View Single Post
Old 09-19-2008, 02:19 PM   #90
driveway
A Fiddler Crab
 
driveway's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jan 2007
Location: Chicago
Exp:
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by REDVAN View Post
Dumb driving kills. Speed itself does not kill.
In this you are both right and wrong.

You are right because it has been demonstrated in a number of studies that there is no correlation between speed and frequency of accidents. You are just as likely to have an accident at 30kph as you are at 80 or 120.

However, what has also been conclusively demonstrated (and is, I think, self-evident) is that there is a direct correlation between speed and severity of accidents. An accident taking place at 80kph is going to be several orders of magnitude more severe than one taking place at 30 and several orders less severe than one taking place at 120.

So, while you are not making it more or less likely that you will be in an accident if you choose to speed, you are making it vastly more certain that you, or someone else, will be killed should one occur.

Therefore, depending on which semantic meaning you choose to take, you are both right and very wrong about speed not killing.
driveway is offline   Reply With Quote