Using complex computer models, a team at Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre determined that ... the more time spent behind the wheel, the more likely a person is to die in a car crash.
But the study also found that slowing down the average speed of North American drivers by just three kilometres an hour "yielded 11,000 fewer crashes each day, saved about $10 million from property damage each day, and conserved about 199 cumulative life years" across the continent.
Imagine if we all came to a dead stop. We should all be immortal.
All this is just a rehash of a couple of favorite 20th century nanny-state memes: Speed Kills! and Slow Down and Live! The first is untrue and the second is merely an excuse for generating revenue. Witness the foolish 55 mph national speed limit in the US thirty years ago. It saved neither lives nor fuel. But it sure raised a lot of money via enforcement.
To me, speeding is simply reckless driving. It is driving that disregards prevailing conditions, regardless of arbitrary speed limits. Crazy driving. And drunk driving. That's what kills. If it is speed alone that kills, we should all not exist.
I think the most damning fact in this whole report is that it was generated by "complex computer models". We have heard this before, where?
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2 comments:
Enjoyed your article, Ken. I hope you don't mind but it made me think of an idea for my own blog. I've credited you of course and provided a link.
You can find it at persnicketyrph.blogspot.com
I guess I should have asked before I went ahead and posted, but if there's a prob I'll delete.
No problem! Links always are welcome in the blogosphere...
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