On this page I inquire into how and why vehicle crashes* happen, with an emphasis on why so many cars crash head-on.
* I refuse to use the term 'accident', as most crashes are caused not by unforseeable situations, but by driver error or system failures and design errors. See Accident: definition.
Go Home.
. . . Head-on car crashes
. . . Accident Analysis ___ Accident: definition ___ Crash testing ___ Cause of death?
. . . Crash photos, cars ___ Crash prediction by computer
. . . Crash simulation by computer ___ Equipment Failure ___ Driving in Britain ___ General
. . . Head-on ___ Humor ___ Medical-legal issues ___ The myth that speeding causes accidents
. . . The myth that traffic calming is beneficial ___ Photo radar ___ Physics
. . . Scottish Police chiefs have called for motorway speed limit increase to 80 MPH
. . . Speed ___ Speed limiters kill ___ Suicide ___ Suicide Lethality-Time-Agony Method Calculator
Why have I noticed what I perceive to be so many head-on collisions between cars over the past year or two? Several such accidents (one a seemingly stable acquaintance of my wife) have been by people on their way to work in the morning, on a straight stretch of highway, in daylight, with no other vehicles even within fifty or a hundred car lengths of the two. Without having done any research on the subject, I have several possibilities as to their causes that come to mind, as follows:
1. People tend to hug the center line; a slight distraction, such as tuning the car radio, could lead to the car veering two feet to the left, and a crash. If each driver had been in the habit of driving with the left-side wheels four feet to the right of the line instead of two, the accident would not have happened.
I generally keep as far to the right as practicable, mainly to reduce the chance of head-on collision. This also reduces the distractions of glaring headlights at night and splashing water on wet roads. On the other hand, a neighbor drives as close to the center line as possible --at least in cities -- to avoid pedestrians or children dashing into the street. I prefer to avoid the chance of a head-on collision instead. The downside is that I have to be careful to avoid a car door opening on my right, from a parked car. Let it be noted, however, that in most jurisdictions, it is illegal to open the (left-hand in North America) door of a parked car on the driver's side -- although that is small comfort! That could become an important issue in a court case.
2. General distraction, resulting in either: (a) veering to the left, or (b) veering to the right, onto the shoulder, and over-correcting in steering the car to the left.
3. Distraction by poor highway signage. Approaching a junction of a highway which is expected to give you the choice of diverting to either the North or the South, but which gives you the choice of East or West, can distract one enough to increase the risk of a crash.
4. Poorly designed roads or intersections. Example: lack of safety shoulder, or one that is too rough or narrow.
5. Poorly maintained roads.
6. Falling asleep, or being very drowsy, possibly by causes listed in 8 below, or by narcolepsy. In his book Sleep Thieves, (see SLEEP THIEVES) Prof. Stanley Coren cites the case of a truck driver travelling late at night across the deserts in the southwest USA. He knew that he was tired, that there was extremely little traffic, and that the road was straight for many miles. He woke up to see flashing lights above him, at about 3 AM. The lights were from a helicopter, the crew of which had seen his truck lights by chance after having been dispatched in search of an unrelated accident. The truck had veered off the road, and across the desert for a distance of ten miles!
7. The seemingly large number of such incidents** might just be my faulty perception, or the more dramatic way in which they appear in news reports.
8. Impairment by alcohol, other drugs, overeating, or a fit of road rage.
9. Suicide.
10. Speed.
I think that speed is highly overrated as a direct cause of incidents, although, of course, the harmful effects of a collision increase dramatically with increase in speed. The energy dissipated in a collision increases in the ratio closer to the square of the ratio of speeds, rather than the (linear) ratio of speeds or momenta.
11. Equipment failure.
** I purposely do not denote such incidents as accidents. Most so-called accidents have deterministic causes, and are, therefore, avoidable. By definition, they are not accidents (chance events), but avoidable failures or a combination of failures, poor driving skill being a very prevalent factor. See dictionary defines accident and Accident: definition.
The above summarizes what I know about such incidents, or crashes.
I shall leave the above text unchanged. I will scour the Web, add some links (see Links), and try to answer some of these questions with what I learn along the way -- as much as possible under the same categories as listed above, if that is appropriate, depending upon the findings. So, here begins a summary of my findings and inferences, under the same categories as above.
