Speed Not To Blame

[Craig.]

Pinched from another forum but worth a read.Speeding | Speeding deaths | Mecrcedes-Benz

Quote:

Speed doesnt kill, says Benz

RICHARD BLACKBURN

March 5, 2010

Safety expert for Mercedes says strict speeding laws are not the answer to lowering road tolls.

A leading safety expert says a crackdown on speeding is not the answer to reducing the road toll.

The vice president of safety development for Mercedes-Benz, Ulrich Mellinghoff, says crash avoidance systems, better roads and more roundabouts would do more to cut the road toll than tougher speeding laws.

The approach is in direct contrast to state governments in NSW and Victoria, who have been preaching the "speed kills" mantra as the number one panacea for the road toll.

Mr Mellinghoff says motorists often fell into the trap of thinking they were driving safely because they were doing less than the speed limit.

He says the German road toll had reduced significantly in the past 20 years, despite much higher speeds on the roads.

" In Germany you can drive as fast as you want. I don't think that speed alone is the problem. It's the wrong speed in a special situation. With speed limits you will not stop those situations. If you have fog and drive at 100km/h, which is allowed, you are really in high danger of having an accident. On the other hand, if you drive 250km/h on the German autobahn in clear weather conditions with no traffic, it's not really a risk and no accidents happen in those situations," he says.

His claims are borne out by German road statistics. In 1972, there were 20,000 deaths on West German roads. In 2009, there were 4100, despite 20 million more people on the road (including the old East Germany).

"That was with much worse traffic and significantly more vehicles on the road," says Mellinghoff.

"What we have seen is there are a lot of very different reasons for accidents. Sometimes it is not the high speed, it is the wrong speed. If you limit the speed, the driver often thinks all they have to do is drive the speed limit and they don't have to think," he says.

It was better to put the responsibility for driving at the right speed on the shoulders of the individual driver.

Accident avoidance technology, including pedestrian avoidance systems, also had the potential to drastically reduce the road toll.

When stability control was introduced on all cars in Germany, there was a 30 per cent reduction in accidents where a single car leaves the road.

He says Australia's New Car Assessment Program, which crash tests cars and awards safety ratings, should reward vehicles more for crash avoidance, rather than the protection they offered in a crash.

"They should focus more on these assistance systems. It makes more sense to avoid an accident than to reduce the severity of it," he says.

Mercedes was working on a variety of advanced systems designed to cut the road toll, including infra-red systems that detect pedestrians at the side of the road in the dark and spotlight them to alert the driver.

The company also had brake assistance technology that intervened to provide maximum braking force in an emergency situation.

He says the assistance, which occurs in the last 100 milliseconds before a crash, can reduce impact speeds by 5 to 6km/h.

He says Germany has seen good results from increasing the number of roundabouts, as they reduce the number of severe accidents at intersections, while better separating vehicles from cyclists and pedestrians also helps to keep the toll down.

He believes car to car communication can also play a big role in reducing the toll, with cars able to warn drivers behind them about hazardous road conditions including ice on the road or accidents ahead.

Edited 05/03/10 01:44 AM by craiginmackay

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hallefarkenlujah

I'm sure that article will get burred quick-smart, pollies will absolutely sh*t themselves if that attitude goes mainstream.

[nang3]

makes sense to anyone apart from those concerned with revenue raising!

[PH00NN]

That's been my theory all along, some of these lower speed limits cause a lack of concentration and lure people into a false sense of security.

Some of the country roads around my area have dropped from 100km/h to 80km/h over the past few years and I have a real hard time maintaining concentration given the fact the roads are in great condition, nice & wide and have open paddocks either side.

I always see people engrossed in coversation, eating, going through their glovebox, playing with the stereo and I don't really blame them when the speed limit has been reduced to a mind numbing pace.

I'm not a ratbag on the road but I prefer to drive at a speed that keeps my attention and is therefore safer.

Unfortunately there isn't as much money to be made as there is in fining speeding drivers.

[ZAP]

I thought that if I went 5km/h over the limit, I would instantly die

The government told me this, so it must be true

[Evil F6]

In Iceland when they decided to drop the speed limit to 80km/h fatalities rose over 50% and remained much higher. This has also been documented in every country/state that has tried the same imbecilic knee-jerk approach.

It's about time one of the German manufacturers weighed into the debate. Personally the Germans should tell Australia to get stuffed and refuse to sell their cars here due to our grossly incompetent Governments and Police that keep pushing utter and total BS. Why would anyone want to sell the likes of AMG cars in a country where you have such ludicrous speed limits with vast distances to cover.

Call their bluff I say and pull out; the number of sales they get in Australia is minute anyway compared to global sales. Come on BMW, Audi, Porsche, Mercedes, Ferrari etc all of you get on board and launch an unrelenting attack on BS and if that gets you no where, tell them to shove it.

[Mrs Jeturbo]

  On 05/03/2010 at 3:17 AM, ZAP said:

I thought that if I went 5km/h over the limit, I would instantly die

The government told me this, so it must be true

yes... this all makes perfect sense to me!

[GR8XR6]

Unfortunately it is all too profitable for the government to change there ways! Everyone admits it is a cash cow system. How about putting that money into other avenues.

For example a decent drag facility, decent roads, proper driver training, the list goes on. The only thing that is really taught these days is to obey the road laws.

I'm sorry if it is a choice to avoid an accident and break the law. I will break the law. However awareness of surroundings is not really focused on when you are learning to drive and we rely too much on traffic lights where the bulk of accidents happen.

It is getting harder and harder to enjoy driving these days. Common sense is being lost amongst laws and regulations

My 2 cents worth.

[Rootster]

  On 05/03/2010 at 3:17 AM, ZAP said:

I thought that if I went 5km/h over the limit, I would instantly die

The government told me this, so it must be true

lmfao....Thanks zap...I thought it had something to do with revenue collecting...

Have to thank them for the changes bringing in the 10km and under rule.....

10km or under in nsw $84 ..........1 point...

over 10 km in nsw $197..........3 points...

So if you lost your license on the 1 point system compared to the 3 point system....

On the one point system it would cost $1008....on the three point system $788.00

So they make an extra $220.00 for taking them 1 at a time... .

Do these guys sell business plans...

Let me grab some while we wait for a reply....

[NB4C]

The Germans have the right idea. An appropriate speed is a safe speed - hence the Autobahns. From what I've heard, in Germany if you're going 20km/h over the limit and it's an empty straight road, the cops won't care. It's only natural to drive slightly faster on an empty road.