Nearly every study on the topic has concluded that faster vehicles get into less accidents, but the accidents they do get into are more likely to be fatal. Conflating accident rate and fatality rate means you can’t see the forest for the trees.

At any rate, neither statistic has anything to do with my claim. Timidity is dangerous because it’s unpredictable and creates a rolling roadblock. The most dangerous thing while driving is /other drivers/. Being able to predict their behavior and avoiding having to overtake both greatly reduce risk. Timidity increases both of these risks significantly.