1. People tend to hug the center line.
See Halt this deadly Rhode Island habit.
2. General distraction, resulting in either: (a) veering to the left, or (b) veering to the right, onto the shoulder, and over-correcting in steering the car to the left.
3. Distraction by poor highway signage.
See Inventorying Highway Signs. According to one study, defective signs figure in 20 percent of tort liability actions and are cited as a main cause in 41 percent of serious crashes. See also Hotels, where I rant and rave about deficient street signage and the lack of commercial-building numbering in cities and towns.
4. Poorly designed roads or intersections. Example: lack of safety shoulder, or one that is too rough or narrow.
See deficiencies in the national Highway System.
5. Poorly maintained roads.
See deficiencies in the national Highway System.
6. Falling asleep, or being very drowsy, possibly by causes listed in 8 below, or by narcolepsy.
Sleep apnea can also be a factor; see Driver Fatigue.
7. The seemingly large number of such incidents might just be my faulty perception, or the more dramatic way in which they appear in news reports.
I have more work to do here, but will add more soon (4 Nov 01).
8. Impairment by alcohol, other drugs, overeating, or a fit of road rage.
See Aggressive Drivers for a distinction between road rage and aggressive driving.
9. Suicide.
It is usually difficult to determine whether one purposely caused a head-on crash as a means of suicide. Some individual cases (out of many found) are linked to in Suicide below. Apart, from that, one would have to impute from other references given there what percentage of head-on collisions might be suicides, based on not only head-on collisions, but on crashing into barriers, such as concrete bridge abutments. For the possible suicide by a professional pilot of a passenger jet, see my speculative letter at Was EgyptAir 990 a suicide flight?.
The question of determining the cause of death is not always easy, involving as it sometimes does, a mixture of forensic science, legal battles, political correctness, and fundamental issues as to partial vs complete cause. Add to that the question of what is the definition of the term cause of death. That definition is not as obvious as it might first appear. It is partly a question of what caused the death medically, as opposed to some exterior agent or person. See my thought on this at Cause of death? Junk science in court. For example, in the USA, the cause of death by someone executed by the state is listed as homicide. Does that mean that the state has committed not 'just' killing, but murder?
If I were to hazard a guess, I think that the percentage of those committing suicide via head-on collisions is much higher than that in the general population.
To avoid the slaughter of the innocents, but where one needs a real dose of media attention, don't shoot up a school. Instead, consider the following alternative: Suicide Television.
For perfectionists, who just have to do it right, check out by checking out Suicide Lethality-Time-Agony Method Calculator.
10. Speed.
I think that speed is highly overrated as a direct cause of incidents, although, of course, the harmful effects of a collision increase dramatically with increase in speed. The energy dissipated in a collision increases in the ratio closer to the square of the ratio of speeds, rather than the (linear) ratio of speeds or momenta.
It appears that speed is a direct cause of crashes in less than 4% of crashes; see The myth that speeding causes accidents.
See also Physics, and Accident Analysis.
11. Equipment failure.
See Equipment Failure.
Accident Analysis - Summit Engineering Articles and Photograph Portfolios: http://www.summitengr.com/articles.htm Specialists In Engineering Analysis of Accidents. Summit Engineering Articles and Photograph Portfolios. Detailed various cases, accident types, and photos. See one of its subpages: Accident Reconstruction - Head-On Collisions.
Safe Places versus Safe People.pdf: http://www.culvenor.com/Download%20Files/Safe%20Places%20versus%20Safe%20People.pdf Key question: what is an accident, by definition? If it is unplaneed, how can planning avoid them? In my opinion, most so-called accidents are not accidents. They are, for the most part, incidents resulting from ignorance and stupidity. That is why I do not refer to crashes as accidents, but as incidents. Unfortunately, this paper is in the execrable pdf (Acrobat) format!
See also dictionary defines accident.
NHTSA Release Third Group of Crash Test Results (6-4-99): http://www.dot.gov/affairs/1999/nhtsa2599.htm The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), U.S. Depatrement of Transportation. . . . In head-on collisions involving two vehicles of different weights, occupants in lighter weight vehicles usually experience greater risk of injury than those in heavier vehicles. . . .
