Quote:
Originally Posted by aberdeen5698
Did you take high school physics? Speed may not be the biggest cause of accidents, but it is the biggest cause of the consequences.
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Yes, took university physics also actually and while you can write on a piece of paper car 1 is driving at 80kph and applies x force to the brakes for y time, and car 2 is driving the same stretch at 100kph and appliex x force to the brakes for y time, which will stop faster, these thought experiments don't translate to the real world.
We all apply braking power differently given similar situations. Each vehicle stops differently based on its mass and the road conditions. Different tires provide different levels of grip. Different levels of distraction change reaction times when our brain registers an issue such as spinning out of control or someone at a dead stop in front of us.
"Physics" doesn't ultimately matter in the real world when it comes to the consequences of an accident which is exactly why people that say "Well drive slower and less people will die" don't live in the real world. My own experience has proven to me that an accident at 80kph vs 100kph based on what typically causes said accident, very rarely results in a different 'consequence.'
Car loses control at 80kph and cuts across into oncoming traffic vs a car at 100kph, the likelihood of death is more or less the same in real life, and speed becomes less a factor than having a BARRICADE there to prevent the head on collision in the first place.
That's why you can't just say "WELL PHYSICS SAYS DUR."
http://www.pssg.gov.bc.ca/osmv/share...s2008-2012.pdf does
2008 through 2012 (5 years)
Fatal Accidents Heavy Vehicles: 20%
Fatal Accidents Alcohol and/or Drug: 28%
Fatal Accidents Speed: 34%
Fatal Accidents Distraction: 28%
Now you may think, well wait Speed is higher than the other 3? What gives? Well speed still only contibutes to (remember there can be multiple contributors) 34% or ALL fatal accidents in BC over 5 years. That means 66% of all fatal accidents had nothing to do with speed. Also speed is determined based on it being one of:
1. Excessive speed over 40kph the posted limit
2. Driving at an unsafe speed
3. Not driving a speed condusive to the given conditions aka this can actually be doing the speed limit BUT it being icey or snow covered so you're not technically breaking the law but you crash because you were driving too fast for the conditions thus "Speed" becomes a contributing factor
Finally if you look at all the numbers, in 5 years from 2008 to 2012, 1654 road fatalities were recorded and the fatality rate has been declining generally since 2010. That's not a lot in the grand scheme of how many motor vehicles are on the road and driving around in BC every single day. 331 per year. Let's compare to non-fatal accidents:
2012 in BC according to ICBC: 260,000. 260,000 total crashes, 281 fatalities. That is 0.1% of all accidents in all of BC being fatal and fatality numbers do include pedestrians, cyclists, everything. Anyone killed by a motor vehicle.
Seems our roads are quite safe from a death perspective, even speed wise.