Don't Forget: Speed Kills
Insurance group president criticizes NHTSA for lack of focus.
Curbing these two behaviors, Lund argued, would best help to reduce deaths on America's roads. In a quote reported by the Consumer Reports blog, Lund says:
“The hypervisibility of these issues diverts attention from initiatives that have far greater potential to save lives,” he says. “There’s nothing rational about the way we set highway safety priorities.”
Lund goes on to recommend replacing intersections with rotaries, cracking down on speed limit infractions and using red-light cameras more widely.More at Consumer Reports
Complete Ratings for 200 cars and trucks
[Source: Consumer Reports blog.]
“There’s nothing rational about the way we set highway safety priorities.”
There's also nothing rational about the way traffic signals are set!
As to "distracted" driving, has anyone ever considered that our artificially low speed limits are actually contributory. Limiting speeds to 55 mph on roadways where 75 mph would be completely safe, allows people to do things other than drive.
@Insert
Couldn't agree more with you. Too many people put total blame on "speeders" simply because it is a natural scapegoat. You're "breaking the law" so they need to figure out a way to deter the mindset that it is just a silly law by making up fabricated stories of how unsafe it is and how it ultimately kills.
more dangerous threats: speeding
Speeding doesn't kill. Inattention kills. Someone who is going 10 mph over the speed limit, but paying attention is 100 times safer then someone who is going 10 mph under the speed limit and NOT paying attention.
From my own experience, people who are speeding pay more attention to their surroundings. They know they are taking a risk and they are more alert because of it. People who drive under the speed limit tend to believe they cannot harm anyone because they aren't breaking the law. They don't pay attention and they cause accidents.
Of course there are exceptions to the rule. Such as a 16 year old with no experience who drives 90 mph because he thinks it is cool. Obviously that person is dangerous. However, my initial argument applies more often then not.
For the record, I agree 100% about the dangers of running red lights (also mentioned in the article).
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