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Re: The Federal Study that Finds Speed Limits Irrelevant...



In article <3v5pcq$431@nooster.navy.mil>,
Tom Glaab  <tglaab@nooster.navy.mil> wrote:
>I was listening to the NASCAR race this weekend on the radio... there was a
>15-car pileup at 200 mph, and everybody walked away from the accident.  So much
>for the "speed kills" argument.

>How can NASCAR drivers go bumper-to-bumper at 200mph without incident while Joe
>Driver can't handle 70 on the open road?  Training and alertness.  Getting a
>driver's license is a joke in America :-(

Some comments:

Training and alertness has more to do with those who *avoided* the wreck
than those caught in it.

And I wouldn't call a race with a 15-car pileup "without incident."

The *real* reason no one was hurt (seriously, at least; one driver came
away with one hell of a black eye) was that the cars are designed to
withstand the expected impact, with stout roll cages and designed-in
crushable structure, and the drivers wear crash helmets and fire suits,
and are well and truly strapped in to wraparound seats.  Even with all
these safety measures, NASCAR drivers are occasionally killed.

Joe Driver *can* and *does* handle 70 MPH on the open road.  Every day.
If he couldn't, fast drivers like you and me would be dying in droves,
and last I looked we aren't -- fatal accident rates are continuing their
long historical downward trend.  The problem is that the cops, the
courts, the legislooters (great word, I wish I'd thought of it!), and
most importantly the insurance profiteers don't wish to acknowledge this
fact, because of one important fact:

It costs these vested interests big money to admit the average driver
can drive safely when left to his/her own devices.

There is no other reason for the insane 55/65 NMSL to exist.
 -- Chuck
-- 
Chuck Fry  chucko@best.com  chucko@rahul.net  chucko@ptolemy.arc.nasa.gov
The Communications Decency Act, promoting Internet censorship, passed the
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