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speed kills ?

2K views 34 replies 18 participants last post by  matty67 
#1 ·
anyone else sick of hearing this mindless mantra?

does anyone who touts it actually give it any thought?

speed doesn't kill
 
#2 ·
Lower speed limits were initially put in place on American and Canadian highways as a means of forcing motorists to concerve gas. The national 55MPH speed limit was installed during the '74 Middle East oil embargo.
 
#7 ·
Poorly skilled drivers might have something to do with that. There is more schooling and training required for European drivers. I'm speculating but that might offset the rate of accidents in proportion to North American drivers and their lower speed limits.

I believe that poor driving training and skills have a greater factor in our traffic/road accidents. Unfortunately, no one ever admits to being a bad driver and would never take the initiative to reevaluate or improve their skills.
 
#8 ·
jixxer said:
I know for a fact however, that the road test (for cars) in the UK is much harder and much more thuro then the one here in BC. So a harder road test would mean more elite drivers on the road. Correct me if im wrong.
very true, but we already need to get about half of all our local drivers off the streets.
the driving here is that pathetic.

edit: I think there needs to be mandatory re-testing about every 5 years and a much more comprehensive system to get your license in the first place.
Police need to ticket and suspend drivers that are doing ridiculously stupid things too.(often overlooked)
 
G
#10 ·
speed doesn't kill. stupidity kills.

if you rear end a car on the highway doing 2 tons and die is it because of speeding? no, it's because you were stupid.

time and place for everything. that's what should be pounded into our heads.
 
G
#12 ·
guns don't kill people
people kill people

same here with speed. I don't think it's the roadtest though. Even shitty drivers can do the basics if they want to...drive between the lines...turn and all that. HOWEVER, some people choose not to do these things after their roadtest. And everyone breaks traffic laws.
I don't think it's a matter of how skillful our drivers are. I think we gotta get the knuckleheads to stop driving like a crazy mofo. Make penalties stiffer. I think that if someone is stupid enough to get 10 points within a year, don't just take away their license for a few months, make it a year. Increase their insurance - breaking the law = dangerous = more insurance. A bit farfetched but not impossible. Do as much as possible to get people to stop driving like boneheads.
 
#15 ·
Ever hear "Speed related collisions.....?"
The faster the objects are moving, obviously the more carnage.
I'm a proponent of of "Smart driving saves lives."

Speed, by itself, does not kill. It is the related errors that are compounded by speed.

and this friends, is the basis of facilitated insurance. private insurance has this. bad drivers punished, good drivers rewarded.
There is a similar system in place here. The more you cause crashes, the more your insurance premiums. The more tickets/driver's penalty points, the more your license....and now that you can't renew your insurance without paying your DPP (shoulder shrug....I know this by experience) the result is almost the same.
The downside of escalating premiums for bad drivers is: the bad driver's refuse to pay the high premiums, so they steal a license plate from someone else, and drive around anyway. when they get caught in a crash, the debts from that crash are added to their bill, their license is suspended, and they keep driving. (I'm assuming this is the worst of the worst).
The media had a field day with the worst of the worst of vehicle thieves.

How about this as an alternative?

I do agree, if you are a bad driver, pay through the nose. If you are a really bad driver, your vehicle should go to the crusher.
Impaired driving conviction? Vehicle crushed.
Not finished with the payments? Regrettable, vehicle still crushed.
Driving with no insurance? Vehicle crushed.
Driving with no license? Vehicle crushed.
Not your vehicle, borrowed from someone else? Vehicle crushed.
Just a thought......
 
#16 ·
michael said:
Ever hear "Speed related collisions.....?"
The faster the objects are moving, obviously the more carnage.
I'm a proponent of of "Smart driving saves lives."

Speed, by itself, does not kill. It is the related errors that are compounded by speed...
I remember an article in "Car and Driver" some years back.
They were looking at this whole issue.
Some aspects of the statistics are really messed up.

example:
The forms that were used in documenting accidents basically had a checkbox to indicate whether speed was involved.
The police would check mark the box if anyone involved was speeding.

So, if a person is speeding along and going through an intersection, but gets T-boned by someone running a red light (at legal speed), then it would be documented as "speed involved", with a check mark.

Pretty messed-up methodology.
 
