Speed limits

valhalla360 wrote:

toedtoes wrote:

wing_zealot wrote:
While there may be no evidence that differential speed causes accidents, there is certainly empirical evidence that the greater the differential speed, the greater the potential for having accidents and the greater the severity of the accidents.

Hence there is a reason why there is a minimum speed limit on freeways and why you can't drive your moped on them.

Yes, there are minimum speed limits on freeways. But that minimum is "waived" all the time. Stop and go traffic, road work, icy roads, fog, stormy weather, etc.

One person driving too slow may be annoying. But as long as others are driving an appropriate speed for the conditions and are paying attention, there will be no accident. It's when all those other "people factors" come in that accidents happen. Like the driver who chooses not to slow down but instead swerve around the slow driver on a crowded freeway.

https://www.michigan.gov/documents/mdot/RC-1609_478401_7.pdf

There is plenty of evidence. See pg7 of the attached (right side graph)
- About 7mph above the average speed (not speed limit) is the safest speed, though obviously, everyone can't go 7mph above the average or the average would move.
- 20mph below average is far worse than 20mph above average (around 3 times as likely to be in a crash).

This graph is from the 1960's but I've seen similar studies that show the same basic pattern.

Going significantly slower than average is dangerous.

You are making your own conclusion that hasn't been shown.

The data shows that you are more likely to Be IN A COLLISION if driving at the much slower speed. It does NOT show that the slow driving person is the CAUSE of the collision. Per the data from the NHTSA study, the CAUSE of that collision is most likely because the other driver was distracted, speeding, tailgating, not correctly judging the amount of space, overcorrecting, falling asleep, etc.