[sustran] Fw Provide higher speed speed to vehicles to tackle poverty!

[Kisan Mehta]

Dear Colleagues,

Providing uninterrupted speed to vehicles results in higher accidents yet
the authorites plan for super highways within cities and expressways cutting
through rural areas.   Following study is extremely relevant.

The World Bank bemoans high road accident rate in Mumbai, a city of  12
million plus residents yet has extended liberal loan for Mumbai Urban
Transport
Project. in which construction of expressways and flyovers predominate. Now
six
lane carriageways are increased to eight with no pavements.  The Bank
further
records that pedestrians form 95% of accident victims and turned down
citizen
request for construction of pavements.  Is this how the poverty is reduced
and
air quality through increased air chhaust is worsened  Best wishes..

Kisan Mehta

******************************
 December 25, 2003

Study: Higher Speed Limits, More Deaths
WASHINGTON - States that raised their speed limits to 70 mph or more have
seen a big jump in traffic deaths, according to a report Monday by an auto
safety group.

Some 1,880 more people died between 1996 and 1999 in the 22 states with
higher speed limits, said the study, compiled by the Insurance Institute for
Highway Safety, funded by insurers. It was based on data collected by the
Land Transport Safety Authority of New Zealand. Congress repealed the 55 mph
national speed limit in November 1995.

An institute researcher said New Zealand did the study because groups are
questioning whether to raise the country's speed limit, which is 100
kilometers per hour.

"There's a significant societal cost," said Allan Williams, the institute's
chief scientist, who said drivers often think a speeding ticket is the worst
that can happen.

Supporters of higher speed limits pointed out that federal highway data show
the nation's vehicle fatality rate fell each year from 1996 and 1999, from
1.69 deaths per million miles traveled to 1.55 deaths.

"We've moved toward a transportation system where cars are a lot safer and
there are better measures like guard rails on highways," said Stephen Moore,
a proponent of limited government and president of the Club for Growth.
"We've made it safer to drive at faster speeds."

Institute researcher Susan Ferguson agreed that other factors are making
highways safer, and that the nation's death rate dropped as a whole. But she
said the study expands upon institute studies from the late 1990s, which
showed a 12 to 15 percent increase in deaths when speed limits rise.

The study said the 10 states that raised limits to 75 mph - all in the
Midwest and West - had 38 percent more deaths per million miles driven than
states with 65-mph limits. That's approximately 780 more deaths.

The 12 states which raised their limits to 70 mph include California,
Florida, North Carolina and Missouri. They saw a 35 percent increase - some
1,100 additional deaths.

The report didn't examine the effects of other trends, such as the tendency
to drive faster in rural states where cities are far apart. Nor did it
analyze the increasing number of sport utility vehicles on the road in the
late 1990s.

A separate review of six states by the institute found drivers are traveling
faster than any time since the institute began collecting data in 1987.
Researchers observed in Colorado, which has a 75-mph speed limit, one in
four drivers going above 80 mph. In California, where the speed limit is 70
mph, one in five drivers was clocked at 80 mph.

The institute's study of speeds in Georgia, Massachusetts, Maryland, New
Mexico, Colorado and California also found that when rates are raised on
rural interstates, speeding increased on urban interstates.

Average travel speeds on urban interstates in Atlanta, Boston and Washington
were the same as or higher than on rural interstates near those cities, even
though the speed limits on those urban interstates were 55 mph. In Atlanta,
78 percent of drivers on one urban interstate exceeded 70 mph, the report
found.

Institute President Brian O'Neill said tolerance of speeding and advertising
that encourages drivers to speed is part of the problem. He pointed out a
Dodge ad that invited consumers to "Burn rubber."

"It's up to drivers to obey speed limits, but the manufacturers aren't
helping with ads that equate going fast with having fun," O'Neill said.

Copyright 2003 The Associated Press.  All Rights Reserved.