More drivers putting the pedal to the metal - news article

[zoomie]

http://www.capitolhillblue.com/artman/publish/article_2287.shtml
CHP data, comments

 

[Chuck 98 RT/10]

It states that the cops are issuing more tickets, then it goes on to say traffic fatalities have dramatically reduced since 92.

So people are driving faster and safer yet cops are issuing more speeding tickets?

 

[Viperzilla]

Studies have shown that higher speed limits are safer than lower speed limits. They've also shown that younger drivers get in more accidents, though out of inexperience. And that the elderly cause the most accidents.

 

[mjguflaw]

The number one cause of accidents on the freeway in my opinion is lack of lane discipline. Slower trafffic refusing to keep right means people have to pass these morons in other lanes. Simple probablity says that the more people you have moving into each others lanes in opposite directions the more likely you are to have an accident. Driving the freeways of Europe is so much more pleasurable and less dangerous than in the U.S., notwithstanding the fact that the roads are generally narrower. If lawmakers really wanted to reduce accidents they would penalize improper lane usage. At this point though we're probably all doomed since they've now made the left lane the HOV lane in many cities. This only exacerbates the problem. Now we have buses and everything else cruising along in the left lane at 50 mph.

 

[McGuireV10]

Studies have shown that higher speed limits are safer than lower speed limits. They've also shown that younger drivers get in more accidents, though out of inexperience. And that the elderly cause the most accidents.

Back when they raised the limit to 70, I helped a friend do a paper on highway safety for a criminal justice class.

The studies generally show that elderly drivers cause most of the accidents, but accidents involving younger drivers tend to cost a lot more.

They also show that the NUMBER of accidents decline dramatically as speed increases, but the SEVERITY of any given accident also increases dramatically.

So I guess the question is, do you feel lucky?

 

[Lee00blacksilverGTS]

Actually I think what most of the studies say in general is that when the speed limits are set high enough that 95% of the drivers will then drive naturally at the DESIGNED speed of the road, which is 70+ maybe 80 on all our interstates then there is no bunching together. Cars running together at the same speed are a lot less liable to cause each other trouble than cars running at a differential of 20-30 mph, anybody who's been on a road course can appreciate this easily. One of the most annoying things to me is a cop in the left lane intentionally slowing traffic for miles back to 55mph thereby causing two lanes of cars to run together a car length apart or less and side to side. Can the idiot really think he's helping safety?

 

[Russ Oasis]

IMHO one of the greatest causes of accidents is people getting frustrated by others blocking the passing lane. If you want to go slower, why can't you just move to the right hand lane? Why is that so difficult. THAT'S what police should be giving tickets for.