I suppose it’s our own fault, this inattention to driver education, in essence not taking driving as a serious thing. Driving is seen as a right, and with no viable public transportation in many areas the level of licensed stupidity can only increase over time.

Speaking of which, my son will have his license soon. I sometimes shudder at the very thought.

Couldn’t agree more and I wasn’t arguing that top speed on the autobahn is “safe”, but there are lots o’ folks traveling quite safely outside of cities at 90-100 mph. And whether or not we have higher speed limits in the U.S., driver training and education, as well as condition of equipment should be a higher priority here. Every time I stand in a “security” line at the airport I wonder if we put the same kind of effort into reducing automobile accidents that the payoff might be much higher. If we take 9/11 as the worst terrorist event in U.S. history, some 3000 people were killed. In the years since then we have killed more than 250,000 people on U.S. highways. If additional driver education could just take a 10% bite out of that number, that would equal 25,000 lives saved.

At some point, some IIHS flack may join in and say that driver training has little to do with road safety. I cry foul at that; anyone who has worked with any dangerous tool knows that training goes a long way toward reducing accidents with whatever tool you might name. Not everyone has to smash their thumb with a hammer to learn how to use one properly, and an automobile is a far more dangerous tool than a hammer.

ModemJunki opines:
Those who drive at top speed on the Autobahn generally accept as fact the notion that a person will likely only have one high speed accident during their lives. The ones that survive tend to slow down a bit.

Don’t get me wrong, I’ve been there and done that. I’ve not found another place with so many careful, attentive drivers.

But in my country (the USA), we have long way to go with driver education and training before I’d remotely consider supporting triple-digit and above speeds for the common man.

And as to worse violations of our social contract, the multi-tasking mom in a 6000 lb Suburban complete with 10 psi front tire comes to mind. How many of these are prosecuted? Instead they roll over somewhat predictably when asked for something besides straight-ahead travel and people blame the truck.

I’ve never understood the outrage the state works itself up into with regards to the velocity that its citizens choose to propel themselves. Further the harsh repression they employ when it is discovered. There are far worse violations of our social contract than going 25 MPH faster than the guy in the right lane.

Oh, here is my contribution … in a 43 year old car as well.

–chuck

One might wonder that a Ford GT is likely a far more stable vehicle at 200 mph than a Vauxhall Cavalier at 125, or a 20 year-old Chevy Cavalier at 75…