854
They sure do
(lemmy.dbzer0.com)
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
view the rest of the comments
this post was submitted on 02 Oct 2025
854 points (98.9% liked)
People Twitter
8286 readers
2599 users here now
People tweeting stuff. We allow tweets from anyone.
RULES:
- Mark NSFW content.
- No doxxing people.
- Must be a pic of the tweet or similar. No direct links to the tweet.
- No bullying or international politcs
- Be excellent to each other.
- Provide an archived link to the tweet (or similar) being shown if it's a major figure or a politician. Archive.is the best way.
founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
If everyone is exceeding the speed limit, maybe that means the speed limit should be higher.
I'm of the opinion that we should eliminate speeding as a primary violation and refocus police on catching reckless drivers. Of the three tickets I've gotten, two were on empty roads and one I was going with the ow of traffic, and my crime was being from out of state. I wasn't a hazard to anyone or driving aggressively (e.g. serving between cars), but I was technically exceeding the limit. I tend to drive about 5-10 mph over tilhe limit on the highway, and 0-5 over on city streets, because that's what the flow of traffic is. On the flipside, almost every week I have a close call from someone driving aggressively (often below the limit due to traffic), and enforcement is pretty lax there.
I understand it's easier to enforce speeding, but I'm not co convinced it's actually a safety issue. Yes, speeding is often involved in other crimes, but it's merely because of you're breaking other laws (e.g. driving drunk, weaving in traffic, etc), you're also likely speeding. The only time I've seen speeding be an issue is when there are other hazards, like snow or rain, in which case even going the speed limit is unsafe and you should drive to the conditions instead of the posted limit.
Raising the speed limit just makes already dangerous roads even more dangerous. Its just physics in the end. A collision at 50mph is way more dangerous than one at 40mph. Enforce the speed limits with automated cameras and let people get used to needing a few extra minutes to get places in light traffic. Yeah I know its annoying you've got a big fast car and a wide road and it feels safe to you, but statistically it just isn't and just because it probably won't be you who loses a limb or dies in an accident, doesn't mean its fine.
I've seen studies that show a positive correlation between increasing speed limits and accident rates. So I get that. On the flipside, the German autobahn is safer than US highways, and many parts of that network have no speed limits.
What's the difference? Driver training and vehicle maintenance. Getting a license is expensive there, so far fewer people get a license vs in the US, where it's practically mandatory.
Looking at the stats, most of the accidents seem to be explained by weather conditions, inexperience (age), or alcohol consumption, and it makes complete sense for those to be exacerbated by higher speed, especially when vehicle maintenance isn't happening consistently.
I think the ideal solution is a mix of reducing enforcement of speed, increasing enforcement of other laws (reckless driving, passing on the right, impaired driving, etc), mandatory safety checks, and regular retests of driving ability. I think there's a good chance that mixture could reduce overall traffic accidents.