quote:Unfortunately, while we have some great driving roads, we also have a population that fervently believes "speed kills". It is a matter of cherished belief in Canada that a bored idiot driving a '74 Pinto with iffy brakes causing havoc by going 10 km/h below the limit is OK, but a competent, attentive driver who has invested in a mechanically optimized high performance vehicle is a public menace if they exceed the speed limit by any amount.
In Canada, we have 3,000 traffic fatalities per year and this causes the Safety Nazis to demand ever more draconian laws that take all the joy out of driving (instead of pushing for safer roads and better driver training, which might actually do something to address the problem). At the same time, we have on the order of 23,000 deaths annually due to preventable medical errors in our hospitals. No one says a damn thing about that, though, because our precious universal health care system is a sacred cow.
My answer is to try not to think about the lunacy too much lest I lose what little remains of my own sanity, and simply invest in a good radar detector. Then, if I pick up a ticket here and there, I simply look at it as just yet another tax I have to pay for the privilege of living in this lotus eating la-la land.
(Have been out of town - getting caught up on the posts)
RIGHT ON PETER !!
In the aviation business, when a pilot does something "questionable" - rather than improve training, piloting skill, situation awareness etc., we are tasked to engineer out the stupidity. Unfortunately, the "engineering out" affects the whole community. I feel the attitude of simple lawmakers is much the same on the roads - easier to try to "engineer out" the problem in a politically expedient way (that may or may not make any sense).
We should be training our drivers to:
1) Know and maintain their vehicles,
2) Know their driving skills
3) Know the condition of the roads they are driving on.
4) Respect the weather conditions.
5) Respect 1 - 4 and drive accordingly.
Or, we can believe in Darwinining selection and assume the bored idiot will be "naturally selected out".
I wonder what the German accident rate is? Surely, part of the price of the Autobahn is to ensure a vehicle is maintained roadworthy manner
I have just adopted Peter's view of looking a speeding tickets as another form of TAX.