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My take:
Speed isn't as dangerous as speed differential.
The idiots that do 45-50 thinking they're making the roads safer are just as dangerous as the cell-phone-oblivious doing 80-85 in the next lane. Put them together and you have a 30-40mph differential.
If we all did 85 (or 65, or insert-your-number-here) and ticketed everyone who did more OR LESS than 10% different.....we'd all be safer.
The sad fact is that our Interstate system is SO set up for much higher speeds. I drove from Minneapolis to Sioux Falls today with the cruise set at 79-84, but could have done 100+ safely. Even 120 or so would have been safe most of the way. No traffic.
And on the aggregate, cars are MUCH safer today than they were just a few years ago. I'm not just talking about passive I-already-hit-something safety, but better tires/brakes/aero/steering/etc.
A while back, I had to make time in a 2004 Escalade ESV (Suburban) and hit 120 on empty stretches and the thing was rock steady! It didn't even break a sweat at 100, it could have been happy doing it all day. I'm not condoning doing it on public roads, but the fact that it could safely handle those speeds on empty roads.......we've come a long way since the late eighties.
People driving fast don't bug me unless they're driving inattentively in close proximity to those going 'safely' slow.
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