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Out With the Red-Light Cameras, In With the Speeding Cameras
An anonymous reader writes: Have you enjoyed reading the constant flow of news about how red light cameras are failing? They've been installed under the shadow of corruption, they don't increase safety, and major cities are dropping them. Well, the good news is that red-light cameras are on the decline in the U.S. The bad news is that speeding cameras are on the rise. From the article: "The number of U.S. communities using red-light cameras has fallen 13 percent, to 469, since the end of 2012, according to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, a nonprofit scientific and educational organization funded by the insurance industry. That includes the 24 towns in New Jersey that participated in a pilot program that ended this month with no pending legislation to revive it. Meanwhile, the institute estimates that 137 communities use speed cameras, up from 115 at the end of 2011."
Studies have shown that on average drivers will go the safe speed (as determined by the best practices of traffic engineering) for conditions regardless of the posted limit. In that sense, looking at the average speed is a scientific determination.
Feel me? Good. Some people are blessed with the right bodies and cars to drive safely at 120 MPH on 60 MPH limited roads; others doing 30 MPH is a challenge.
120mph on a 60mph limited road is only safe if there is actually not one car in your sight. No matter who you are.
http://www.ct.gov/dot/LIB/dot/documents/dresearch/JHR_09-321_JH_04-6.pdf
Drivers pick a speed based on how the road is built not the speed limit. Travelling above the speed limit has no correlation or often an inverse correlation with accidents. Try Google you twit. That was in the first page as well as similar statements from the Wisconsin DOT and some wankers from Canada.
Google for 'speed 85th percentile'
A good explanation of setting speed limits at the 85th percentile. This is by a pro-motorist group, so you could claim bias. The other results on that google search are from government pages, both state and federal, and should be trusted.
For those too lazy to follow the links, countless studies have shown that the safest place to set a speed limit is the 85th percentile of vehicles on a given road. Going too slow has an increased chance of accident, and exceeding the 90th percentile also shows an increased chance of accident.
- (c) 2018 Hank Zimmerman