Quote:
Originally Posted by WarrenC12
But I thought speed didn't cause accidents? Where's the comment from SENSE?
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Speed can contribute to crashing. This whole notion of X causes Y is just a myth because it is easy to report that in the media in sound bites. The truth is that in reality, a lot of factors from distraction levels to road design to other people and congestion can contribute. Heck weather should be in there too. The vehicle you drive too has a big impact. Someone in a big F250 pickup driving 100kmph has a higher probability of speed contribution to a crash that someone in a high performance sports car that (1) weighs less, (2) has better brakes and shorter breaking distance, and (3) has more in-tuned suspension and handling.
I drove the Sea to Sky many times in my old pickup and in my sports car. Same person driving with same experience, and I can tell you driving that highway at the speed limit felt a whole lot different in my pickup than in my sports car just because the car was built for speed and curves. Same speed, same road, same driver, different vehicle.
I was actually a bit surprised HWY1 from Hope to Boston Bar had the speed increased. I have driven that route a LOT and overall it tends to be a windy road with no center median between directions of travel. I actually found myself often driving the previous speed limit even with the highest speed postings simply because it didn't feel safe at those levels when I was driving my big F250 pickup. You also tend to see a lot of heavier vehicles traversing that route aka big rigs, pickups, vans, etc. They handle curves and speed far different. Less stopping distance, less room for error.
You throw in wildlife, massive big-rigs trying to do the speed limit, and some weather, and I can see crashes going up.
But someone can't simply conclude from that stretch of road that speed causes crashes EVERYWHERE which is the leap people make. Speed is proven in this 5 block area to be a contributor to higher crashes therefor speed contributes to crashes EVERYWHERE is just false logic.
Honestly I am more in favor of increasing the use of variable speed limits.
For example HWY 1 from Vancouver to Abbotsford. During the day I think 90kph is probably fine, maybe 100kph. But at 8pm at night you could easily do 120kph and be plenty safe. I think that is far better to allow for adjusting the speed limit in many areas based on conditions.
Same deal in the interior, people are dumb, so you start getting icy conditions or light snow fall and the speed limits on those stretches drop to indicate the change in conditions. People _should_ do that automatically but they don't.
That said again I'd be cautious about just reading statistics and jumping to conclusions given those stats don't include contributing factors or actual facts associated.