Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP
Posting-Version: version B 2.10.3 4.3bsd-beta 6/6/85; site catnip.UUCP
Path: utzoo!linus!decvax!bellcore!ulysses!mhuxr!mhuxt!houxm!hjuxa!catnip!ben
From: ben@catnip.UUCP (Bennett Broder)
Newsgroups: net.auto
Subject: Re: 55MPH-save gas?
Message-ID: <239@catnip.UUCP>
Date: Mon, 24-Feb-86 19:40:46 EST
Article-I.D.: catnip.239
Posted: Mon Feb 24 19:40:46 1986
Date-Received: Wed, 26-Feb-86 06:52:00 EST
References: <424@cubsvax.UUCP> <597@mhuxl.UUCP>
Organization: The Broder Residence, Holmdel, NJ  07733
Lines: 55
Summary: How to deceive with statistics

In article <597@mhuxl.UUCP>, smh@mhuxl.UUCP (henning) writes:
> >    All this debate on the 55mph limit made me wonder whether
> > claims made by the "government" were ever verified.
> 
>           After the 55 mph limit was imposed, the number of highway
> deaths droped from 55,000 per year to 46,000 per year.  Therefore,
> the limit which was put in place to help shorten the lines at the
> gas pumps also reduced the lines at the mortuaries.

Consider the following:

1)  The era of the oil crisis and the 55mph national limit was also the
    era that Joan (85mph speedo) Claybrook was running the National Highway
    Traffic Safety administration.  Her move to publicize high speed crash
    test results combined with more stringent safety regulations meant much
    safer and crashworthy new cars.

2)  In response to high fuel prices, the major automakers downsized their
    lineup.  This reduced the average weight difference between cars on
    the road.  A collision involving two cars of similar weight is much
    less likely to cause fatalities than a collision involving one heavy
    car and one light one.

3)  Insurance data shows that most accidents occur under 40 mph.  It
    also shows that high speed limited access roads (like the Garden
    State Parkway) are amongst the safest.  The 55 mph limit almost
    exclusively affected these limited access roads, already the safest
    in the nation.

4)  Compliance with the 55mph limit has been very poor.  The average speed
    on the Garden State Parkway on my morning commute is 63-68mph, about
    the same as it was when the limit was 60mph.

---

I have no doubt that the 55mph limit had some effect on reducing the number
of fatalities, but I am certain that the number is much smaller than the
statistics would first indicate.  When you correct for the effects of safer
cars, increased seatbelt usage, fewer land yachts and minicars, the
comparison is far less striking.

My guess is that the government like to blame speed for highway carnage
because it is so easy to measure.  As long as police radar is accepted
in a court of law, speeding becomes the traffic safety measure of choice.
Why go after the wiseass kid cutting in and out of traffic, the leisurely
executive with a cup of coffee in one hand and a newspaper spread over the
steering wheel or the old lady who can't see well enough to keep her car
in one lane?  These rolling menaces are certainly more dangerous than
a competant driver doing 68 mph on a road built for 75, but guess who
gets the ticket?

-- 

Ben Broder
{ihnp4,decvax} !hjuxa!catnip!ben