"Jay Honeck" wrote in message
oups.com...
I remember reading in the Wall Street Journal that better tires
accounted for more than half of it.

Tires are but one area that have vastly improved since the 1960s.

Disc brakes versus drum.
Rack & pinion steering versus ball joint
MacPherson struts versus old style shocks
Better lights especially tail lights.

And of course, shoulder belts and air bags.

One thing that many don't realize is the highways are better engineered
including materials and breakaway barriers.

OTOH, city traffic engineering is MUCH WORSE and in many cases borders on
voluntary manslughter.


....
Driver's education is another area that is radically improved. In the
1960s, the majority of drivers had received NO instruction at all. My
son just went through it and received his license two weeks ago, and it
was WORK to earn that piece of paper, for both he and us.

Many states will not issue a license to a driver under 18 unless they've
passed a DE class.

Drunk driving laws -- something that barely existed until the '80s --
are now strictly enforced. This reduces fatalities dramatically.

DUI enforcement has been falling for years except around holidays.

There are some downsides, however. Traffic engineers have gone off the
deep end to ensure safety, often (IMHO) at the expense of common sense
and efficiency. In my neck of the woods, for example, traffic is
deliberately engineered to stop often, so that people can't drive too
fast.

Hate to tell you this, Jay, but that's a myth -- much better is
synchronizing the lights right at the speed limit. If you find traffic
stopping all the time, it's because it leads to a lot more red light running
(ie, LOTSA $$$).

That's why the overwhelming majority of cities that installed red light
cameras also shortened yellow lights from an average of 7.5 seconds prior to
the cameras, to 3.5-4.0 seconds after. Also, light sync changed from 0-3.5
MPH under the limit to 10 or more MPH _OVER_.

Worse, NO ONE is allowed to turn left at stop lights anymore,
without a specific, dedicated green arrow. We are no longer trusted to
determine whether it's safe to turn or not, regardless of oncoming
traffic -- or the lack thereof.

The fuel wasted due to these two measures alone is astronomical.

Well over a billion barrels a year

Hopefully the pendulum will swing back, and these types of "safety"
measures will be adjusted -- but I'm not holding my breath.

BTW: I thank Congress DAILY for raising freeway speed limits back to
70 mph. There was nothing sillier than driving slowly on a 6-lane
autobahn!

Congress didn't raise them, they removed the 55 FEDERAL limit (remember?).
Out west, 75MPH is common.