Skylune (or family relation) takes to the water...

Dave Stadt wrote:


Naaah, the loon is off pondering the fact the US set a record for traffic
deaths last year. In round numbers 43,000. Ought to keep him busy for a
while.


That's no record. I remember when it was over 50,000 not too long ago.

In article ,
Newps wrote:

Naaah, the loon is off pondering the fact the US set a record for traffic
deaths last year. In round numbers 43,000. Ought to keep him busy for a
while.


That's no record. I remember when it was over 50,000 not too long ago.

The following are all years in which the traffic fatalities were over 50,000
(not all years between 1966-1976 where in the 2004 report)

1966
1970
1978-1980

But the 43440 in 2005 is the highest since 1990.

(source www.nhtsa.dot.gov)

--
Bob Noel
Looking for a sig the
lawyers will hate

Bob Noel wrote:
In article ,
Newps wrote:

Naaah, the loon is off pondering the fact the US set a record for traffic
deaths last year. In round numbers 43,000. Ought to keep him busy for a
while.


That's no record. I remember when it was over 50,000 not too long ago.

The following are all years in which the traffic fatalities were over 50,000
(not all years between 1966-1976 where in the 2004 report)

1966
1970
1978-1980

But the 43440 in 2005 is the highest since 1990.

(source www.nhtsa.dot.gov)

Funny how the highest traffic fatality rates were during the years of
the 55mph speed limit.

In article . com,
"cjcampbell" wrote:

The following are all years in which the traffic fatalities were over
50,000
(not all years between 1966-1976 where in the 2004 report)

1966
1970
1978-1980

But the 43440 in 2005 is the highest since 1990.

(source www.nhtsa.dot.gov)

Funny how the highest traffic fatality rates were during the years of
the 55mph speed limit.

The numbers given were total fatalities, not rates.

The TSF2004.pdf available somewhere on www.nhtsa.dot.gov (I don't
remember where) shows the fatality RATE pretty much decreasing each year
since 1966. As with any statistic it is essential to ask why. Possible
explanations include (1) improved vehicle safety, (2) improved road safety
(e.g., better guard rails), and (3) medical improvements.

--
Bob Noel
Looking for a sig the
lawyers will hate

Bob Noel wrote:
In article . com,
"cjcampbell" wrote:

The following are all years in which the traffic fatalities were over
50,000
(not all years between 1966-1976 where in the 2004 report)

1966
1970
1978-1980

But the 43440 in 2005 is the highest since 1990.

(source www.nhtsa.dot.gov)

Funny how the highest traffic fatality rates were during the years of
the 55mph speed limit.

The numbers given were total fatalities, not rates.

The TSF2004.pdf available somewhere on www.nhtsa.dot.gov (I don't
remember where) shows the fatality RATE pretty much decreasing each year
since 1966. As with any statistic it is essential to ask why. Possible
explanations include (1) improved vehicle safety, (2) improved road safety
(e.g., better guard rails), and (3) medical improvements.

I remember reading in the Wall Street Journal that better tires
accounted for more than half of it.

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.

Cars in general are SO much better now. I remember my Dad trading his
Pontiacs at 50,000 miles, because they were about run out. People who
got 100,000 miles were in the local paper.

Now, I've got over 100K miles on 2 out of our 4 vehicles -- and I
barely drive the other two, so they'll likely last forever.

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.

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

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. 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.
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!
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

"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.

"Jay Honeck" wrote in message
oups.com...

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 freeway speed limits back to 70 mph. They just
repealed the national speed limit, which should never have been passed to
begin with. The states were then free to set speed limits within their
states.

On 25 Aug 2006 05:08:03 -0700, "Jay Honeck"
wrote:
Cars in general are SO much better now. I remember my Dad trading his
Pontiacs at 50,000 miles, because they were about run out. People who
got 100,000 miles were in the local paper.

I can remember a '69 Pontiac that I had that actually got scary to
drive past around 85 mph or so... The front end felt like it was
wanting to become airborne... Hell, my '95 Jeep XJ feels better than
that Pontiac at that speed and it has the aerodynamics of a ****in'
brick...

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.

For Iowa ??? I figured with all the damn straight roads up there,
they weren't too concerned with driving ability... For the same reason
that they don't have inspection stickers on cars...

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

I don't agree with the current drunk driving laws... I know for a fact
that with a 12-pack in me, I drive better than Grace's younger sister
even if she is perfectly sober... I think they should have an alcohol
rating on the drivers licenses so that you can 'qualify' with various
blood alcohol levels... If you can still pass the test with a certain
percentage of alcohol in your bloodstream, you can't get a DWI at that
level... Hell, that should make getting your license so much more
interesting... burp

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. 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.

Texas is that way also... It really irritates me when I'm on a
motorcycle and the sensor in the road does not register my vehicle
being there and won't give me the arrow... Louisiana, on the other
hand, still tends to have generic non-protected green lights that
allow you to use your own judgement on whether you can safely make the
turn...

Jay Honeck wrote:

Driver's education is another area that is radically improved. In the
1960s, the majority of drivers had received NO instruction at all.

Rather like here in the Philippines. Actually, majority do not have any
form of license at all. There is a place here in Laoag, though, that
has banners all over town advertising "Learn to drive in 2 days."