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From: leiby@yeti.UUCP
Newsgroups: net.followup
Subject: Re: Fast driving
Message-ID: <132@yeti.UUCP>
Date: Mon, 9-Jan-84 14:34:14 EST
Article-I.D.: yeti.132
Posted: Mon Jan  9 14:34:14 1984
Date-Received: Tue, 10-Jan-84 02:19:13 EST
References: <3617@hp-pcd.UUCP> <603@dciem.UUCP> <740@ut-sally.UUCP>
Organization: Masscomp, Littleton, MA
Lines: 27

>  Prentiss Riddle:
>
>  Sure, driving fast can be safe in Germany, where (almost) everyone who gets
>  on the Autobahn has the equipment and the know-how to drive fast safely.
>  But in North America, most people don't, and an individual who takes the
>  law into his own hands and sets his own speed limit deserves to have the
>  book thrown at him...

Back in the Good Ol' Days, when the U.S. highway speed limit was 65mph
or 70mph, the quality of driver education in the U.S. was essentially
equivalent to what passes for driver education now.  The "know-how" is
still as good(bad) as it ever was, so what's the objection to putting
the speed limit back up?  It doesn't save lives--studies show that
accidents are DIRECTLY PROPORTIONAL to the amount spent on road repairs,
NOT on speed.  It doesn't save gas--it's obvious that fuel consumption
depends more on the design and condition of the individual vehicle than
on an arbitrary bureaucrat-chosen speed.  More gas could be saved if
everyone just inflated their tires properly.

	    +------------------------------------------+
	    |	55 -- It's not just an assinine idea,  |
	    |	   It's an assinine law.	       |
	    +------------------------------------------+

-- 
Mike Leibensperger,  Massachusetts Computer Corporation
...!{ucbcad,tektronix,harpo,decvax}!masscomp!leiby