On Wed, 9 May 2007 13:01:12 +0100 Dennis@home wrote :
If cars did 8mph like horses used to do, would there be less accidents?
Nope. Look up the statistics. In a world of 8mph horses, with extremely
poor brakes and no driving tests, accident rates were far higher than
today.

Really?
Where are the figures?

Not horses but

"The number of people dying on UK roads fell to 3,221 last year [2004] - the
lowest since records began in 1926."

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/4636913.stm

1926 being an era of relatively slow cars (with a few exceptions) with poor
brakes and no driving tests needed.

If you stand by almost any road you won't have to wait long to see someone
driving in a manner that would deserve a friendly warning (or more) from a
traffic cop. But those drivers now go largely unchecked, whilst the non
speed camera detector owners get pulled for what is very often a technical
breach only, causing no risk to anyone. (statistically the maximum safe
speed on any road is on average probably 5 mph higher than the speed limit)

--
Tony Bryer SDA UK 'Software to build on' http://www.sda.co.uk