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Re: UNFAIR SPEED LIMITS



In article <8A72550.20EA001210.uuout@westonia.com>, tom.neumann@westonia.com said:
>
>Country                  speed limit(km/h)      hwy deaths(per million km)
>-----------              --------------         -------------------------
>Netherlands              120                       3.2
>United Kingdom           112                       3.8
>Denmark                  100                       4.9
>Switzerland              120                       4.9
>Germany                   -                        6.0
>United States             89                       6.7
>Japan                    100                       7.0
>Belgium                  120                       9.5
>Finland                  80-120                   10.2
>France                   130                      10.4
>Italy                    110-130                  12.7
>Austria                  130                      15.7
>Portugal                 120                      39.3
>Spain                    120                      61.0

It seems to me from the statistics above that not only do higher speed limits
not contribute to higher fatality rates, but there appears to be no correlation
at all between speed limits and fatality rates. 

In the table, the best and worst fatality rates (in the Netherlands and Spain,
respectively) occur with the same speed limit (120 km/h). That same limit
appears in other places as well.

To top it off, the other countries have widely varying speed limits, with no
apparent trend from lower to higher appearing as the fatality rates go up.

Perhaps the real deciding factors for fatality rates are such things as
driver training and driver attentiveness, and whether there are strictly
observed conventions/laws on lane courtesy and passing.

Michael Johnson
Relay Technology, Inc.


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