Road safety, car makers and laws

[Kanamori]

What do you think might be the reason that Californian roads dont have that many accidents despite higher speeds? Are they perhaps better drivers because they are more experienced in driving in busier conditions, perhaps more alert?

People would disagree with me about them being better drivers, and I was thinking of very different scenarios. The alertness, probably, though there are plenty of big cities with crazy drivers who are also alert. It is mostly cultural,I'm guessing, they're more interested in making traffic flow, which often means safer if not slower (the speed limits are pretty much ignored on the freeways and highways)... it's safer if people actively facilitate people moving around... 5+ lanes probably helps too, though they're usually full anyway, but people driving slower don't feel the need to slow down the hundreds of cars behind them and usually use the slower lanes.

What about car manufacturers limiting car speed? Any thoughts on that?

I think that's excessive too, and has more problems with implementation. If it's something mechanical that's added to the car, it could be hacked or removed, and probably a significant subsection would be at least fairly reckless drivers. If it's a limitation on the engine, you have problems with power e.g.mountains. There are benefits unrelated to speeding that come with more powerful engines... towing e.g. and then when you have enough power to do that, you can speed. Even beyond that, it wouldn't be able to fix reckless driving unrelated to speeding – I think that when they talk about speed being factors in accidents, the recklessness is usually there before the excessive speeding and is dangerous whether or not they're speeding.

 

[Quiet]

I think that's excessive too, and has more problems with implementation. If it's something mechanical that's added to the car, it could be hacked or removed, and probably a significant subsection would be at least fairly reckless drivers. If it's a limitation on the engine, you have problems with power e.g.mountains. There are benefits unrelated to speeding that come with more powerful engines... towing e.g. and then when you have enough power to do that, you can speed. Even beyond that, it wouldn't be able to fix reckless driving unrelated to speeding