Increase Speed Limits And Save Lives!

Articles

Increase Speed Limits And Save Lives!

By Brooks A. Mick, M.D.
July 7, 2006

The nannies in society always want to limit freedom. Ever since the automobile was invented, governmental nannies have been setting speed limits, despite the lack of evidence that these limits accomplish anything reasonable. One of my campaign planks (you recall that I'm running for president of the US) is to establish a sunset provision for all laws, and this would certainly include speed laws. If a speed law is instituted in order to improve safety, then it would be required that it demonstrate improved safety before being renewed.

I expounded upon speed laws on this web site not long ago.

http://www.useless-knowledge.com/1234/mar/article175.html

I won't repeat all that, but I did note that there was once a study by a Joan Cimino who found that speed laws and their enforcement had no discernible effect on highway safety.

Back in 1995 there was a huge outcry when the Republicans proposed eliminating the nationwide 55mph speed law that Jimmy The Geek had instituted during his presidency. To save gasoline, of course. After he had manipulated the nation into gasoline shortages. But then, in 1995, the reason given for perpetuating the 55mph limit was that "it saved lives." Many safety experts, especially the Clinton's highway safety expert, predicted that eliminating the speed limit would kill thousands and thousands of people. Well, that prediction has been scuttled.

Statistics show that the cessation of the 55mph speed limit has NOT resulted in increased death rates. As has been shown in the past, the death rate is lower when the speed limit is reasonable--reasonable in the sense of being HIGH ENOUGH to allow efficient travel. As I said, this was not news to anybody in the highway safety field. Maxwell Halsey, for example, one of the early highway safety engineers back in the 1940s, had pointed out that a key element which promoted highway safety was "keep the traffic moving.!" The interestate highway system itself, through allowing higher speeds, improved safety. A study back in the 1950s showed that people were three times as safe traveling 60mph on rural highways than they were at 35mph.

So there were many of us who campaigned for the elimination of the 55mph speed limit on grounds that the limit actually produced more deaths and injuries than a higher limit would. And we were right. There was a 16% reduction in pedestrian deaths, a 33% reduction in crashes, a 37% reduction injuries, and a 16% reduction in fatalities from auto accidents. Not bad, as they say, considering that we now have data suggesting that cell phone use is about as hazardous as drinking and driving. Without cell phones, we might have even lower accident rates.

http://www.opinionjournal.com/editorial/feature.html?id=110008621

------------

About the author Brooks A. Mick: Physician, still practicing medicine but retired from the US Army. Write just for the fun of it, but working on novel in the vein of Tom Clancy's politico-military genre.

Email: brooks15@cox.net

Comment on this article here!

------------

All articles are EXCLUSIVE to Useless-Knowledge.com and are not allowed to be posted on other websites. ARTICLE THIEVES WILL BE PROSECUTED!