Volvo's New Safety Center The World's Best: http://www.edmunds.com/news/feature/manufacturers/43884/article.html With the opening of its new safety center, Volvo has taken a huge step forward in the advancement of automotive crash testing. Located in Göteborg, Sweden, the recently completed Volvo Cars Safety Center houses what could arguably be called the most technologically advanced crash-test facility in the world. . . .
England Scotland and Wales Driving in Great Britain 1: http://pages.prodigy.net/jcnash/driving01.htm Some Thoughts after 5,363 Miles of Driving on the Left. . . . The Highway Code & Road Signs -- and many other jolly-good suggestions and links! . . . The first and best suggestion we can make is to get a copy of Robert Lockhart's book, 'Driving in Britain'. . . .
1998 FREQUENCY MAPS: http://www.orss.state.sc.us/codesx/codes/freq_type.htm Drivers in Crashes by: Gender, Age, and Alcohol. Persons Involved in Crashes by: Restraint Use, Injury Severity, and Manner of Collision. Average Charges ($).
Association of British Drivers: http://www.abd.org.uk/
Auto Accident Helpline Home Page: http://www.autoaccidenthelpline.com/index.html THE Medical and Legal Resource for Auto Accident Victims
This is an automobile accident informational site, to give background, general information, statistics and research involving victims of car accidents and their injuries. Injuries caused by car accidents include whiplash, roll-over, rear-end, and low-impact injuries. Whiplash is the most common collision related injury and its symptoms can be quite complicated. The menu bar contains the different categories of accidents and injuries. . . . In the United States, there are approximately 12 million car accidents involving 21 million vehicles each year. This number varies from report to report, but it amounts to about 1 crash per second** in the USA. **Or, about 86,400 crashes per day. This site has several links.
CODES Fact Sheets: http://www.ctre.iastate.edu/itsds/codes.htm These Fact Sheets were compiled by CODES to demonstrate the hospital charges associated with various crash scenarios. The charges are based on data collected from 1996-1998 in the state of Iowa. The CODES (Iowa Crash Outcome Data Evaluation System) project is sponsored by the Iowa Department of Public Health, EMS division. . . .
Driver Fatigue: http://www.dmv.ca.gov/pubs/brochures/fast_facts/ffdl12.htm California Department of Motor Vehicles. If You Are Tired or Sleepy, Driving is NOT Recommended. Recent research reveals that approximately 25-30% of automobile collisions result from driver fatigue. . . . Sleep Apnea . . . Narcolepsy . . .
Driving links: http://www.car.driver.co.uk/links.htm DIVERSION.
page3: http://www.trans.gov.ab.ca/Content/doctype45/production/page3.htm Government of Alberta. Chapter 5 - Lane Driving.
NHS This is a Health Issue: http://www.caa.ca/CAAInternet/governmentadvocacy/nhs/nhshealthissue.htm Canadian Automobile Association National Office. People live a great part of their lives on the road. Unfortunately, some of them die on the road, and that is a tragedy. What is most tragic, is that most crashes could be prevented. Each year, 247 people die and 16,000 people are injured as a result of deficiencies in the national Highway System. . . . How to build a safer road . . .
HSIS Summary Report: http://www.tfhrc.gov/safety/hsis/94-068.htm The Magnitude and Severity of Passing Accidents on Two-Lane Rural Roads. U.S. Department of Transportation Federal Highway Administration. Much detail on passing distances, accident rates, and types -- including head-on collisions.
Most fatal car-heavy truck crashes not the trucker's fault: http://www.umich.edu/~newsinfo/Releases/1999/Oct99/r102099a.html The University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. . . . Daniel F. Blower of the U-M Transportation Research Institute (UMTRI) found that the actions of drivers of passenger vehicles alone contribute to 70 percent of the crashes. On the other hand, truck drivers alone commit driving errors in 16 percent of the accidents, while both drivers make errors 10 percent of the time. . . . the most common of all such crashes (nearly 23 percent) are head-on collisions in which the passenger vehicle crosses the center line into the truck's path --- eight times the rate of a truck crossing into the lane of a passenger vehicle. . . .
