<ul><li><a href="http://www.thenewspaper.com/news/13/1362.asp">they appear to be at the root of only maybe 3% of accidents</a></li></ul>

 

I always see a tractor trailer jack knifed in the middle of the highway on the news, most common reason is the idiots weaving through traffic and the truck driver avoiding said idiot.
If we enforced the laws like on the autobahn the highways would be much safer.

 

What you've said sums it up precisely!

The main reason is that the other causes are much more difficult to enforce and much less lucrative for states, et al.

FWIW, ALL of my tickets have been on roads with almost no traffic. Mostly late at night and a few in the middle of the day. All highway.

Who(or what)are they protecting, exactly?

 

Since the UK began it's current campaign of installing speed and traffic light cameras, the road death rate has nearly halved. That's halved, while the US's death rate has remained constant. It's a definite stretch to say that the cameras were not connected at all to the reduction in death rate.

It's more likely that the cameras have been so effective at stopping speeding that the remaining accidents are from other causes. Take the cameras out and the accident rate will definitely rise again, maybe even back up to the US's horrifying level.

 

you are saying the death rate was halved. death rate is a function of the severity of an accident, not of how many accidents there were.

this jives with the data suggesting speeding isnt the CAUSE of traffic accidents.

 

utter lack of driver training. If you can fog a mirror, you can get a license. Bad judgement is the cause of the accident, and speed is sometimes a factor. There is a massive system that has grown in place in the government to collect fines and they don't want the gravy train to stop. If they did care about safety, they would insist on training.

Look at this graph. The death rate was falling before speed cameras. 1994 was the year speed cameras came into being, and the accident rates haven't dropped much if at all since. Death rates were not halved unless there was a new way of accountin introduced at that time.

<a href="http://www.abd.org.uk/road_fatalities.htm">"see graph"</a>

<a href="http://www.abd.org.uk/prosecutions.htm">"see why the government likes villifying speed"</a>

Worldwide at number 3 in car thefts, number 7 in reported burglaries, number 2 in frauds, 46 out of 62 (beat by Italy, Spain, and Saudi Arabia to name a few) in homicides, and a total crimes reported spot of number 6 which is just below Chile and up two spots from number 8 USA or 6 spots from number 12 Canada, the UK legal system appears to have other larger issues, but is chasing the money. As I've said before, it's a money grab, not a crime thing.

Since 45% of "traffic" deaths in the UK appear to be cyclists and pedestrians, it seems the roads and paths are poorly designed and not enough attention has been given to enforcing the laws of cycling and walking on those folks. If the problems were being fixed, then the rates would go down, right? But that wouldn't keep the officials employed, would it?

The UK also happens to rank 20th by way of civil and political liberty, flanked by Estonia and Poland. It's odd that the people don't seem especially well represented for such an old country that has previously prided itself on independence. For the record, the US is in number 8, flanked by Austria and New Zealand, and well below my home country of Canada at number 4 (which has seen speed cameras tossed from some provinces due to popular vote).

<a href="http://www.nationmaster.com/graph/dem_civ_and_pol_lib-democracy-civil-and-political-liberties">"use this to navigate all the statisics"</a>

And while the politicians are busy making the sheep feel better, the police aren't allowed to do their jobs.

<a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/6997568.stm">"police who want to be police and not puppets"</a>

In the UK it is has been proven that more accidents result at camera sites due to the distraction of the cameras. Speed difference is what often causes accidents, so anything that artificially causes those, is at fault - in this case speed cameras. A camera won't stop a person from making a bad choice so long as they don't go over the trigger speed.

<a href="http://www.thenewspaper.com/news/06/602.asp">"Logic dictates that more distractions introduce more chance of accidents"</a>

So in conclusion, the facts can be made to fit any agenda, and I don't buy the blind bleeting about going slower for safety. The UK doesn't seem to be a very safe place overall.
___________________________________________

"Q. Isn't slower always safer?
A. No, federal and state studies have consistently shown that the drivers most likely to get into accidents in traffic are those traveling significantly below the average speed. According to an Institute of Transportation Engineers Study (see link below), those driving 10 mph slower than the prevailing speed are six times as likely to be involved in an accident. That means that if the average speed on an interstate is 70 mph, the person traveling at 60 mph is far more likely to be involved in an accident than someone going 70 or even 80 mph......


Q. Aren't most traffic accidents caused by speeding?
A. No, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) claims that 30 percent of all fatal accidents are "speed related," but even this is misleading. This means that in less than a third of the cases, one of the drivers involved in the accident was "assumed" to be exceeding the posted limit. It does not mean that speeding caused the accident. Research conducted by the Florida Department of Transportation showed that the percentage of accidents actually caused by speeding is very low, 2.2 percent. "

 

Noice : )

 

One shouldn't even get started on the slippery slope of speed cameras in the UK. The UK is a the uber-nanny state and they have policy and enforcement issues that really contradict common sense.

Lets not forget the 60k+ cctv cameras they have.

We're already starting to adopt these types of policies slowly, but surely.

It's so easy for politicians regardless of party affiliation, to convince you that certain laws need to be enacted to 'protect' you.

It's a power grab as much as a money grab.

I'm getting way off topic here, but with the dollar past parity to the Canadian dollar, the *serious* issue of immigration and our amazing ability to **** off the rest of the world.

I predict we will see the end of the US as we know it in our lifetime. I truly weep for our future.

 

I particularly like your point on training. We have to learn to park in able to drive on a highway

 

It should be noted, it may have been but I missed it, that when the States introduced the 55MPH speed limit accidents actually went up. When it was removed they went down.

If you think about it, driving too slowly leads to inattention and day-dreaming (personal experience).

My pet peeve it poor driver training, people driving too close and too fast for the road conditions, i.e. during a snow storm, fog, etc.

Thanks April for publishing this information. Please see to it that it gets wide distribution.