I saw a lot of the cameras, and I got flashed a lot, but they must have a tolerance as I never got a fine. I rarely ever went over 140 kph though. The bridges were a PITA though, they have a lot of bridges in Germany.
Bing I am from your time too, but as I recall, there was a lot less traffic back in those days. There was a lot fewer people then too.
You need a reason to perform a test. First state the hypothesis, then test it. It doesn’t matter whether your hypothesis is correct, but it is important that the test is unbiased and will provide answers that may lead to a more correct hypothesis the next time it is tested. If this goes on long enough, you can form a theory from all that work.
“You need a reason to perform a test.”
jt, that reason is money, and when money is involved, there will be bias.
^Therein lies the problem.
Common sense isn’t all that common at all - certainly not on the highway.
I’d be in favor of all those restrictions even if we didn’t up the speed limit, with the exception of flashing headlights - they’re rather useful for warning oncoming traffic of danger in front of them.
It’s really a moot point in Texas. Even in Houston, with its congested freeways, people drive 80 mph all the time, even when the speed limit is 60 or 65mph. Higher speed increases stopping distances, thus I would agree with the premise that higher speeds increase accidents and severity. Will I stop driving 80-85 mph? Heck NO! This is Texas. Take one road trip across Texas and your foot will turn to lead.
Hey Shadow fax I knew it was possible and why in the heck dont they do that around here? The school buses and state vehicles are cut back to to 160 hp or so and are notorious traffic resticters especially on the steep grades,they are actually dangerous ,because people are always trying to get around them in dangerous places because they are so slow.I agree buses and such need to have the top speed resticted,but on freeways and steep hills they need to be able to move on-Kevin ( the Commomwealth of VA, is all about control of the common man-cant trust us at all)
Near Amsterdam in the Netherlands they actually have cameras in place to limit speed but not the way you might think. Normally with cameras they can only target one car at a time but this system is different:
They take constant pictures of tags at spot A and then take pictures at spot B, C, D and E - at various off ramps and splits so you can’t escape the cameras. They are everywhere over there. They then subtract the time between when they first and last saw you to calculate your average speed.
If you’re withing two miles of the stated speed limit, you get a ticket sent to your house. All automated. Very effective, from what my brother tells me.
If your car hasn’t passed tests, they know you’re driving it and they’ll automatically send you a ticket.
If your car was stolen, they know where it is, if it is anywhere on the belt way around Amsterdam.
Big brother lives.
Speaking of Autobahns, I have some recollections of the “superhighway” that our tour bus used in The Czech Republic as we journeyed to Dresden, Germany in 1994. This highway was actually an Autobahn that the Nazis had built after they invaded The Sudetenland, in order to facilitate movement of troops and materiel into their newly conquered territory.
By modern standards, the highway was definitely NOT super, but since the road had been built ~1940 or so, it was a good road for its day. Clearly outdated for today’s high speeds, due to its very short entrance and exit ramps and sharp turns at the entrance to rest stops, it was simply a decently-maintained, albeit outdated highway.
My point (and I do have one!) is that the rest stops on this limited-access Czech highway were actually roadside taverns/beer gardens featuring the wonderful Czech lager. Yes, I was able to indulge, since I was a passenger. Whether our driver quaffed a few, I don’t recall. But–the mere presence of alcohol-vending rest stops on a limited-access highway certainly implies a rather casual attitude toward drunken driving in The Czech Republic–or at least it did back in the '90s.
Does anyone know if the fabled German Autobahns also currently feature Beer Gardens, as do the ex-German highways in The Czech Republic?
"You can’t control how slow people will go on the highway."
Well, that’s the thing that bothers me – the cops here are REAL particular about hassling speeders (which, since the speeds here are NOT set to 85th percentile, means almost everyone without a radar detector if the weather is good…) But they won’t enforce the 45MPH speed minimum, won’t do anything about the old duffs who are the true danger on the road.
Anyway... The article answer's OPs question clearly.. "Do higher speed limits cause more car accidents? No it doesn't." It seems that if most people are driving 85MPH anyway, setting the speed limit to 85 actually increases safety. It'd reduce the risks caused by those cars (and I've seen them in every state I've been to) who will obliviously drive at EXACTLY the speed limit with cars just FLOWING around them, instead of making any effort to go with flow of traffic. If the speed limit is close to or at the traffic flow speed, these people will go with the flow.