Making Sense of Highway Safety Data: http://www.accidentreconstruction.com/news/info3.asp Courtesy of the National Motorists Association. Primer: Fatalities, Fatality Rates and Fatal Accident Rates. . . .
Suspicious and Arbitrary Categories
Unfortunately, American motorists have been misled about the various factors that lead to accidents. In any given accident, there may be many causal factors involved. Federal highway safety data will list an accident caused by a driver failing to yield as "speed-related" if the driver was exceeding the posted speed limit. It doesn't matter that the driver was exceeding the limit by only two miles per hour. It doesn't matter if most drivers on that road routinely exceeded the posted limit. In fact, accidents in which the drivers were traveling significantly below the posted speed limit are often recorded as "speed-related."
"Alcohol-related" is another arbitrary category. . . . This means that if a pedestrian who had been drinking steps off a curb and is struck by a sober driver, the accident is listed as "alcohol related." The deception continues when the term "drunk driving" is substituted for "alcohol related," even though in many of these accidents, the driver or drivers were not suffering any meaningful level of impairment.
The most significant cause of accidents is not speeding. It is not drunk driving and it is certainly not the trendy "road rage." The number one cause of automobile accidents is -- unglamourous as it may be -- inattentive driving or driver error.
For decades the motoring public has been deceived into thinking that traffic law enforcement can significantly improve highway safety. This enforcement philosophy ignores the causes of most accidents and relies on the myth that drunk driving, speeding and aggressive driving are the most frequent causes. Billions of dollars and countless years of labor have been fruitlessly expended based on this premise, with no proven results. . . .
Rural and Urban Crashes A Comparative Analysis: http://www.azfms.com/DocReviews/Aug97/art11.html By Joseph Tessner, National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, Washington, DC. . . . A large portion of vehicles in rural fatal crashes is involved in head-on collisions, 25.18 percent than urban head-on collisions 14.48 percent. . . . Much detail.
Smart Motorist - Deadly Serious - Car Crashes, They're never the Driver's fault!: http://www.smartmotorist.com/acc/acc.htm What Causes Car Accidents? - Smart Motorist.
The dictionary defines accident as "an unexpected and undesirable event, a mishap unforeseen and without apparent cause." Strictly speaking, most accidents are not accidents at all: they are collisions that could and should have been avoided. So, what causes them, and how can you avoid them?
Four factors contribute to the vast majority of collisions. In ascending order they are:
1. Equipment Failure . . . combined totals for all reported equipment failure accounts for less than 5% of all motor vehicle accidents. . . .
2. Roadway Design Motorists may blame roadway design for accidents, but it's rarely the cause. . . .
3. Poor Roadway Maintenance Roadway maintenance contributes to some motor vehicle accidents, but not to the extent that drivers use it as an excuse. Unfortunately maintenance schedules and procedures vary greatly from city to city and state to state, so nationwide standards don't exist. . . .
4. Driver Behavior . . . Aggressive Drivers . . . The NYS State Police point out that there is a difference between aggressive driving and "road rage." Road Rage behaviors, such as using the vehicle as a weapon or physically assaulting a driver or their vehicle, are not aggressive driving. They are criminal offenses, and there are laws in place to address these violent crimes.
http://www.bts.gov/programs/transtu/tsar/tsar97/chap03.pdf Transportation safety statistics annual report 1997. Very detailed statistics. Unfortunately, for Web use, it is almost useless, as it is in the execrable Adobe PDF format, and is not properly identified as to source.
Assabet Rail Trail - What's wrong with this picture: http://www.bikexprt.com/massfacil/metrowest/assabet.htm Suppose a number of bicyclists are headed toward each other on the trail, and will meet at the barrier in the picture, . . . What's next? Center lines painted on sidewalks? Should we classify painted center lines on bike trails as unwanted graffiti? I think so. Our taxes at work!
City of Austin - Head-on Crashes: http://www.ci.austin.tx.us/trafficsafety/headhow.htm How serious is the problem of head-on collisions in Travis County? From 1994 to 1997, 19% of fatal crashes in Travis County were head-on, though head-on collisions accounted for only 2% of DPS-reported crashes at all injury levels. . . . In 1997, Head-on crashes made up 27% of fatal crashes in Travis County, compared with 7% each in Dallas and Harris counties, 14% each in Bexar and Tarrant counties, and 8.5% in El Paso County. . . . Yes, these were between cars, -- not cowboys on horses!
