18 Apr Speed kills: A reality that many do not want to see
Many may tell me that flipping a car while driving 180 km/hr on a wide, well-designed, speed-inviting South Texas highway does not make me versed in auto matters. However, I can assure you that the injuries and six months without being able to walk do make me an expert on the consequences and dangers of speeding a car.
It is no secret how speed plays an important role in traffic-related injuries and the deaths of those who share the road, pedestrians, cyclists and motorists. Let’s check out the women’s bike size chart.
You may think that it will not happen to you, but I must say that I thought the same. The accident occurred not due to a lack of driving skills but due to speeding. One of the car’s tires has blown out and there is no driver who can control a car without a tire at those speeds. Keep reading https://celb.org/how-to-store-a-bike-in-small-apartment/
So 6 months of leg paralysis, 10 months of wearing a neck-to-tailbone brace, and two lumbar vertebra prostheses, afterward, here’s what I learned about the consequences of speeding.
The human body was not created for speed
Yes, the vulnerability of the human body to impacts inside or outside the car is great, because as humans, we are not made to withstand impacts at speed.
Studies have shown that even the strongest human being cannot withstand the impact of a car. Even the damage we suffer in impacts at speeds, such as 25 to 35 km / h, is serious for human physiognomy.
If you are lucky, these damages are seldom not visible and do not even cause discomfort, but internally your viscera and soft tissue impact against the skeleton at the speed you were traveling or at which you were impacted. It is impossible to decelerate gradually, which invariably leaves consequences that years later take their toll.
The automobile is increasingly manufactured with the purpose of reaching higher speeds and the human body has not evolved as speed increases in cars. The disadvantages of driving at high speeds are many, even without counting the injuries that you can cause yourself.
Our reaction time didn’t evolve for speed
Not only are our bodies fragile, our ability to respond to an eventuality at high speeds is also a disadvantage.
Let’s imagine that we drive our car without being distracted, with both hands on the wheel and the 5 senses focused on driving. So forget about singing your favorite playlist, let alone see your cell phone. Correct?
Once we detect a risky situation, as a motorist, we have the need to stop to zero. There is a time that elapses between your brain perceiving the risk and giving the order to the foot to release the accelerator and step on the brakes.
This time is known as “reaction time,” is approximately one second for most average drivers. During that time, the car continued to circulate at speed it was coming, so let’s say that you were driving at 100 km/h as an example. At that speed, a car travels 28 meters every second. It turns out that only when you realize that you have to apply the brake of your car, it already advanced 28 meters at that moment.
For a car to come to a complete stop, a greater distance is needed. I don’t even want to imagine everything that happens during that journey, and in which you inevitably put yourself in danger or, worse still, put others in danger of injury and even death.
Already with the brake applied, a car that circulates, for example, on dry pavement and with optimal mechanical conditions: at 50 km / h, it needs, according to this study, 26 meters to be able to completely stop the vehicle. At 90 km / h, the distance increases to 59 meters, while traveling at 120 km / h takes 92 meters to stop the vehicle. So why drive at high speeds?
Your car doesn’t need high speeds
There is no need. First of all, if you own a car or like to drive at high speeds under the pretext that your car works better, let me tell you that this is fiction. Studies have disproved this myth, which seems to have been created by the automobile industry, to justify its more revolutionized engines.
Speeding shortens your vision
But back to our evolutionary problem and speed. It turns out that our vision is also very limited in the face of speed. This is because, at higher speeds, your field of vision will decrease, reducing your visual acuity. This can cause double vision and miscalculations in distances.
According to a study published by the General Directorate of Traffic in Spain, a distraction in driving at 90 km / h, of just three seconds, means that the person at the wheel drives blind for 75 meters.
As you increase the speed, the images become even more confusing. For real purposes, the angle of your vision on which it depends that we perceive objects and people is reduced. For example, at 65 km / h, the angle of your vision is reduced to 70 degrees, while at 100 km / h, the angle of peripheral vision drops to 42 degrees. At 130 km / h, it is reduced to only 30 °, appearing the so-called “tunnel effect.” For this reason, the visual field depends directly on the speed at which we are driving.
Slowing down can save lives
Many motorists do not like to be limited in the speed that their machines can generate. They complain that the established speed limits are measures to annoy them in their long-awaited race in search of speed or that they have a clear raising motive. Nothing further from reality.
The provisions to implement lower speed limits have a deeper meaning, which has nothing to do with a simple whim, collection, police fees or, as I have already mentioned, with hindering the roar of their engines. No, its reason for being is to safeguard people’s lives.
The theory is quite simple: reducing the speed limit on the roads, in addition to reducing fuel consumption and the emission of pollutants, especially provides greater safety on the road.
Studies have shown that reducing speed limits is a very effective tool to create safer environments for all people, regardless of the means they choose to use to get around. Resulting in roads that are ideal for sharing among all user groups, including the most vulnerable.
This type of initiative, encompassed under the concept of Vision Zero, is clear in its precepts: “There is no acceptable loss of life.” And yes, indeed, roads need to keep moving, but they must also be designed to protect us at every step, step, and even in every car.
It is no coincidence that the most progressive cities interested in safeguarding their citizens are reducing speed limits.
A study published by Smart Growth America identified the results of collisions at different speed limits and the effects they produce on the accident.
There is no single solution to make our streets safer. However, there are proven solutions that we can collectively pursue.
Certainly, implementing lower speed limits is not the only factor in this equation to achieve greater road safety. Stronger enforcement of traffic laws and regulations, the installation of better bicycle and pedestrian infrastructure, as well as the implementation of “Complete Streets”, are becoming more powerful and popular tools among more progressive cities to provide greater road safety to its citizens.