
Crashes, injuries spike after Michigan boosts freeway speed limits to 75 MPH - awnird
https://www.bridgemi.com/michigan-government/crashes-injuries-spike-after-michigan-boosts-freeway-speed-limits-75-mph
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Jaygles
The barrier to entry for getting licensed to operate a vehicle in the United
States is way too low. People don't respect what they are doing when operating
a motor vehicle.

The deadly issue with driving is that it's just too easy. 99.999% of the time
things go just as well as you'd like without much active thinking. People get
lulled into a false sense of security and get bored and start distracting
themselves with their phone or whatever else.

We really need to redefine a car trip as a way to get you somewhere safely
rather than quickly.

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crooked-v
> The barrier to entry for getting licensed to operate a vehicle in the United
> States is way too low.

That's because we've built the country since the 1950s in such a way that a
car is a necessity rather than a luxury.

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SkyPuncher
IMO, title has an implication between speed and crashes that is not fair.

The article even says (1) not enough data (2) most crashes leading to the
increase aren't in areas where the limits increased.

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eckza
This is a scalding hot take of an article that says nothing of substance, and
commits many logical fallacies along the way.

But, most people never read past the headline, so I’m sure this will get
passed off as gospel.

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yostrovs
Yup, from the article: "Police did not identify speed as a primary factor in
any of the 14 fatal crashes on 75 mph freeways in 2018, the highest number in
five years."

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stefan_
Remember that power required to push air out of the way is quadratic with
speed. The 10 mph increase here is a 30% increase in kinetic energy in any
given crash.

~~~
sdinsn
You are right that kinetic energy scales quadratically, but it have nothing to
do with "pushing air". The kinetic energy formula is the same in a vacuum.

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war1025
I believe there have been studies that indicate traffic accidents on freeways
increase as the speed delta between vehicles increases.

My opinion (biased, obviously) is that the people who choose to drive
significantly below the speed limit are more of an issue than those who choose
to drive above it.

Someone driving over the speed limit is going to be monitoring the traffic
ahead of them. Those are the people they are most likely to interact with.

Someone driving exceptionally slowly is much less likely to be monitoring the
traffic behind them adequately enough to know when someone is approaching them
rapidly from behind.

Further, the amount in excess of the speed limit that the vast majority of
people would be willing to drive is a fairly small delta (10, maybe 15mph
max). The amount below the speed limit someone may choose to drive is much
larger, mostly by definition of it being any value from zero to the speed
limit.

A habit I picked up a few years ago thanks to seeing others doing so is to put
on my 4-way flasher hazard lights if I'm driving significantly below the speed
limit (usually due to snow or super heavy rain). It helps alert people that
"hey, this person is going slower than you probably expect them to be, so pay
attention"

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eckza
4-ways are often very under-utilized.

Whenever I get into a car for the first time, one of the first things I do is
figure out where the 4-ways are, and try to remember that piece of information
so that I can turn them on as a reflex, if needed.

~~~
alphabettsy
Except that’s illegal almost everywhere. Maybe it shouldn’t be.

[https://drivinglaws.aaa.com/tag/hazard-light-
use/](https://drivinglaws.aaa.com/tag/hazard-light-use/)

~~~
war1025
That list looked to me like well over half said either explicitly "permitted"
or "prohibited except to indicate a hazard", which I believe the use cases
listed qualify under.

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jaggederest
I wonder how many collective hours have been saved, and what the ratio is
between the value of that and the increased accident rate. I'm sure there's a
suitably mercenary cost-benefit analysis that would be interesting to see.

My experience, limited though it is, is that in Detroit nobody drives the
speed limit or anything close to it. 85 in a 65 zone was standard.