DC CAFE Head-on Collisions are Insignificant: http://www.panix.com/~danielc/usa/cafehead.htm . . . Upon examination of NHTSA tabulations of motor vehicle accidents in which serious or fatal injury resulted, head-on collisions comprised only 4 percent of such events. The vast majority -- 45 percent -- of serious accidents don't even involve another vehicle. The General Accounting Office reports small cars do better than large ones in single vehicle accidents -- though don't forget, the vehicle design, not size, is the primary reason. . . .
Frontal Accidents: http://www.autoaccidenthelpline.com/Frontal.html
http://www.roddriver.com/safety_990403.html Halt this deadly Rhode Island habit. . . . Many Rhode Island drivers routinely cross over and drive with two wheels on the other side of the centerline. The problem occurs mainly when a driver is turning left or is traveling on a rural two-lane road that bends to the left. Take note next time you are on such a two-lane road. . . . The statistics are sobering. More than one-third of Rhode Island automobile deaths occur in head-on collisions -- about 25 fatalities per year. . . .
Photo Gallery: http://www.firedispatch.com/gallery0401.asp
Re Head-on collisions are no fun!!!: http://list.miata.net/miata/2000-10/282.html The air bag worked as good as it was supposed to. . . . The first-hand account of a survivor. See: . . .
Head-on collisions are no fun!!: http://list.miata.net/miata/2000-10/271.html . . . The car is completely wiped out. The engine is pushed back about eight inches and nothing sticks out any further than where the radiator support used to be. . . .
Buchhammer and Kehl: http://www.bklawfirm.com/2001-issue2.html By Buchhammer & Kehl, P.C., Attorneys at Law, Cheyenne, Wyoming. WYOMING TORT AND INSURANCE DEFENSE NEWSLETTER. . . . Trial decisions by accident type and $.
HEAD INJURY WOULD A HELMET HAVE HELPED: http://www.waltersforensic.com/Accident%20Reconstruction/vol5-no3.htm Those of us who work in the legal and insurance industries are aware of the benefits gained through use of protective equipment such as seatbelts and helmets. However, when an accident occurs and liability is in issue, the plaintiff who failed to make use of protective equipment will typically argue that the equipment, if used, would not have reduced the injury suffered. These liability determinations are made by the judge or jury, and establishing the necessary causal connection between the injury suffered and equipment used (or not used) is a matter of expert scientific evidence. . . . The cyclist collided with a slow-moving car, striking his head against the windshield . . .
STANLEY COREN SLEEP THIEVES: http://www.canoe.ca/JamBooksReviewsS/sleepthieves_coren.html Overdrawn at the sleep bank. Our reverence for workaholism has produced corporate leaders who believe they don't need sleep, and neither should anyone else. By MEREDITH RENWICK. Review of the book SLEEP THIEVES: An Eye-opening Exploration into the Science and Mysteries of Sleep, by Stanley Coren. (Free Press) . . . a fascinating, immensely readable study of sleep by Stanley Coren, a University of British Columbia neuropsychologist.
Association of British Drivers: Speed: http://www.abd.org.uk/ Safety and Enforcement. Speed Cameras The word "speed" has been demonized by the anti-car lobby in order to deter resistance to the introduction of measures intended to make car usage tedious, uncomfortable, inefficient, and increasingly expensive. Excellent! Many articles.
SENSE - Is speed killing us: http://www.sense.bc.ca/research.htm Is speed killing us? No! Has excellent risk-vs-speed graphs, and arguments re photo radar targetting wrong people. Based in BC.
Accident Reconstruction - Head-On Collisions - Woodrow M. Poplin, M.S.E., P.E: http://www.summitengr.com/collision.html. Photo, diagram, and physics (Mechanics 1). Excellent!
Car Crash Example: http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/carcr.html For the car crash scenario where a car stops in 1 foot from a speed of 30 mi/hr, what is the force on the driver? . . .
