For some drivers, safe speeding is a matter of picking your time and place -- and having the skills. But what about other road users -- including animals?

With today's powerful (and mechanically better ) cars, drivers want to get from A to B faster, and they want higher speed limits. But what will the effects of higher speeds be on safety and comfort for other road users? Can enforcement keep up?

I bet you guys at drivers.com had a smile when you posted this string. What a 'can of worms' this one could prove to be!

You ask "...what will the effects of higher speeds be on safety and comfort for other road users?"

Unfortunately, the answer is carved in stone. It has been proven, by balanced research in many countries, that there is an inescapable correlation between higher speeds, higher crash rates, and higher fatalities.

No matter how much any one of us might enjoy driving fast, there has to be a sane and sensible legal limit... Unless, of course, any of us value our own freedom to speed, over and above the rights of other people *not* to be killed by our neutrally-intentioned but thoughtless behaviour.

This then requires that speed limits be rigorously enforced, and it strikes me that this is where each of us can be particularly selfish. Ask any reasonable person whether OTHER people, caught driving fast, should be fined and the answer will often be "Yes, they deserve it." But ask that same person about a previous citation that they've had, themselves, for speeding, and the typical answer will be along the lines of: "The officer was a jerk. I was only doing (blah) over the limit!"

Correct 'time and place', as you put it, are therefore crucial but I always wince when I see mention of 'skills'. By what criteria would you define such skills? Does simply passing a feeble driving test then developing one's 'experience' (for which one can almost always read: 'bad habits') class as skills? I would argue that those sort of skills may indeed make the individual capable of keeping a car on the road at reasonably high speeds, but a trained *monkey* could do that. And if that basic ability is not backed by the full range of event-anticipation and great consideration for other road users then it is not skill at all; it is mindless arrogance and is simply dangerous.

Does driver-training on racetracks help? I would argue that any attempt at teaching ordinary drivers to use racetrack techniques on public roads should be vehemently discouraged. Race driving is a fabulous skill in its own right but has NO place to play in road driving, where the demands are radically different, and this should be reflected in the training methods.

And as for the predilection of former racing drivers, in America, to run 1/2/3-day courses, on a closed circuit, and have the audacity to call them 'advanced driving' courses...!!!

So, what should the speed limit be on good, divided highways (a.k.a. 'dual carriageways')? My opinion is that 70mph is a reasonable compromise.

Regards to all;

Eddie

I'm not so sure about effects of higher speed limits being "carved in stone." I've seen different stories on this. I agree though that most drivers don't understand the skills needed for driving faster, and they are NOT racetrack skills. And you are right - any idiot can push a pedal down.

All the same though, a fixed speed limit for all roads? Conditions differ. Weather changes. Traffic changes. I think it is good that the cops are flexible in enforcing limits, but we DO need to educate drives about speed.