[ZTWsquared]

P-51,Oct 10 2007, 12: Wrote:

Quote:because the bottom line is we don't have too many of those on our roads these days and things haven't improved in 4 decades.

That's completely untrue.

It is absolutely true … the vast majority of drivers where I drive are obliviosos … even and perhaps especially the so-called law abiding ones … the have no situational awareness … they know not what a rear-view mirror is … they have no clue why you should always keep to the right and never pass on the right (or force someone else to pass on the right) … they don’t know what turn a signal is for or alternately they don’t know how to turn it off … they don’t know that you need to slow down and leave more space when traction is compromised … they don’t know what to do when faced with an emergency vehicle behind them … they don’t know how to merge two lanes of traffic … they don’t know how to work a four-way stop … they don’t know what “right of way” means … they don’t know how to look more than 10 feet in front of their car … they don’t seem to know that traffic entering a highway will likely be merging to the left … they don’t know that red means stop even though at one time you had an advanced green … then there’s the wannabe Paul Tracys who have most of the faults mentioned above but exhibit their ignorance at much higher speeds. I could go on and on and I know you could too.

The point is our driving public didn’t get this way because the speed limits are too low. They got this way because our standards are woefully too low … any idiot can get a license and do. And conversely raising the speed limits will not improve their skills, knowledge or awareness one iota.

P-51,Oct 10 2007, 12: Wrote:The fatality rate PER PASSENGER MILE has fallen quite a bit in the past decades.  It's on the order of 1 half, or less.

You think this is because drivers are better?! No friggin way … it’s better cars, better technology, legislated behaviour, better emergency services, increased urbanization, better medical skills and equipment and yes … slower speeds due to lower speed limits and increased congestion. In any event, the accident rate is a lot higher and the incidence of people being hurt is way up.

As to the rest of your points I accept their validity. The only reason they aren’t banned or required is the combined theories of picking the “low hanging fruit” first, and the social acceptability of the [insert activity here].

It’s easy to target speeders because it’s easy to make that behaviour anti-social in the eyes of most citizens. Cell phone users not so much.

And there may come a point where listening to the radio in the car is on par with drinking and driving or street racing … but until that happens you can expect there to be no action on that front.

P-51,Oct 10 2007, 12: Wrote:I've been in two accidents in my life.  Both of them I was going less than 30 km/h.  I wasn't paying attention, and hit somebody who stopped unexpectedly.  The first time, I wasn't charged with anything.  The second time I was charged with careless, but only "because I have to, but you don't deserve it, so take it to court and it will be dropped."  And it was.

Does this make me a bad driver?  I DARE you to make that implication.  I have driven over 500,000km in 15 years.

Surely you’re not contending this makes you a good driver, are you? What it makes you is an inattentive driver, or perhaps a driver following too closely … and if you’re claiming it was the low speed limit that “made you do it” then that’s pretty lame in my view.

I’ve been driving since 1969 (almost 40 years for the math challenged) including two summers as a big rig driver as well as a total of 3 years in Britain, Germany and France … total driven is probably in the neighbourhood of almost a million km … I too have had two accidents … one a broadside by a drunk driver going through a red light … and the first one – two weeks after I got my license, a car pulled out of driveway in the rain in front of me and I couldn’t stop. The kid in that car wasn’t belted in and was cut badly despite the low speed I hit them, but the other driver was charged, not me. The only offense I’ve been charged with in all that time is speeding.

Am I a safe driver? I think so … but as a result of those collisions I am a better driver because I now do things a bit differently. Had I know then what I know now I might have avoided those collisions even though they weren’t my fault.

But the most impactful education I received was driving in Britain and Europe and coming to understand the science of moving traffic fast and safe; as well as what it takes to get a drivers license there.

P-51,Oct 10 2007, 12: Wrote:Statistically, this shows that I am safer than the average driver, EVEN THOUGH, I tend to drive fast.

How do you figure this? The majority of drivers, as incompetent as they are, do not have collisions. I’m not saying you’re not safe … but you’re obviously no statistician either.

Statistically the majority of drivers do not have collisions and the majority of drivers are never charged with speeding. Statistically that says drivers that don't speed don't have collisions - statistically.

P-51,Oct 10 2007, 12: Wrote:Lowering speed limits, only heads in one direction.

Right or not, this is irrelevant … we’re discussing the enforcement of existing speed limits, not lowering them.