Car and Truck Collide Head-on (inelastic): http://www.glenbrook.k12.il.us/gbssci/phys/mmedia/momentum/cthoi.html A GIF Animation . . .
The Physics of Automobile Collisions: http://www.glenbrook.k12.il.us/gbssci/phys/projects/frig/yepbytal/bertucci.html. Excellent!
High Speed Race Car Collision with a Solid Wall: http://www.isthq.com/applications/indy_car_crash.shtml
Speed: The myth that speeding causes accidents
Association of British Drivers: Speed: http://www.abd.org.uk/ Safety and Enforcement. Speed Limits. The word "speed" has been demonized by the anti-car lobby in order to deter resistance to the introduction of measures intended to make car usage tedious, uncomfortable, inefficient, and increasingly expensive. Many articles.
BBC News EUROPEAN Europe should we make the roads safer: http://newsvote.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/talking_point/debates/european/newsid_741000/741702.stm . . . It is worth noting that UK motorways which have a 70 mph speed limit have a significantly better safety record than other types of roads, especially in urban areas. . . . It is a common myth that speed causes accidents, this is not technically true. Less than 4% of accidents in the UK are due exclusively to excessive speed. What causes accidents, is driving inappropriately for the current conditions. Driving at 80 km on a country road in the wet is far more dangerous than driving at 150 km on a motorway. Germany's autobahn's are not as good as Germans think they are. They need better lighting, "cats eyes" and better signs. However the artificially low speed limit on British motorways encourages dangerous driving, while British speed limits on country lanes and residential areas are often too high. . . .
SENSE - Is speed killing us: http://www.sense.bc.ca/research.htm Is speed killing us? No! Has excellent risk-vs-speed graphs, and arguments re photo radar targetting wrong people. Based in BC.
Speed: http://www.car.driver.co.uk/speed.htm Speed -- Understand where it's going and why. Scottish Police chiefs have recently called for the motorway speed limit to be increased to 80 MPH. They recognise that most modern cars are perfectly capable of travelling safely at such a speed in good conditions. They will also have listened to the advice of their own traffic officers who will have told them that travelling at such a speed simply does not warrant stopping someone.
speedcrash: http://trafficschool.homestead.com/speedcrash.html Speed doesn't kill, stats suggest. "Despite raised limits, fatalities down in 1997, CHP says." Sac Bee, 11/3/98 (AP).
COUNTERACT THE MYTH: http://freedomlaw.com/COUNTERA.htm . . . Speed alone doesn't kill, and is not even a major cause of accidents. . . .
studies by the leading research institutions, including the Federal Highway Administration (FHwA) and the University of North Carolina's Highway Safety Research Center (HSRC) show that speed "too fast for conditions," and not just in excess of posted limits, is responsible for fewer than 10 percent of traffic fatalities.
A study by the HSRC ranked speed eighth and last in a list of the principal causes of fatal accidents. . . .
. . . 80 percent of all traffic fatalities involve speeds of 40 mph or less! . . .
Press Releases - National Motorists Association: http://www.motorists.com/pressreleases/safetoincreasespeedlimits.html
. "Insurance industry profits may be down because there are fewer speeding ticket victims to penalize with higher premiums, but safety has not been compromised," . . .
SENSE - The Myth of 'Speed Kills' and the Dangers of Slow Driving: http://www.sense.bc.ca/disc/disc-05.htm
N. J. Garber and R. Gadiraju. "Factors Affecting Speed Variance and Its Influence on Accidents." Transportation Research Record, 1213 (1989), p. 69. " ... there is no strong correlation between accident rates and average speed for any given type of highway ... This tends to support the theory that higher speeds do not necessarily result in higher accident rates."
Speed Kills?: http://members.tripod.com/~Cybertrucker/speed.htm
"Speed kills!", says the Government advertisement. It's a snappy little slogan, isn't it? . . . What a pity it isn't true!
If it were true, the safest roads in the country would be in built-up areas subject to 30mph limits, the most dangerous would be motorways, and the most dangerous drivers would be the traffic police, cutting great swathes through the population as they rush about in their high-powered cars. In fact, the opposite is true. For every 100 million vehicle kilometres travelled there are 96 injury accidents on urban roads, compared to just 11 on motorways, and the traffic police, considering the speeds they have to drive at, are incredibly safe. What's gone wrong with our slogan?
