Cynic :
On Wed, 25 Jan 2012 22:15:28 +0000, Mike Barnes
wrote:

Quite so. But if someone was killed, chances are that that was not a
safe speed. Regardless of the speed limit.

No, that does not follow at all. Many pedestrians are killed every
year by being struck by trains. Does that indicate to you that the
train was travelling at an unsafe speed?

Different situation entirely. There is a somewhat analogous situation on
the roads, which I acknowledged by writing "chances are" to indicate
that there might be a significant number of exceptions.

What you say is true only if excessive speed *was a causal factor* in
the accident. Which I believe is not the case in the majority of
accidents (including those where the driver was exceeding the posted
speed limit).

Quite possibly but we're discussing deaths, not accidents in general.

--
Mike Barnes