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Lots of factors in auto accidents

Editor: Re: John Hird's letter "Slow down, enjoy the ride" (Coast Reporter, Feb. 8).

Editor:

Re: John Hird's letter "Slow down, enjoy the ride" (Coast Reporter, Feb. 8).

I find it disturbing that someone, particularly one most would deem to be a "safety advocate," could so callously disregard the obvious (and well-documented) safety benefits of the improvements noted by Charlene Penner in her letter from a few weeks ago.

While I can appreciate Mr. Hird and his group's work in school zones, his apparent zeal for reducing speed in general has seemingly gotten the best of him.

"Speed kills" simply isn't true, as there are always other factors involved in every accident - bad roadway design, inattentiveness, distractions, over-driving the conditions, driving too slowly, mechanical issues and people driving beyond their ability. Speed itself only determines the severity of the impact and injuries.

A good quote comes to mind from a recent article by Ian Law on the subject: "If travelling at high speed alone caused death, then every pilot, astronaut or airline passenger should be dead. Each time there is an airline disaster they don't blame the crash on the fact the jet was going over 800 km/h before it slammed into a massive object like the Earth. It is usually a mechanical or weather issue or pilot error that caused the crash."

For factual information on realistic speed limits on our roadways, see the Safety by Education Not Speed Enforcement (or SENSE) at www.sense.bc.ca.

Ryan Medd, Gibsons