Originally Posted by Pew
Originally Posted by StevieC
It's not speed by itself there will always be some other factor not mentioned. Like speeding too fast for what the road conditions warrant, not seeing a curve ahead, taking the eyes off the road for a second, fumbling with the radio. Whatever...
This is the biggest thing. It's all situation dependent, but I'm willing to bet it's almost always a driver issue, not a speed issue.
Speed limits are set to try and cover the "driving skills" of most people on the roads. If you make the speed limit 100 MPH on narrow back roads, some people could handle it, but probably the majority of people couldn't. So yeah, how fast someone drives a vehicle is very dependent on their own perceived driving skill. Some people don't even have enough driving skill to not crash even if going the speed limit.
People driving way over the posted speed limit may or may not have the skill to kept the vehicle on the road or not get into an accident with another vehicle ... especially if they don't know the road like the back of their hand. If everyone was 100% paying attention to their driving, and drove at the speed limit or at a speed appropriate for conditions, then chances of crashing go way down. Start increasing speeds higher and higher, and start distracting yourself from driving (playing with the cell phone, eating, etc while driving) and you'll have a recipe for disaster.