KiwiSurfer:

 

My big issue with speeding tickets is that the current transport policing policy seems to be based on the idea speeding it is the singular direct cause of road deaths.

 

I don't dispute that speeding makes the outcomes of accidents worse—but I suggest speeding isn't usually the root cause the accident itself. For instance a driver might change lanes without indicating and ensuring the lane they're changing to has enough room for their car causing a major accident. Speeding increases the impact (e.g. # of deaths, extend of injuries, etc) of the accident—but did not cause it (and in fact the driver that caused the accident may not have been speeding in the first place).

 

I'd much rather see more effort being put into root cause prevention. Policing speeding seems to do very little to reduce the overall number of accidents—and only seems to lessen the impacts of said accidents which would most likely have occurred regardless of driving speeds. The reduction in deaths is often offset by increases in injuries suggesting that accidents aren't really decreasing overall.

 

My other issue is that what's easy to measure is often overused as a measure. Speeding is easy to measure. Other, more serious, driving behaviors is difficult to measure. So the predictable outcome is to focus on speeding. Cheaper and easier to set up automatic speed traps than it is to trap the sort driving behaviors that actually do cause accidents.

 

I personally would like to see police have access to more tools to detect a wider variety of poor driving—not just a narrow focus on speeding.

 

Good post. I agree speeding is probably focused on because it is the easiest to police. I don't know what the statistics on accident types and causes are, or if they exist, but anecdotally there seems to have been a significant number of fatalities in the media recently because someone was on the wrong side of the road. If you have a head-on you will probably die, even if you are going half the speed limit.

On another note, something I read many years ago has left a lasting impression on me. If every car was required to have a sharp, pointed blade protruding out of the steering wheel and pointed at the driver's chest, the accident rate would plummet overnight. Accidents happen because modern cars make people feel too safe, so they take more chances.