The truth is that speed doesn't necessarily kill. Bad driving kills. Of course, bad driving can include driving too fast for the situation, but it's too simplistic to say that speed itself is dangerous. Speed in the wrong place is dangerous, but so is parking in the wrong place. 30mph past a school when the children are coming out would be dangerously irresponsible, but 70 on a quiet motorway is perfectly safe. If the motorway is busy, or it's chucking it down with rain, 50 could be too fast. The responsible driver knows when it's okay to wind it up, and when he should rein in the horses. . . .
Well, the lunatics have taken over the asylum. The safest vehicles on our roads are lorries, (51 accidents per hundred million vehicle kilometres, compared to 94 for cars), but thanks to a decree by our masters in Brussels, they are now fitted with speed limiters.
This does absolutely nothing to make our roads safer. You want to do 55 past a school? Certainly. The speed limiter won't stop you. Want to race down country lanes at 55? No problem. . . .
this dangerous nonsense has been inflicted on us by the European Union, and we all know what a brilliant record they've got for sensible and constructive legislation! We should be telling them what to do to improve road safety, not them telling us. In 1992, for example, seven people out of every 100,000 in Britain were killed in road accidents, compared to 12 in Germany, 18 in France, and 34 in Portugal. This makes British roads the safest in Europe, and probably the world. Motorways are the safest roads, and lorries are the safest vehicles on our roads. . . . a lorry on a British motorway is the safest vehicle in the world, so naturally the EU imposes a measure that affects only the safest vehicles in the world. They also, incidentally, force us to interpret the drivers' hours regulations in a way which allows you to drive for nine hours solid with only a fifteen minute break in the middle. Three cheers for the EU! . . .
Although the overall number of road accidents is down as part of a continuing trend, the number of lorry drivers killed in 1995 was 24% higher than in 1994, (130, up from 105), and the number of PSV drivers killed was up a staggering 67%.
So what's caused this worrying rise in deaths? . . .
Speed limiters. They've been fitted to most trucks and coaches in the last couple of years. Drivers on motorways now travel "on the limiter" for hours on end, and they now have nothing to do, as the vehicle is effectively driving itself. . . .
It can't be co-incidence that, in the absence of any other factors, the rise in deaths amongst professional drivers has happened at the same time as those same drivers started driving on speed limiters. The only drivers whose death rates have increased are those whose vehicles are now fitted with speed limiters, and this leads us to one inescapable conclusion: Speed limiters kill.
Published in "Trucking International", May 1997.
Speed Limits: http://www.ibiblio.org/rdu/p-sl.html. In summary they are generally set too low. Not only on interstates but almost every road. An intense federal study proves just that. Speed limits should be set at the prevailing speed of traffic or higher. Has very extensive links.
AusStats Special Article - Suicide (Year Book Australia, 2000): http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/94713ad445ff1425ca25682000192af2/be00331a0c387533ca2569de0024ed5b!OpenDocument
Civil Liability for Suicide Barriers: http://www.uchastings.edu/plri/spring98/civil.html PUBLIC LAW RESEARCH INSTITUTE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA HASTINGS COLLEGE OF THE LAW. . . . Since the Golden Gate Bridge opened in 1937, at least twelve hundred people have jumped from it to their deaths. Bridges in other states and countries also have become attractive sites for suicides and suicide attempts. From time to time, it has been suggested that suicide barriers could reduce the number of suicides that take place on bridges like the Golden Gate Bridge. This working paper examines whether the public entity that administers a bridge -- the Golden Gate Bridge Highway and Transportation District, for example -- would be exposed to liability for damages if it installed a suicide barrier and the barrier failed in some manner, allowing a member of the public to commit suicide. . . . Short answer? Not especially liable, which seems reasonable to me.
Homepage of Daniel Unruh: http://www.freiburg.linux.de/~unruh/suicide.html SUICIDE - Methods. Chemicals, ropes, cars!
