Here & There Column 11-10-09

Speed & Paying Attention When Driving

With frequent trips over many highways we observe more and more bad driving habits and speeding drivers that spell danger for the rest of us.
We see drivers too many times go speeding by us and even cross double lines.
And what about the State ban on use of cell phones?
Although there is no ban on drivers drinking a soda or milk shake while eating a hamburger this also does not produce safe driving.
We find it tragic to read or hear about the death of anyone killed in a traffic accident as a result of excessive speed.
But the bottom line is that Speed Kills and anyone who dares to trust their luck will likely become a statistic.
We can't run away from the problem of speed.
Our roads time and time again have become battlefields and statistics say clearly that several thousand people die annually and several hundred thousand are injured on roads.
We compliment our local police agencies who are continually trying their best to clamp down on speeders but those same authorities can't be everywhere all the time and government should never try to attempt to cut back on traffic operations budgets.
Speed is the biggest single contributory factor in road crashes. The relationship between speed and road crashes is straightforward....as speed goes up the likelihood of crashes goes up, for any given set of road conditions. The reason is simple.....increased vehicle speeds are not accompanied by increased thinking and reacting speeds. Because of this the distance needed for responding and braking increases with speed.
Local authorities report that the wrong speed choice kills three times as many people as drunk driving...but yet speeding is considered by most drivers to be the moral equivalent of parking on a double yellow line.
The state Department of Transportation have installed barriers on sections of Route 17 where head-on collisions have taken place.
We support strong law enforcement to slow speeders down.
Interesting to hear that some 85% of drivers admit to breaking the law by exceeding the speed limit.
The casualty statistics are only the tip of the iceberg. Inappropriate road speeds are the biggest source of danger on our streets.
Chilling statistics says that each of us has a 1 in 17 chance of being killed or seriously injured in a road crash.
Today's drivers enjoy unprecedented power and comfort. Drivers are ever more insulated from the effects of speed. From seat-belts to side-impact-protection systems, car safety features are making life inside the "cockpit" ever more reassuring.
What is speeding for? What good does it do anyone? It seems that self-image has a lot to do with it. For some drivers it's a fatal form of self-expressions that leads to a quarter of serious crashes.
It's time we start preaching to everyone who drives a vehicle....... speed and unsafe driving habits kill.
We need to increase safe driving education.