Unfortunately I dont buy any of that. Highway engineers didnt determine the national speed limit be raised, politicians (and really angry citizens) did. Driving a car is inherently unsafe. 3K+ lbs moving at 70MPH. I do believe that cars are more crashworthy but that has little/nothing to do with raising the speed limits. Just about any car on the road can handle virtually any highway in America at greater than 80. Have you driven down Mopac? Every car on the road flys by going at least 80.

I think the issue is the de facto disproving of your theory. What I am getting at is, if 70 is a safe estimate for most cars, then someone needs to inform engineers that the public doesnt believe it. I see far more accidents at 30 mph (say intersections) than I see on the highway at 70+. It is a byproduct of your surroundings not speed.
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Counterpoint: I see more FATAL accidents at 70mph than I see at 30mph.

Of course a counter-quote to Mr. Elford is:
Speed doesn't kill, it's the sudden stop that kills!


-Z-man.

 

Z-Man - I would agree, more fatal accidents. Research in New Mexico, however, showed that accident and fatal accidents did not go up when they raised their speed limit to 75. In fact, when adjusting for cars per capita they went down slightly. That is to say that in the test period # of accidents/fatal accidents did not change when the speed limit changed.
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The fastest i have gone in mine is 110 on a really nice straight country road. But in town and on the highway i dont speed but maby 5-10 miles over the limit sometimes.

 

Like Tom Cruise said in Risky Business.

"Sometimes you just got to say, the f**k with it"

 

Again, I will point out that "I dont speed but maybe 5-10" is like being a little pregnant. Either you are speeding or you arent. The degree to which you do it makes little difference. Either you do or you dont. I SPEED. I love speed, love it, love it, love it. I do try to save it for the occasional trip to the track but once in a while I open it up, even on public roads. We all speed. I dont know of even one person who has never sped before.
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I once brought up this topic with my parents... My father truley thinks the speedlimit should be around 110-120mph. Based on car controll at that speed compared to cars of the 1970's were speedlimits were in NY 70mph untill the oil crissis that changed the limit to 55mph.

Look at braking distances of cars on the 1970's (American) to cars of 2003... Its simply amazeing that the speedlimit isnt alot higher also concludeing that todays cars are alot safer.

 

So Matt, just to get your opinion right: you're saying that it makes no difference if you're going around 5-10 mph over the speed limit vs. 50-60mph over the limit?

I eagerly await your reply.
-Zoltan.

 

Zman, I agree that no one can justify EXCESSIVE SPEED on public roads. There is also no doubt that going 70 mph there is a higher chance for more serious injuries. What I am contending is, what is excessive speed? Is 70 mph a magic number or is 55 the magic number? I believe anything over 40 is enough to kill in most cases especially in a side impact accident. Would you subscribe to Ralph Nader's theory that no car should be built to go faster than its ability to hit a solid wall at that speed with no injuries? If that is the case, all cars would be governed to 40 mph or less and everyone would be safe and motorcycles would be outlawed. I believe NO ONE will say its ok to speed in traffic or unsafe conditions. The roads were built decades ago when speeds were not 55 and when I took my transportation engineering class, I was told the roads were built for 70+ mph speeds. Nevertheless, I would not want to speed around an overpass or around a turn at 130mph anyways. I further contend that if the roads were not made for 130 mph in some places, the silver state classic would never be held and 130 MPH AVERAGE speeds would not be possible on a public roads. I had a friend averaged at 120 with a fairly stock 951 for the entire 90 miles. I do agree that everyone is responsible for their own actions and when caught, one suffers the consequences of breaking the law.

 

V944god, Tom Cruise said: Sometimes, you just have say.... What the f#@k. One of my favorite lines of all times....

 

For those that say the interstates were not designed for speed, you obviously don't remember that Nevada did not have a speed limit on their interstates. Yes, just like Germany.

Nevada was also first with legalized gambling and prostitution. What a great state.....but I digress.

The US government used the 70's gas shortage as the reason for creating a national speed limit of 55 mph. The Fed wanted to save gas. At the time most speed limits were 75 mph. I-5 in California was 80 mph.

A lot of states, Nevada included, resisted this change. Until the Fed strong armed them with the threat of pulling the highway funds.

When gas prices were raised (I remember when gas was $0.29 per gallon) and gas became available again, the logic for the speed limit morphed into "saving lives". But in reality, it was answer D "none of the above".

Can you say "Revenue".

If the Fed was soooo interested in saving lives, they would have made cigarette's illegal a long time ago.

I wonder how many of the "speed kills" proponants smoke. And smoke in public?

 

Lego:
Isn't the Silver State classic a closed circuit event? IE: all public access to the road is cut off. Also: isn't safety gear required for the event (helmets & fire extinguishers?)

I have never stated that our public roads can't handle 100+ mph speeds. It is the PUBLIC aspect that I have a problem with: unless you can completely PREVENT the public from entering the road, the chances of someone innocent being involved with an accident during high speed driving is a great possibility.

I just read some information on the Silver State Classic: there is NO FREAKIN' way you can compare that event to blasting down a public highway at 100mph in an uncontrolled environment! The Silver State Classic is an organized event, has the Nevada highway patrol involved, 100+ course workers, there's a mandatory tech inspection....etc. I find it very disturbing that you compare this event to driving fast on public roads.


-Z-man.

 

Z-man, I am saying that speeding is speeding. You have broken the law either way. The world, in so much as it pertains to speeding, is black and white. Either you are over or under. There is no doubt that 40 over is PROBABLY more dangerous than 5 over but there are cases where even that is not true.

I also am willing to say that should I get caught I wont whine about the cop who gave me the ticket, nor about the law being wrong. I will accept what I chose to do and deal with it.

We put too much emphasis on speeding and not enough on drunk driving, using cell phones in traffic, driving while sleeping, etc.
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OK, let's just put aside the reasons behind speed limits. Whether they are there because of government strong arms, the mofia, or because Auntie May gave the President $100,000,000,000 to have speed limits, the following facts remain:
1. Most people drive around the speed limit, +/- 5 to 10 mph.
2. People who drive +/- 40 to 60 mph over or under the speed limit are dangerous on our public roads.
3. Typically the people who drive 50-60 mph OVER the speed limit are more dangerous than those who drive excessively slow.

To all of you who speed excessively on public roads: at least admit to yourself that what you do is dangerous. It really is.
-Zoltan.

 

I dont think anyone ever said it wasnt dangerous. I would argue that driving under the speedlimit (say 10-15 mph) is MORE dangerous. I remember coming around a blind highway corner at the speed limit to find grandma and grandpa driving a mid 80 Cadillac at 40 in a 70. I damn near killed them, me, and the people in the surrounding lanes. Driving too slow, causes people to become irritable, make irrational passing moves, generally want to kill you, etc, etc. My last pet peave is people driving far too slow in the left lane (passing only lane). 72 does not entitle you to drive in the fast lane. Then again, if the people at 68 would just drive on the shoulder all would be well!
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