Fifty Percent of Urban Speeding Drivers Killed Aged 16-24

Written by Blair Carter

From The Toronto Star

Just recently, there have been three serious crashes in the GTA involving younger drivers and high speeds. Two of them have resulted in fatalities and all involved serious life-threatening injuries. In these separate incidents, police are looking at excessive speed as a major factor.

This has prompted Scarborough-Agincourt MP Jim Karygiannis to introduce a bill to force the auto manufacturers to install speed-limiting devices in personal vehicles. He has suggested a speed limit of 150 kp/h for all autos.

Is Karygiannis blowing smoke? Or will speed limiters on all vehicles really save lives?

On the positive side, it could mean fewer police chases if motorists know they are limited to a speed much lower than the police. It would be very difficult to try to outrun a squad car capable of 200 kp/h if you can only do 150. This is assuming that Karygiannis will exempt police vehicles from his legislation.

According to Transport Canada, “speeding was a factor in about 25 per cent of deaths and 20 per cent of serious injuries from vehicle crashes.”

I have always wondered, how did the crash investigators determine that it was the speeding that caused the crash? Speed may have been a contributor but was it the real cause?Could these speed-related fatalities really be a combination of factors such as distraction and speeding? Or are some a fatigue and speed combination?

In other words, was it speeding that caused the crash or did the speed at which the crash occurred ensure the injuries were fatal?

We have to realize that the age-old adage “speed kills” is nothing more than a misconception. It is not speed that kills. It is the collision or sudden stop that kills.

Granted, the higher the speed the more energy there is to be dissipated in a collision. This means high-speed collisions will cause more fatalities and serious injuries than low-speed crashes.

Limiting a vehicle to 150 kp/h will probably have very little, if any, effect on vehicle fatalities. A crash at 145 kp/h will be just as fatal as a crash at 150 kp/h. For that matter, a crash at 30 kp/h can also be fatal.

If a vehicle crashes at 200 kp/h, and the occupants are killed, would they have survived if they crashed at 150 kp/h? At those speeds, it is not likely.

The Transport Canada study also says: “Young adult drivers figure prominently in speeding crash statistics, but they pose the greatest risk on urban roads. During 2002-2004, almost 50 per cent of speeding drivers involved in fatal urban crashes were aged 16-24 years.”

It is a lot easier to reach speeds of 150 kp/h on rural highways but many of these speed-related crashes occurred on urban streets where the speeds were probably lower than 150 kp/h.

Speed limiters will not prevent “street racing.” Drivers will still race cars, even with speed limiters. It will simply become a race to hit the limiter first.

It’s not speed we need to limit. It is the crashes we need to limit.

Driving at 150 kp/h could be perfectly safe when conditions such as proper training, no traffic, perfect weather and a safe vehicle all come together. The trouble is, those conditions are never present unless on a race track. Race car drivers can motor around the Indianapolis Speedway averaging 320 kp/h and do so quite safely.

On the other hand, driving at 100 kp/h on Hwy. 401 could be very dangerous, even though it is well under the limit proposed by MP Karygiannis. This is evident every winter when motorists and truckers try to drive too fast for the conditions such as on snowy or icy roads. A speed limiter would be of no help in those situations.

It’s not a matter of driving fast, it’s a matter of “driving stupid.” Unfortunately, we can’t limit that — but better driver training can help with understanding the risks and improving control skills.

Instead of putting a limit on speed, why don’t we remove the limits placed on driver education?

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