Speeding Citations Drive Home Need for Auto Safety in N.C.

April 11, 2007

  • April 12, 2007 at 12:43 pm
    Bruce says:
    Like or Dislike:
    Thumb up 0
    Thumb down 0

    I have to agree that speeding is not the major cause of accidents. Our police are brainwashed to believe that despite all the contrary evidence, just as MAD has convinced many people that one beer with lunch makes you apt to kill hundreds of innocents. No one suggests drunk driving is good, but the fact is that the damage is done almost entirely by the seriously impaired, knee-walking drunks rather than the guy who had one beer with lunch. Similarly, driving at a stupid speed in bad conditions (including speeding in heavily populated areas)is very different from driving on Interstates at speeds they were originally designed to handle. I am old enough to remember all the articles about the Interstates having a 100 mph speed limit, and to have seen the requirement in the origainal (1947) specs that Interstates be safe at 100 mph. Speed limits are effective for raising revenues, and for giving cops an excuse to charge someone in an accident. We need to use the only scientifically accepted method of setting speed limits: the 89th percentile Rule, in which speeds are monitored and liits set so 89% of the drivers are within the limit. It is usually differences in speeds, rather than raw speed, which results in accidents.

  • April 11, 2007 at 2:12 am
    Roger says:
    Like or Dislike:
    Thumb up 0
    Thumb down 0

    I doubt that the causes of road accidents are much different in the US than in the UK. A recent study of the last ten years of road accident investigations, filed by the uk police forces, shows that in only 5.5% of accidents resulting in injuries/fatalities was the cause primarily due to excess speed. Yet, 95% of traffic policing is devoted to catching those drivers that speed! The reason being that it is one of the easiest traffic violations to police, prosecute and collect revenue from. It has very little to do with road safety, but has a great deal to do with the raising of revenue. It is about time more effort was devoted to the cause of the other 94.5% of serious accidents!

  • April 11, 2007 at 4:08 am
    Al says:
    Like or Dislike:
    Thumb up 0
    Thumb down 0

    In visiting an underwriting office a number of years ago I was shown a statistic that individuals that incurred a speeding citation in the previous 12 months were twice as likely to have an at fault accident in the next 12 months. Speed is definitely a factor.

  • April 12, 2007 at 5:39 am
    Roger says:
    Like or Dislike:
    Thumb up 0
    Thumb down 0

    Al might well have seen such statistics in an underwriting office. There are a number of factors affecting such records;1. the underwriter is looking for reasons to increase premiums 2. the underwriter in question may have targeted a particular type of driver 3. such statistics are useless unless annual mileage is taken into account. Often, those that have no speeding convictions have a higher incidence of claim compared to miles driven. The more miles you drive in a year, the more chance you have of picking up a speeding conviction.(And I\’ve seen underwriting statistics that \”proove\” this). In reality, few insurers really underwrite motor risks fairly in line with the risk posed by each driver – the time needed is too expensive, so a lot of poor drivers are subsidized by the better ones.

    Bruce , also, has a good point. Twenty years ago the then Head of Essex County Police (uk) said that too much of their resources were spent on checking and prosecuting drink drivers and speeding drivers at the expense of ignoring all other causes of accidents. He went on to say that drink drivers did not have a much greater incidence of serious accidents (somewhat higher in the hull only type)than those who had no excuse at all for their accidents. He only dared to say this because he was retiring. He would otherwise have been made to resign by the polititians.



Add a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

*