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What is the more dangerous and causes accidents/deaths for Drivers Poll.

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Isn't this whole poll based on the faulty assumption that a speeding driver is necessarily an attentive driver?

 
Originally posted by: her209
My question is not theoretical and is the context of your thread. I'm still awaiting your answer.

Studies from around the country have confirmed that lowering highway speed limits lowers accidents.

You're compare two INDIVIDUAL cars. That is NOT in the same context I am thinking. Realistically you have to think statistically. If the average speed of the average car goes down on a high way by 5mph, accidents will also go down. That is proof my argument is correct.
 
Originally posted by: Jeeebus
Isn't this whole poll based on the faulty assumption that a speeding driver is necessarily an attentive driver?

I believe it is a reasonable assumption. A person who regularly speeds (and does not pay attention) will be in so many accidents that their insurance rates will discourage future behavior. Granted, this will not always work, but it is, in general, true.
 
Originally posted by: SarcasticDwarf
Originally posted by: Jeeebus
Isn't this whole poll based on the faulty assumption that a speeding driver is necessarily an attentive driver?

I believe it is a reasonable assumption. A person who regularly speeds (and does not pay attention) will be in so many accidents that their insurance rates will discourage future behavior. Granted, this will not always work, but it is, in general, true.

Then the same should also be true of a person who regularly talks on a cell phone, applies make-up, scarfs down a McDonalds sandwich, etc. According to that line of logic, we wouldn't have a need for this poll, because every driver on the road would be a safe driver due to rising insurance costs.
 
Originally posted by: JLGatsby
Originally posted by: her209
My question is not theoretical and is the context of your thread. I'm still awaiting your answer.
Studies from around the country have confirmed that lowering highway speed limits lowers accidents.

You're compare two INDIVIDUAL cars. That is NOT in the same context I am thinking. Realistically you have to think statistically. If the average speed of the average car goes down on a high way by 5mph, accidents will also go down. That is proof my argument is correct.
Yet no cause is cited. Let's assume that lowering speed limits does really lower accident occurrences as you said. You haven't yet made any connection or provided any proof that speeding is the cause of accidents.

Correlation does not equal causation.
 
Originally posted by: her209
Yet no cause is cited. Let's assume that lowering speed limits does really lower accident occurrences as you said. You haven't yet made any connection or provided any proof that speeding is the cause of accidents.

Correlation does not equal causation.

LMAO. Nice way to blur the argument and take it back to the "theoretical" context. With what you said, you could invalidate almost ANY study.

No, speeding is not the "root" cause, as I said before. Theoretically I guess "lack of skill" is the cause of accidents. But from a REALISTIC standpoint, if you want to prevent accidents, you get people to drive slower, that's a fact.
 
I voted inattentive but I'm not 100% convinced. I think the most dangerous drivers are the people who speed aggressively. They are the sort that floor it when you try to enter their lane, weave in and out of traffic leaving only 1 foot between themselves and the car in front and behind, etc. I think those guys are the most dangerous because they are overconfident. You can do all of those things 99% of the time without an accident, but it doesn't make them safe. If you weave 1 foot away and there's a sudden stop, you will hit the car in front of you, case closed. I'd much rather be on the road with a really inattentive driver than those guys, because I can control the situation when someone is inattentive. I can keep my distance and be extra cautious. There's not much I can do about a jerkoff speeder except pull over or slow down until he's out of sight.

However, on the average, just speeding in general vs being inattentive in general, the latter is worse. Because most people who speed don't drive like they are on a 'roid rage like the drivers I mention above.
 
Originally posted by: JLGatsby
This is a rigged poll.

You said speeding was NOT dangerous. However others will vote for option 2 because technically a skilled driver can drive safely at any speed.

The truth is that speed is dangerous because most people do not have the skill to drive well enough at high speeds.

I don't know that I necessarily agree with that. I think speeding is dangerous because of the unknowns of doing it on city streets. I don't care how skillful you are, if someone pulling out of a parking lot doesn't expect a car to be coming down the road at 100mph all the skill in the world isn't going to get the driver out of hitting the person pulling out in front of them. Oh, and it isn't the person's fault who pulled out IMO. You look down the street and see a car way off in the distance, it's a 45mph road so you figure you have plenty of room to pull out but the car is really going over 100mph and closes that distance more than twice as fast as what you originally anticipated. It is difficult to judge the speed of a car approaching you.

There are too many variables to speed safely on public roads. If you want to race, go to a track.
 
uhh, most people don't die in 5mph car crashes. Inattentiveness/driving beyond ability causes the accidents. The higher the speed at which the accident occurs increases the likelihood of death. The two cannot be separated.
 
Originally posted by: SarcasticDwarf
Originally posted by: JLGatsby
This is a rigged poll.

You said speeding was NOT dangerous. However others will vote for option 2 because technically a skilled driver can drive safely at any speed.

The truth is that speed is dangerous because most people do not have the skill to drive well enough at high speeds.

Yeah, but it is rarely the speeder that is the cause of the accident. If anything, it is the person they are flying up behind who makes a blind lane change.

Do you have some kind of data to support that or did you just... make it up?


Edit: I voted for inattentive drivers. Speed does make it more difficult to avoid an accident, and it makes the results of the accident worse.
 
Originally posted by: JLGatsby
Originally posted by: her209
Yet no cause is cited. Let's assume that lowering speed limits does really lower accident occurrences as you said. You haven't yet made any connection or provided any proof that speeding is the cause of accidents.

