Re:Little Brother is watching: San Francisco PD relying on c...
by CamperBob2 on Sunday November 04, 2012 @01:59AM
(#4739090)
For example, if 34% of all drivers are speeding, and speeding is mostly uncorrelated to fatal crashes, then it would make sense for 34% of fatalities to involve speeding.
That's indeed a problem with the statistics, as is their conflation of exceeding a posted limit with driving too fast for conditions. These kinds of games are played all the time -- for instance, consider how an "alcohol related accident" is considered by some authorities to be one in which anyone including passengers in any involved vehicle were over the BAC limit.
The resulting biased statistics make it hard to get the straight story on what factors genuinely affect traffic safety and what factors are overhyped for other purposes.
In this case, it's probably worth keeping in mind how profitable insurance surcharges for speeding tickets are for the companies that sponsor the IIHS.
That's indeed a problem with the statistics, as is their conflation of exceeding a posted limit with driving too fast for conditions. These kinds of games are played all the time -- for instance, consider how an "alcohol related accident" is considered by some authorities to be one in which anyone including passengers in any involved vehicle were over the BAC limit.
The resulting biased statistics make it hard to get the straight story on what factors genuinely affect traffic safety and what factors are overhyped for other purposes.
In this case, it's probably worth keeping in mind how profitable insurance surcharges for speeding tickets are for the companies that sponsor the IIHS.