G
#18 ·
doug said:
and this friends, is the basis of facilitated insurance. private insurance has this. bad drivers punished, good drivers rewarded.

icbc? bad drivers subsidized by good ones. everyone suffers.
amen brother doug!

icbc has the "lets make a profit mentality." this would be fine if they were a fucking government organization, so why the hell do we have to subsudize everyone? i have my level 1 insurance certificate and the teacher told us that there were several people that didnt fit on to the normal charts for +/-. Roadstar is like a -8, I believe that she said that there were a few drivers who were up in the high teens. Their insurance was around $3k a month. Unless youre growing pot, how the hell can you afford 36k in insurance a year?!
There should be a policy that limits the vehicle they can operate. I have a sneaking suspition that many of the accidents are caused by people with too much car. Theres no reason for a newb driver (or a shitty driver) to have an M3, or an S4, or ... Give them a basic ~115hp civic or VW. Make them prove that they can actually drive. While power is nessessary in certain situations most of these morons seem to drive the way i drive a POS car just to make it go. When im in my GTi (VR6) or one of my parents vehicles i dont feel ive got anything to prove and that if i thrashed it like i did my prelude i wouldnt be around very long.

if speed were the only cause of accidents its likely that the majority of people on this board wouldnt be posting. i know i wouldnt be. its the stupidity thats the problem. how many accidents are caused because of the liquid sunshine down in vancouver? sure speed might have caused the car to spin, but youre a damned moron if youre dickin around in the rain. ive travelled the coke as a driver or a passenger numberous times. the closest ive come to anything was when an asshat trucker decided to STOP in the "slow" lane coming down from the toll plaza. it had been shitty conditions the whole way, but i had brandnew snow tires. Well this was compounded by the second rig that seen the first one and cut into my lane. i swerved back into the slow lane only to realize that there was a damned trailer that wasnt moving. i ended up having to go around the stopped truck via the snowbank! the real piss off came when we passed a chainup area no more than 100 meters down the road. grrrr:firemad :firemad :firemad :firemad :firemad :firemad :firemad :firemad

has anyone else noticed that about 90% of the time theres someone in the ditch (because of snow) its an explorer? sure its a popular SUV, but overall theres more jeeps, gm vehicles, and imports that should twidle that majority away from ford.
 
#19 ·
Yes, speed doesn't kill you. It's the stop that kills you.

eg. 200km/hr and then bang 0km/hr in less than quater of second. If you have time to stop, speed can't kill ya.

That stopping time can cause the sand in your shoes to be inserted into your feet.
 
G
#20 ·
if your flying down an open road, or say the coke in the summer unless you cant control your vehicle there shouldnt be any instantanious stoppages.
people who speed thru residencial areas or other populated areas should get introuble. but there is no reason that the speedlimit on the coke should be the same as the speed limit as rogers pass.
 
G
#22 ·
Yep, more stringent testing and more expensive licensing makes for better drivers, and safer highways. I watched a documentary (I think it was called, "Hitler's Highway: The Building of the Autobahn") and I seem to recall that it costs around $3000 in Germany to get your license. I could be wrong about the figure, but I remember that it was very expensive. You don't get the average Ricky Racer on the highway when it costs that much in training.
 
#24 ·
slam said:
Some aspects of the statistics are really messed up.

example:
The forms that were used in documenting accidents basically had a checkbox to indicate whether speed was involved.
The police would check mark the box if anyone involved was speeding.

So, if a person is speeding along and going through an intersection, but gets T-boned by someone running a red light (at legal speed), then it would be documented as "speed involved", with a check mark.

Pretty messed-up methodology.
Exactly the same situation is with "alcohol related accidents".

If a driver had one drink (yes, one is enough) and drives speed limit through the same intersection and some inattentive soccer Mom on a cellphone runs the red light and causes an accident it will be classified as "alcohol related accident" by our hypocritical police.

And, if it was true that speed kills then all the Germans would be dead already.
 
#25 ·
michael said:
How about this as an alternative?

I do agree, if you are a bad driver, pay through the nose. If you are a really bad driver, your vehicle should go to the crusher.
Impaired driving conviction? Vehicle crushed.
Not finished with the payments? Regrettable, vehicle still crushed.
Driving with no insurance? Vehicle crushed.
Driving with no license? Vehicle crushed.
Not your vehicle, borrowed from someone else? Vehicle crushed.
Just a thought......

I laughed (in a good way) when I read this. I just imagined the look on some of those yahoo's faces as their vehicle gets crushed. (Serves you right, loser.)

I think inattentive drivers, running yellow and red lights, driving too fast for conditions (e.g., snowy roads, lots of traffic) etc. cause more accidents than "speed" does.

I think an important lesson that most people are not taught is how to handle "panic" situations. I took a advanced driving course through BMW last year and I learned a lot. From simple things like the "proper" position for your mirrors and hands on the steering wheel to practicing evasive maneuvers, it was money well spent.
 
#26 ·
Ah yes my 2nd ticket in as many weeks... I'm up to $400. [ya I know it's nothing compared to some on the board] my buddy tells me to quit stopping, but I have a hard time taking off from cops. :2guns
What gets me is it doesn't even feel like I'm speeding...50km/h on the Dollarton hwy is like being in a parade - I just can't do it!!![I was only doing 70 I could easily have done it a 140]
I guess I speed everywhere, if speeding is defined as going over the speed limit.

Oh well I better get a 2nd job, or give up the bike.

Speed doesn't kill if you know when, where and how much to use for each situation... it'll get you out of trouble more times then it'll get you into it, but only if you got the skillz.
 
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