~~~
SkyPuncher
In my opinion, weather plays a substantially larger factor than the speed
limit. We've had some nasty icy roads the past few winters.

~~~
a3n
I was wondering if there's a correlation with weather for the particular
crashes recorded.

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Waterluvian
A major highway in Ontario (402) was increased from 100 to 110 and the police
said the current results are that there's no significant changes in crashes.

Now I can't find the article. So take this with a grain of salt.

I doubt Michigan drivers are objectively worse so I imagine it's just a bad
finding.

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danschumann
75 on a new car is far different than 75 on my 99 Honda accord. Also, once
people get used to winter, they get a little cavalier on these snowy Midwest
roads. Did the statistics control for this year's weather?

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Jolter
If you look at stats for temperate climates, the chief factor is normally not
the winter but the summer. In snowy weather, drivers actually tend to slow
down, and even though many go off the road, they are slow crashes with few
fatalities. A long, hot summer is deadly though, because it means more miles
travelled and hence more accidents. And crashes in the summer tend to be fast,
and thus more deadly.

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crusso
I'm really big on the future of self-driving cars and how they'll help with
problems like this. Not only will they be inherently safer at any speed, my
guess is that drivers won't fret as much to exceed the speed limits.

If you're able to keep your eyes off the road and work on your laptop, read a
book, take a snooze, whatever... are you all that worried about whether you're
doing 70mph or 80mph?

I think that a lot of the aggression of drivers is due to opportunity cost.
They feel like they could be doing something else with their time and that the
driving part is a waste.

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makerofspoons
Look at those signs- 65 is the limit for trucks, you have cars pushing 80, and
some drivers like the one interviewed in the article driving 70. A higher
variance in vehicle speeds makes traffic less safe.

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jcampbell1
Before the change, Michigan had the highest car insurance rates in the US. I
am sure this will make them even higher. Having policies that make car
insurance expensive is an unforced drain on the statewide economy. Sensible
policies would add about $1200/year in disposable income per car in Michigan.

~~~
dole
Michigan also has auto insurance changes due to take effect in July 2020 that
will also wind up affecting their rates, notably the lifting of the heavy
Personal Injury Protection coverage:

"Michigan has the highest car insurance coverage requirements in the U.S. —
most notably Personal Injury Protection (PIP) insurance with unlimited,
lifetime medical coverage for car accident injuries. Michigan's insurance
requirements guarantee many health and recovery benefits to injured drivers,
including reimbursement for lost wages, in-home nursing care, and specialized
medical treatments." [1]

[1] [https://www.thezebra.com/resources/research/michigan-car-
ins...](https://www.thezebra.com/resources/research/michigan-car-insurance-
crisis)

(I didn't realize their rates were THAT much more than surrounding states...
ouch.)

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michaelmcdonald
I am shocked that the author, much less editor, would allow this to be
published. There is nothing but conjecture. I guess websites really will say
whatever click-bait title gets them the most traffic.

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freehunter
What I think this article gets right, even if accidentally, is that speed is
not a great factor in determining traffic crashes or the outcome on human
life. While the point of the article seems lost in it’s nonsense and
meandering story, there are a couple of good points:

1) The one person who says “I go 80 anyway so I like it”. People drive
whatever speed they want regardless of speed limit. Case in point, the person
who said “I still drive 70 because 75 is too fast”. There’s nothing inherently
dangerous about speed until you hit something. Cars hitting each other is much
more likely when the speed differential increases.

2) The person who talks about the economy having more of an impact on driving
behavior than speed limits. I’d love to see more data on that, but regardless
of if it’s true, we know that the speed limit doesn’t have the biggest impact
on driver safety, and we know that thanks to

3) The Autobahn referenced at the very end of the article, and other no-limit
freeways that exist even in America. I had an opportunity to drive on some
unrestricted sections of the Autobahn this past summer and even with the huge
differentials in speed, drivers managed to not crash into each other.

I don’t know what the problem is so I don’t know what the solution is, but I
can make a couple more observations. First, Germany has a law that your car
has to be in proper working order and it’s taken off the roads if it’s not.
Having spent a lot of time in Northern Michigan where this article takes
place, there is no guarantee that cars on the road are working. As long as the
car can move, people will drive it. Doesn’t matter how long they’ve been using
the same brakes or tires. So when it comes time to avoid an accident, their
car is not capable of stopping or maneuvering in time.

Secondly, drivers training in the US is abysmal. You’re expected to learn how
to avoid collisions by yourself, and you’re expected to learn how to drive in
bad weather (wind, snow, rain) by yourself, on public roads, with other
drivers around you.

An extra five miles per hour on a limited-access freeway in an amazingly rural
area should not impact anything at all, ever. There HAS to be other factors in
play besides the speed limit.

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fronofro
Any idea how to interpret the first chart?

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Jamwinner
This is total bullshit. Not one citation.

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omani
this is also called clickbait.

such agencies will die out soon because they spread fake news.

hey bridgemi, I wish you unemployment soon!

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thrower123
I suspect one of the biggest impacts was revenue shortfall for the state
troopers.

Also, 14 fatal crashes for the year. When numbers are that small, any
variation makes for a big change in percentages.

