Let me start off by saying that I've been saying that we should increase our speed limits around here for quite a while, as its rather ridiculous to have a limit of 100 km/h while the speed of traffic is 130 in the left lane (62 & 81 mph)
Anyway, if you think that speed doesn't play a role in vehicle fatalities, you don't know how physics or the human body works. There are 3 things that high speed does to increase the likelihood of fatal accidents: reduces time you have to react to things on the road, makes it harder to maintain control in an emergency, and impacts are more severe.
But in regards to that video in particular, the first example that they showed of an unreasonable speed limit looked to me like it was windy road built in a wooded, hilly area. That restriction of visibility would make it fairly easy to drive beyond what you can safely react to.
I also disagree with the idea that cops sitting out in the open would discourage speeders more than hidden cops. Because if cops
only sat in the open to try and catch speeders, chances people would only not speed in those specific locations, at those specific times. The next day the cop is gone & everyone goes back to normal. But if the cops hide, you don't know if there's a cop around the next corner or behind the next sign. There probably isn't, but you never know. So to prevent being ticketed, you have to assume they could be anywhere at any time.
As for the 'speed is/isn't' a factor, simply put if someone dies it probably was a factor in some way, shape or form. Might not have been the main factor, their speed might not have been excessive or even illegal, but it would have played a role. See my 2nd paragraph.
Their last example, of the Sea to Sky highway, they cited a report from 2003 that listed a number of roads where the limit should be increased. He implied that the Sea to Sky is one of them, due to the upgrades that were done. Problem is, the major revamp of the highway was started in 2005 and wasn't completed until late 2009. Bending the truth, leading viewers to connect things that aren't related ... sounds a lot like the criticisms that he had about the mediaa few minutes early in the video.
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Originally Posted by MichiganSRT
Unfortunately the gov makes too much money for them to want to raise the speed limit and get less money from tickets. Unfortunately not very many people are good enough drivers are good enough to go 70 let alone 80.
Great video man, thanks for sharing!
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There is absolutely nothing that would prevent them from raising the fines for speeding at the same time they increase speed limits. If you anticipate issuing 1/10 the tickets ... make each ticket cost 10x as much, in the end it will balance out.
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Originally Posted by wakespeak
Highway fatalities are at all time lows right now despite raising the speed limits to 75-85 mph and many more cars on the road. This trend is not debatable. Texas raised all speed limits (there are some 75 mph stretches on rural single lane country roads), then ratcheted down on some stretches when it was clearly too fast. Ahhh.....not a chore driving anymore.
There is much less tension and conflict on highways as the video points out, so the irony is that it is less stressful going faster too. The real causes now get focus, drunk driving, texting, not paying attention, and poorly designed roads.
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Are you arguing that higher speed limits are the cause of the lower fatality rates? Because personally, I would think that perhaps safer cars (ABS, traction control, stability control, crumple zones, air bags, etc) might be the main cause.