Kristy Kato
    Ms. Kato did her report on examples of  bad driving in movies.  She rated the movie "Black Sheep."  She states, "On Thursday, July 17 at 6:45 p.m., I turned to channel 38 which was showing an HBO feature presentation of the movie "Black Sheep". One particular scene showed a policeman in his mid twenties speeding around town in his police car for no particular reason. The scene later revealed that the policeman was running his car on NOS, or nitrous oxide. The police car was set up like a race car with a lowered body, a spoiler and a racing engine."  Ms. Kato thinks that this example  in a movie is bad for little kids to watch.  If they see police men speeding and breaking the law, they will think that they can do it too. She also thinks that it is bad for adults to see police officers speeding for no reason because it makes them angry and  causes them to speed too.

Raeder Kinney
    Mr. Kinney feels that speeding is a serious problem.  He states, "I feel that speeding is an epidemic. For a lot of us, it has become a habit, a nasty habit. Unfortunately, it's a habit that many of us can't kick. Almost all of us drive everyday. Not a single day goes by without me noticing a car traveling in excess of the speed limit. "  He feels that speeding is a result of road rage.  He comments on the different factors that cause someone to have road rage and also says that road rage can be relieved through focusing on our attitudes, thoughts and actions.

Shane Cobb-Adams
    Mr. Cobb-Adams believes that "Speeding is one of drivings biggest problems."  In his report, he summarizes various sites on the web that talk about different speed limits in different areas.  He also states his opinions on how traffic psychology can modify and change our speed limits in the future.    Another interesting fact that he stated in his report is: "there is a good case to be made for the repeal of maximum speed limits.  The fact that speed limits were first imposed to conserve gas in the seven ties also helps make a good case for speed limit reform."

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     Overall, I think that no matter what the speed limit is, it should be followed.  If it is not, it is breaking the law.  My behavior is consistent with my attitude because I do not drive too slow or too fast.  I think that I am in control of my vehicle whenever I drive and have courtesy on the road for other drivers.  Sometimes I drive fast when it is safe to do so and drive reasonable in hazardous conditions.

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Reasonable Drivers Unanimous
    This site claims that speed limits are set too low in every street in existence.  They claim that a federal study proves this.  The site contains numerous links to articles, studies, and other pages that have information on speed limits being too slow and how raising the limits would benefit drivers and driving behavior.  There are also links that discuss how data on speed related accidents are misleading and often irrelevant.  The motive of this site is to convince readers that the speed limit should be raised and shows the reasons why.
 

It's Only Speeding If You Get Caught by Rick Finley
    This page also discusses the increase in speed limits.  It discusses a government bill that allows the states to determine its speed limits.  Some states have reacted to this by increasing speed limits to seventy-five in some areas.  Montana completely did away with speed limits during the day on its interstates.  The reasons given for changing this law is because of the inconsistencies of the current system of the enforcement of speeding and the disregard drivers have of the previous speed limits.  It also states that the 55 mph limit was originally set because of the energy crisis of that period.  The intent of this site is to state that less accidents will occur if everyone on the road drives a little faster.
 

The Car Connection by Paul A. Eisenstein
      For this section on web pages related to speeding, I used a search engine and typed in "speed limits."  Many of the links that came up all dealt with the speed limit being too slow.  This web page is another one the discusses data that shows no solid correlation between driving slow and driving safe.
 
    In some areas the number of crashes has increased. However, it is argued that people are now traveling longer, farther, and more often and the death rate per 100 million miles may have actually decreased.  This site also states "Collectively, in the 27 states that raised speed limits last year, there was a 0.4 percent decrease in road fatalities. Michigan, for one, saw its highway death count tumble 1.6 percent last year, And from January 1 through July 20 of this year, there were 683 traffic deaths compared to 791 at the same time in 1996."
 

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Pro Arguments for low to moderate speeds on roads.

http://www.banda.mounet.com/wisepd/safety.htm
Few drivers view speeding as an immediate risk to their personal safety, but speeding reduces a driver's ability to steer safely around curves on highways or objects in the roadway.  It extends the distance necessary to stop a vehicle and increases the distance a vehicle travels while a driver reacts to danger.

http://www.webworldinc.com/wes-con/traffic.htm
When traffic is heavy, there just isn't very much distance between you and the next vehicle to stop. The slower you're going, the less distance it will take to stop. By going slowly, you will also be able to observe your surroundings more easily, taking note of cyclists, pedestrians, and other vehicles. Observing the speed limit is one sure way to reduce your chance of an accident.

http://www.ou.edu/oupd/speed.htm
Exceeding the posted limit or driving too fast for conditions is one of the most prevalent factors contributing to traffic crashes. Speed is a factor in nearly one-third of all fatal crashes. Speed-related crashes cost society more than $23 billion a year.
 