LAS VEGAS RJNEWS Officials think wreck was suicide: http://www.lvrj.com/lvrj_home/2000/Mar-18-Sat-2000/news/13195707.html..March 18, 2000 Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal. A woman who caused a head-on collision in January that killed two may have been trying to commit suicide, but there isn't enough evidence to prove it. . . . for Michelle S. Montalbano, 23 . . .
Mortality: http://www2.state.id.us/dhw/vs99/mortality/99mort.htm
The number of Idaho deaths increased 4 percent in 1999 to 9,508. This is the highest annual number of deaths occurring to Idaho residents, although the increase is partially due to population growth, as the death rate increased only 3 percent to 7.6 per 1,000 population.
The ten leading causes of death in Idaho in 1999 varied little from 1998. The only change in the ranking from 1998 to 1999 was Alzheimer’s disease moving from ninth to eighth place and Suicide dropping from eighth to ninth for the leading causes of death. The change in the rankings for Alzheimer’s disease and Suicide was influenced by the implementation of the tenth revision of International Classification of Diseases in 1999. . . . Details.
Suicide Lethality-Time-Agony Method Calculator: http://www.geocities.com/CapitolHill/2150/lta_calc.html In [1], 10 forensic pathologists rated the lethality, time and agony for 28 methods of suicide. The pathologists were requested to rate the criteria using the following instructions: Lethality . . . Time . . . Agony . . .
The formula which is used to evaluate each method is:
Evaluate = WL * Lethality + WT * (456 - Time)/4.56 + WA * (100 - Agony) . . .
Tabulated are 28 methods, each with L, T, and A values. Given also is a Java-based calculator for finer tinkering -- for those who have to do it just right and just-in-time!
Supplemental Suicide Statistics 1998: http://www.iusb.edu/~jmcintos/SuicideStats.html U.S.A. SUICIDE: Prepared for the American Association of Suicidology.
_____ Methods of Suicide: Detailed (1998 data) National Figures
_______ Method ______________ Percent of Total (30,575 suicides)
Firearms and explosives __________ 57.0%
Hanging, strangulation, suffocation __ 18.7%
Solid & Liquid Poisons __________ 10.9%
Gas Poisons ___________________ 5.6%
All Other Methods ______________ 7.7%
_____ "All Other" category includes:
_____ ___ Jump from high place __________ 2.0%
_____ ___ Cutting & Piercing ____________ 1.6%
_____ ___ Drowning ___________________ 1.2%
_____ ___ Jump/Lie before moving object ___ 1.0%
_____ ___ Burns, Fire __________________ 0.5%
_____ ___ Crashing of motor vehicle _______ 0.4% (133 suicides)
This excellent site contains many more detailed tables.
VAGUEpolitix -- Focus on Crime -- Jokers Wild: http://www.vaguepolitix.com/crime/jokers/index_04.htm All suicide all the time, by Steve Radlauer. Murder being the extroverted form of suicide, it's clear that for . . . (several other murder-suicidists) . . . the Texas-church-slayer Larry Gene Ashbrooks of the world, ostentatiously killing others is integral to the process of ostentatiously killing themselves. . . .
Can we grant these people the fame they are literally willing to die for, but without the sacrifice of innocents? The answer is: Yes!
The plan, naturally, involves television: a new cable channel called Suicide Television — STV. Here's how it works. Volunteer applicants will be recruited and exhaustively evaluated by staff psychologists. Those . . . will be . . . assigned a segment producer.
. . . subject and producer will develop the suicide telecast. . . . a unique elaboration on the family traumas, psychoses, demons and what-have-yous that are driving the subject to slaughter innocent victims. . . .
The actual suicides will be planned and executed with the same care and multiple-camera setups that go into the making of a blockbuster picture or big-time commercial. Special rigs will be developed to deliver, say, an ultra-slo-mo shot of . . .
Several subjects with the same obsession might choose to have high-speed head-on collisions with each other — driving specially doctored cars without seat belts, air bags and crumple zones. Survivors could attack each other with shovels. . . .
Wreck suicide, police say; motive unknown: http://www.mailtribune.com/archive/2001/may/050201n3.htm . . . The pickup swerved back into the correct lane as it approached the next westbound car, then darted directly into its path to trigger a head-on collision, . . .
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You can e-mail me at waynerp@sympatico.ca