Quote:
Originally Posted by ken0042
Don't get me wrong Redvan- I speed. A lot. But I think BA has a good point.
There was a link a while ago with an actor like the black one in the Allstate comercials. He is walking between two speeding cars in a "Matrix" type of camera angles. Both cars are going to crach into this semi that just pulled out. Both hit the brakes at the exact same time. (The speeding car was just about to pass the slower car at the time of braking.) What it showed was that at the point of impact, the slower car was doing something like 12 km/h when it hit, as opposed to 45 km/h. Not sure of the exact numbers; it was significant.
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I remember this video. I do agree that crashes will be more devastating at higher speeds. And that is a risk that people take every time they get in the car, no matter how fast they go. For example, someone going 100 on deerfoot will take x distance to stop, whereas someone going 120 will take y distance, and y is significantly larger than x, and they are not necessarily linearly related.
That video does make you think. But there are so many other factors with other cars and drivers that must be considered as well. Negligence is a larger factor in accidents than speeding, I think. So someone not paying attention, or fiddling with the radio might still smash into me, regardless of how fast I am going.
You can also decrease your stopping distance by having a properly maintained vehicle with better than stock parts. This includes brakes and tires in this argument. But mostly a lot of cars fall into disrepair or half-assed just to get it running. This is another thing that is just as dangerous, if not more dangerous, than speeding.