Con Arguments stating that the currents speed limits are too slow.

http://www.house.gov/petri/weekly/sep12col.htm
People tend to drive at a speed where they feel safe -- but people who feel safe driving at 65 get into a potentially hazardous situation when they come up behind somebody who's putting along at a slower legal limit.
 

http://www.heartland.org/speed.htm
Studies of accident records since the partial lifting of the federal speed limit in 1987 find no
evidence that the overall level of safety has been harmed by higher speed limits on some road
segments. In fact, a study done for the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety found that fatality
rates improved 3.5 percent more in states that raised their speed limits than in states that did not.
 

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    This is a short listing of facts relating to speed limits along with the source and links to the web site.  This comes from the facts document in my report 1: Driving Psychology Facts
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On 3 Dec 1998 19:04:09 GMT, rcuSPAMFOIL@duke.edu (Ray Ubinger) wrote:

>Also, any civil engineer will tell you that speed _differences_ are much
>more dangerous than absolute speeds.  If you're doing the 55 limit
>but everyone around you is doing 75, they may be breaking the law, but you
>are the hazard.  I was doing 67 in a 55 zone last week on I-95, and that
>still wasn't fast enough to keep up with the flow.  I upped it to 72 to
>be safer, and still I was getting passed by more cars than I was passing.
>
>
>Ray U.
>never been ticketed for doing 14 or fewer mph over the limit
>

I concur with your assessment of the danger in speed differences
versus absolute speed.  I average 35-40K miles per year, and I feel
much safer going with the flow than obeying (somewhat arbitrary) speed
limits.

I, however, am a much bigger chicken than you are.  I limit my above
statement to speeds that are a maximum of 9 mph over the speed limit.
I have been told by many that your insurance points only go up if you
are convicted of speeding greater than 10 miles over the limit.  I
usually just set my cruise at 8 over the limit.  I haven't been pulled
yet (knocking on LARGE piece of wood), and I have passed countless
troopers.

I think the officers know that there is a limit on signs, and there
are enforced limits.  I don't think a trooper will waste his time
writing a ticket for 73 in a 65.  I don't think the same holds in
small towns.  I am much more cautious in small towns, rarely going 5
over.

Jeff

Summary:
This writer states the dangers of being a slow driver on the road.  If he were to follow the posted speed limit, he would be a hazard to the other drivers.  Even after increasing his speed, he was still being passed by many cars.  He states that speed differences are more dangerous than absolute speeds.  If everyone were driving the same speed, even though it is fast, it would be safer than everyone driving different speeds.
 
 

Re: speeding ticket question/advice
 
Author:
 
          Friend
Email:
          cogman@cyberenet.net
Date:
          1998/11/26
Forums:
          rec.autos.driving
more headers
 
P.J. Hartman (hartman@NOSPAM.tconl.com) wrote:
: Do you think that using lower-than-necessary speed limits to generate
: revenue while actually *decreasing* road safety is ethical?

No, but whose to say what's lower than necessary? What may seem lower
than necessary to an uninformed individual who is driving down an
unfamiliar road (which was the situation that started this thread) is
certainly not necessarily the reality of the situation. I do grant you
that some speed limits are set with money-making motives in mind, not
safety, but they're still rules of the road and without some rules, we
end up with chaos. If the rules are inappropriate, they should be changed,
but obeyed until they are changed, as was done in many states a year or
two ago with regard to speed limits.
 

Summary:
This issue deals more with ethics than with speeding.  It states that rules are necessary to prevent chaos and should be obeyed.  When the rules are not appropriate, they should be changed, but should be abided by until that time.  I agree that laws should not be implemented with money making motives, but being a good citizen means following the laws.
 

Speeding and Costs--followup
 
Author:
 
          Lee Winson
Email:
          lwinson@bbs.cpcn.com
Date:
          1998/11/08
Forums:
          misc.transport.road
more headers
 
I forgot to mention the author of the extracts I quoted was Robert Moses,
the "master builder" of New York's highway system.

I think his observations are quite interesting in light of recent
discussions here.

Regarding highway costs, while Moses favored Federal support, he
also recognized the high support costs and so described them in his
piece.  He likes toll authorities.

Moses also questioned higher speed limits, even on freeways.  Obviously
we can't consider speed as an accident cause in a vacuum without
other factors, but we can't ignore it either.  There is no question
that the faster a car is going, the further it will have to travel to
stop to avoid danger.  Driver reaction time is constant regardless of
speed, so the car will travel further before the driver does anything to
control the situation.  If the car is in a collision, the higher speed
will result in a higher physical impact.  (Even if the car has started to
brake, it may hit say at 45 instead of 25).

Summary:
The writer of this post is against excessive speeding.  He recognizes that speeding by itself is not the cause of all accidents, but concludes that accidents at higher speeds are more destructive than ones at lower speeds.   The reaction time of drivers is independent of their speed, so slower speeds are safer.

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