Don't get me started on Chicago -- what a joke. 55MPH speed limit, 80MPH flow of traffic. They know nobody actually goes 55, the "it's this many miles to this road, and this many minutes" electronic signs come out to a 70-80MPH average speed.keith, I meant it as an abstract concept. Money has nothing to do with this example. I just wanted to define a hypothesis and a theory.
shadowfax
I also would like to see many of the “restrictions” enforced in the US, but can you imagine trying to enforce the 2 second rule during rush hour in Seattle, or LA? Heck I’d be happy if they would make a car pass a safety inspection every two years, don’t pass no tag, that alone would reduce accidents. But I can hear the screaming already, it discriminates against this group or this group, never mind they could kill someone or themselves.
I’ve been driving for 40 years, lived around the country. I personally go around 65 miles an hour, 60 if conditions warrant, here in upstate New York. I stay in the right lane except where there are a lot of entrances and exits, or to pass.
I can count the number of times I’ve run across the little old lady or people in an iffy vehicle (or similar) going 45 on the fingers of my hands. I can count the number of times they’re in anything but the right lane, and I’m left with a finger or two on one hand.
I can’t count how many times I’ve heard the complaint about the 45 mph drivers, and the drivers who go 75 or 80 I see every day passing me.
I’ve reached the conclusion that is me, going 65, 60 if it’s wet, maybe 70 if it’s wide open, who is described at the water coolers and discussion boards of this nation, as “those people going 45 mph”. It sure doesn’t sound good going around complaining about the guy going 65 mph, when it is you going 75 or 80 or more that is introducing the speed differential.
I grew up in West Texas, I know about flat wide spaces and how some people drive, who wish everyone drove like them. And try to represent that everyone but fuddie-duddies would want to drive like them.
Cars to me is transportation. I’m not driving for that vroomy-powerful-engine feeling. From my observation those who claim that the time they think they gain, by high speeds, actually use that time when they get to their destination, in a way that demonstrates the preciousness of the time.
I agree with the folks who have expressed a wish (that they know won’t come to pass) for everyone to drive with a few mph of a speed that works for the majority of people. Which in my opinion would be around 65 or maybe even 70mph. Ah, but that doesn’t let those eight and six cylinder engines show their power. And I’m not going to go 80 to make it more fun for some other people.
So keep your following distances, and watch patterns of traffic. And ask yourself if your perceptions are really reflecting reality.
When OK raised the speed limits after the repeal of the 55 MPH limit the do-good groups were protesting loudly that this increase was going to vastly increase the number of accidents, fatalities, and injuries.
Follow up studies over the ensuing years showed this not to be the case and the number of fatalities actually dropped.
The same thing happened when the vehicle safety inspection program was repealed. The same groups made the same claims about accidents, fatalities, etc. going through the roof because of unsafe vehicles on the road. This did not occur either.
Thanks, Banty. That matches my sense, too. The only old coots I know who drive that slowly (like my later father-in-law) would never drive on a freeway. He kept to the back roads. By far the slowest vehicles on any freeway are trucks, and plenty of them. The biggest speed differentials are caused by very slow trucks (sometimes) and (usually) by the most flagrant speeders doing 90+.
By far the slowest vehicles on any freeway are trucks, and plenty of them.
Completely disagree with that. The truckers here in NH and MA are among the fastest. The slow drivers are the blue-hairs. And MOST of the time they are in the left lane doing BELOW the speed limit forcing everyone to go around them. Had a real bad one a couple weeks ago. This woman about 75 was doing 55 (65 zone) in the left lane on I-93 North. Heavy traffic. I was about a mile behind her when I encountered the traffic jam she was causing. I could see her and everyone in the left land merging to the right to get around her. It took me almost 30 minutes to finally get around her…She was completely oblivious what was going on.
I would like to point out that when the 55 was abolished, it did NOT leads to fewer highway fatalities. There already was a trend in place of lower traffic fatalities due to safer cars and MADD. There were fewer fatalities on the roads after 55, but that was within the established trend. Statistically, the change in the national speed limit did not affect this trend.
“Completely disagree with that. The truckers here in NH and MA are among the fastest.”
It depends on where you are. I-95 in MD has fast trucks, but many are very slow. And it isn’t just one type of truck. I see semis, box vans, and even pick-up trucks way under the speed limit during rush hour. Most go faster if they can but there are still many trucks (and cars) with drivers that don’t care to go 65 even though they can.