Correlation does not equal causation.
LMAO. Nice way to blur the argument and take it back to the "theoretical" context. With what you said, you could invalidate almost ANY study.

No, speeding is not the "root" cause, as I said before. Theoretically I guess "lack of skill" is the cause of accidents. But from a REALISTIC standpoint, if you want to prevent accidents, you get people to drive slower, that's a fact.
Your REALISTIC viewpoint is still up for debate as different studies have produced different results.

As for the original question, you still have not answered it, "What makes a car going 5MPH faster more dangerous than another?" And please, no "average speed" bullsh*t again.
 
Originally posted by: mugs
Originally posted by: SarcasticDwarf
Originally posted by: JLGatsby
This is a rigged poll.

You said speeding was NOT dangerous. However others will vote for option 2 because technically a skilled driver can drive safely at any speed.

The truth is that speed is dangerous because most people do not have the skill to drive well enough at high speeds.

Yeah, but it is rarely the speeder that is the cause of the accident. If anything, it is the person they are flying up behind who makes a blind lane change.

Do you have some kind of data to support that or did you just... make it up?

He made it up. That's like saying if you tailgate someone it's their fault if you hit them because they stopped. Why does it matter if you are "flying up behind" someone if they are making a "blind" lane change? It doesn't. It's a blind lane change no matter how fast you are going and will lead to accidents generally. He probably meant made a lane change with the reasonable assumption that cars a good distance away are not going 20mph over the speed limit and unwilling to slow down when they see someone change lanes.
 
Originally posted by: mugs
Originally posted by: SarcasticDwarf
Originally posted by: JLGatsby
This is a rigged poll.

You said speeding was NOT dangerous. However others will vote for option 2 because technically a skilled driver can drive safely at any speed.

The truth is that speed is dangerous because most people do not have the skill to drive well enough at high speeds.

Yeah, but it is rarely the speeder that is the cause of the accident. If anything, it is the person they are flying up behind who makes a blind lane change.

Do you have some kind of data to support that or did you just... make it up?

I vote for "made it up."
 
Originally posted by: JulesMaximus
Originally posted by: JLGatsby
This is a rigged poll.

You said speeding was NOT dangerous. However others will vote for option 2 because technically a skilled driver can drive safely at any speed.

The truth is that speed is dangerous because most people do not have the skill to drive well enough at high speeds.
I don't know that I necessarily agree with that. I think speeding is dangerous because of the unknowns of doing it on city streets. I don't care how skillful you are, if someone pulling out of a parking lot doesn't expect a car to be coming down the road at 100mph all the skill in the world isn't going to get the driver out of hitting the person pulling out in front of them. Oh, and it isn't the person's fault who pulled out IMO. You look down the street and see a car way off in the distance, it's a 45mph road so you figure you have plenty of room to pull out but the car is really going over 100mph and closes that distance more than twice as fast as what you originally anticipated. It is difficult to judge the speed of a car approaching you.

There are too many variables to speed safely on public roads. If you want to race, go to a track.
You have to remember JLGatsby considers anyone going 5MPH over the speed limit speeding and deserves a $1000 ticket.
 
Most dangerous things on the road are 16-25 yr old males in Honda Civics thinking they know how to drive like Michael Schumacher.
 
I'm gonna go with Inattentive driving. It isn't the speed that is causing the accidents, it is the blind lane change or the running the read light or skipping the stop sign.

I've been walking to and from work for the past year, and it that time I've been almost ran over at least 4 times. The only thing that saved my own life was my own attentiveness. These drivers were not speeding; they just weren't paying attention. Speed doesn't cause accidents, stupid drivers do.
 
Originally posted by: Ktulu
I'm gonna go with Inattentive driving. It isn't the speed that is causing the accidents, it is the blind lane change or the running the read light or skipping the stop sign.

I've been walking to and from work for the past year, and it that time I've been almost ran over at least 4 times. The only thing that saved my own life was my own attentiveness. These drivers were not speeding; they just weren't paying attention. Speed doesn't cause accidents, stupid drivers do.

Stupid drivers usually speed so it's probably a combination of things but generally I would agree with you. I don't think speeding by itself is that bad so long as you aren't speeding excessively. There are certainly areas where you can safely go 10-15mph over the speed limit with no trouble.

Street racing on the other hand is extremely dangerous.
 
Speed is the "X" factor in an accident. It's basically the multiplier on how bad things are going to turn out. The faster you are traveling, the harder they are to stop.

All the attentiveness in the world can't prepare you for some situation on the road. If you are traveling at excessive speeds bad things are going to happen.
 
Originally posted by: DougK62
Anyone who votes for "speeding" should not have a license.

I voted for speeding, because people who think speeding isn't dangerous, because of their mad skills, do all the other crap plus they do it at higher speed.

the group that thinks speeding isn't dangerous is almost exclusively young males, who are the worst drivers on the road. Which is why they pay much higher insurance premiums than any other group.

 
Originally posted by: Tom
Originally posted by: DougK62
Anyone who votes for "speeding" should not have a license.

I voted for speeding, because people who think speeding isn't dangerous, because of their mad skills, do all the other crap plus they do it at higher speed.

the group that thinks speeding isn't dangerous is almost exclusively young males, who are the worst drivers on the road. Which is why they pay much higher insurance premiums than any other group.

It depends on how much you are speeding, though. If you are going 5-10mph over the limit and a relatively uncongested street, that's a lot different than going 55 in a school zone.

 
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