simply the most easily detected, and therefore the most readily applied. Its not any specific cop's fault, its the way the system is setup. If root cause were the target, the majority of tickets would be for people driving in the left lane, tailgating, failing to signal, failing to merge properly, refusing to yield, rubbernecking, etc.
To the OP, understand that speed limits are low. Modern technology has surpassed many of the antiquated numbers, but they are what they are. You live in a world where you roll the dice when you drive. Not much you can do directly to modify it. You can try contacting your elected officials, but as has been pointed out, you will lose to the safety argument, despite validity in your own. You'd also be cutting tax revanue, which is a steep enough hurdle on its own.
If you choose to speed (and I'm an admitted advocate), make sure you give yourself plenty of following distance, signal, etc. Find what the sweet spot is in your area for tickets. Around here, the addage is "9 you're fine, 10 you're mine." Budget for the tickets you know you'll get. If you overestimate, great! You have extra cash. If you're under... well its just like today I suppose.
