For a while now I’ve been collecting links on Bloglines which I keep meaning to talk about. Unfortunately they’re all out of date now, but you can still hear about them anyway. Here’s an exciting one about the world of driving:
(From the Pedant-General about this document)
It is not speed that kills, it is inappropriate speed. Even then, speed is not even a contributory factor in three quarters of fatal accidents.
…
Cameras will do nothing to improve driver behaviour to reduce the massive 64% caused “driver error or reaction”.
Cameras will not reduce the 19% of fatal accidents where “Driver distraction” was a contributory factor. Indeed 1% of that is due to “Distraction outside vehicle”. Hmmmm…..
Cameras will do nothing to correct driver “behaviour or inexperience” (29%) either.
In short, plastering the entire country in speed cameras will do precisely nothing to prevent 88% of accidents that result in a fatality.
Most of us interested in driving were fairly sure of this anyway; it’s nice to have the statistics to back it up.