Speed Kills (Speed + Idiots = Death)

I told a story last week about a taxi taking flight and mentioned that I would follow up more on that.

Well that taxi in question took flight as it sped past me not entirely due to speed. I witnessed a mechanical failure on the left rear wheel moments before the vehicle turned sideways and became airborne.

This is my point behind the statement Speed Kills + Idiots = Death I am not a firm believer in the "Speed Kills" school of thought. The way I see it speed is just a minor component in the catastrophe that follows.

There is a saying "Guns don't kill people, people do!" and so to use the concept in this context "Speed doesn't kill people, People kill people"

I have read and heard all the arguments and statistics about the number of road users killed by speeding. Dream on people, are we honestly trying to say that a well maintained modern car with the right tyres and a skilled driver (Having a drivers licence is no indication of skill or even competence) will result in an accident and death, because of speed. Not going to happen.

Accidents happen because some wannabe Schumacher drives his poorly maintained vehicle with a space saver tire (rated to 80km/hour) at 120km (He is not even speeding) but the results will be a possible fatal accident due to the failure of the tire running at speeds above its rating and then the driver not having the skills or knowledge to control the situation safely.

I believe that too many people driving without sufficient skills and with poorly maintained vehicles are the cause of most of our accidents.

I believe we should have two types of licences, one for the average old lady who pops down to the shops once in a while and the other for drivers with advanced training and both they and thier vehicles are tested on a regular basis